November has been a busy month! The Club is gearing up for Winter, working hard in dryland training and continuing athlete education for all our teams as we eagerly await opening day at our Town Hill, Snow King Mountain! Our teams have been training at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, up at Togwotee at Turpin Meadows Ranch, and on the pathways and hills around town.
Watch for updates to training times and venues from your coaches and the Program Directors, and THANK YOU to Club families for your patience as we adjust to a bit of a low tide here in the valley early this December!
Holiday Card Contest
We are excited to announce that the winning design for the 3rd annual JHSC Holiday Card Contest was created by Linnea Brock Stauth!!
Linnea did an outstanding job incorporating JHSC Core Values into her image! We are so grateful to all of our participants: see all of the submissions HERE!
AND . . . the winner of the Holiday Card Contest Raffle is Piper Grohne!
JHSC Value of the Month
The Jackson Hole Ski & Snowboard Club focuses on five Core Values that shape our culture, define our success, and direct the character development fostered in the student-athletes. These values are not just words; rather, they drive decisions and actions in both sport and life at every level, from the leadership of the Club, to the coaches, to the parents, to the athletes, to how the Club is represented in the community. At JHSC, we champion our Core Values in our day-to-day actions and honor our student-athletes who exemplify and uphold these values with monthly awards throughout the season.
November was the month of FUN!
Check us out, relishing in the joys of snowsports, time spent with teammates, and some rad dryland sessions!
We're excited to announce the November 'Value of the Month Award' Winners who bring the FUN every day!!
Lucas Wilmot, Nordic Prep Team
Sita Yeomans, Nordic Junior Team
Metta Campbell, Freeski Progression Plus Team
Renny Roberts, Freeski Progression Plus Team
Lily Overcast, Alpine U12 Team
Gus Clausen, Alpine U16 Team
Taylor Glick, Alpine FIS/U19 Team
Parent and Athlete Education Events
This month, we hosted the first two events in our annual series:
On November 16, Lexie Drechsel, DPT, presented "Recovery and Cross Training for the Multi-Sport Athlete." See a recording of Lexie's presentation HERE (Zoom passcode for recording: 1G+Ma*Rn) and her slides HERE.
On November 29, Travis Dorsch, Ph.D., founder of the Families in Sport Lab at Utah State University, where he is Associate Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, spoke to our coaching staff about how to foster a healthy youth sport ecosystem within the Club, kicking off our annual Coaches' Onboarding and Training Day.
The next evening, Dr. Dorsch joined Jeff Archibald, CSCS, and former head coach for the US Snowboard Team through 4 Olympic Cycles, to speak to members of the Jackson youth sport community about growth mindset in youth sport and how to foster a healthy youth sport community in our valley. See a recording of their presentations HERE. Zoom passcode for recording: Kr+%2Z?=
Thank you to everyone who attended and participated, both in person and virtually! We are so grateful to Lexie, Jeff, and Travis for sharing their knowledge, expertise, and personal experience in sport with JHSC student-athletes, staff, and families, as well as the wider Jackson youth sport community.
Alumni Interviews: Read on to learn how JHSC Alum Megan Grassell keeps things FUN!
Megan Grassell
Discipline: Alpine Skiing (and, Megan is one of the newest members of the JHSC Board of Directors!)
November’s value of the month is FUN. Can you share several fun memories you have from your time as an athlete at JHSC?
One of the best memories I have was when I was a second year J3 (I guess now a U16) at our final spring series race at Snowbird. The weather forecast showed a huge storm coming in, and the first two days of the race would most likely be canceled. We went anyway knowing we would just be able to have an absolute BLAST ripping around Snowbird. There ended up being over three feet of snow that came in two days, the canyon was closed, and we basically had the entire resort to ourselves. To this day, I have never skied that much endless powder, fresh tracks from open to close, and some of the absolute best few days of skiing with my teammates. After those three days of skiing, the weather cleared, we saw blue skies, and ended the season with two back to back slalom races to end the season. I cannot think of that weekend without smiling and laughing - the best way to end a season.
We talk a lot in the upper levels of our program—and, really, in the snowsports culture in this town!—about Type II Fun: you were in the Club for many years, and I’m wondering how your understanding of FUN developed/evolved as you progressed through JHSC programs?
Learning about the “work” that allows you to have fun is a great concept. Skiing well and fast means being strong and fit. In order to see better results, because winning is fun, you have to make sure you’re physically able to do so. And that takes a lot of work, time and effort. That work ethic is developed as you continue with the sport, and absolutely translates even more so as I got older. It was awesome to see my confidence in my skills grow as I felt really strong and durable. I loved that the preparation and taking care of my body meant I was building an edge against my competitors and also doing everything I could to be a better skier.
How has being an athlete at JHSC influenced your trajectory in life?
Skiing is without a doubt one of the greatest joys in my life. I love that my childhood was dictated by camps, training, races, and always always always trying to get better and faster. I look back and think about everything the sport taught me as a young girl: confidence, commitment, competitiveness, work ethic, etc. Could go on. But those elements absolutely translate to what I do today, and I love that.
When you spend years working to make the most perfect turns, it’s a blast as an adult to not have the pressure of performance but still have the skills and knowledge to ski really well. Skiing is without a doubt one of the greatest joys of my life, and I think will forever be that way!
How did your experience at the Club shape your recent decision to join the JHSC Board of Directors?
The ski club has given me so much, and shaped so much of who I am as a person. It is simply an honor to now be able to work with an organization from a new perspective that continues to offer that same experience for so many kids in our community.
Next month, we’re focusing on COMMITMENT. What did your time as an athlete in JHSC instill in you in terms of how you think about commitment? and/or, What is a challenge you encountered during your career as an athlete, and how did you overcome it?
I think learning that success comes with working hard is something that cannot be overrated. It’s not an easy thing to give up playing other sports, spending more time with friends, going on spring break with your family instead of spring series races, enjoying summer rather than going to camps and dryland training, etc. However, being surrounded by coaches and teammates pushing you is awesome. Trying to be the best you can be at your sport is moving target and a never ending process. However, I think that the understanding of what it entails to become great at something is quite special.
Megan, what’s one piece of advice you have for up and coming JHSC athletes?
Remember there’s always someone working just a little bit harder and skiing just a little bit faster... so that means you never stop trying to beat them, because that’s what makes this fun!
December is the month of COMMITMENT
This month, we really dig in, (typically!) facing the first icier temps and days on Snow King, setting season-long and dream goals and plans with teammates and coaches for achieving those goals: we see Commitment lived out by our coaches and program directors, who work tirelessly to create the best all-around educational experience for our student-athletes; our staff and board, who work diligently to achieve our mission and vision, both internally and in our community; and in the families and volunteers who put in countless hours to keep our races and competitions running smoothly. Thank you, thank you to every member and to all of our partners in the Jackson Hole community who participate in and support the JHSC and our 500 student-athletes!
Program Happenings:
- Early-Release Programming:
- Nordic early-release programming for the Winter season began for the Prep/Comp teams on November 1. Please read your coaches' weekly update emails for weekly training schedules and locations as we follow snow where we can find it!
- Alpine early-release programming began for FIS, U16, and U14 athletes on Nov. 30. U12 teams, watch for Coach updates on the start date, tentatively Dec. 14: Program Director and Coaches will notify participants of this shift in their weekly update in advance of the start date.
- For details about early-release times, programming, and support by school and by JHSC program/team, please visit the SAS School Partnerships page or contact the SAS Director, Grace Tirapelle at gtirapelle@jhskiclub.org.
