D-Team families,

We are closing in on the end of another great season of ski racing at Buck Hill. This year the D-team Renegades program had 18 athletes partnering with the Buck Hill ski team for practice on Monday nights. Thank you for making this such a great season. Your kids were motivated, polite, and saw lots of improvement throughout the season. Congratulations!

Buck Hill is known worldwide for providing the foundation for the most successful female skier of all time; Lindsey Vonn. She got her start right her at Buck Hill on the same rope, the same start ramp, and the same hill that our team, and your kids, get to train on. In addition, we’ve had many others make it to the highest level including, most recently, Isaiah Nelson (US Development Team and Buck Hill team member) and Paula Moltzan (2nd ranked US slalom skier behind Mikaela Shiffrin, and current University of Vermont student). However, our athletes develop into more than just fast ski racers.

Erich Sailer, our teams Executive Adviser and Elite Coach, has been the leader of the Buck Hill ski team since the late 1960’s. In fact, next year will mark his 50th year with the team. Personally, I’ve learned a lot from Erich over the 13 years I’ve been privileged to work with him, but the piece that sticks out the most for me is the maxim that he has used to steer the direction of the team;

“Creating champions in ski racing and in life.”

It’s something I know Erich truly believes and it’s something that he has instilled into our program and into the coaches. It’s about more than getting kids to the US ski team, it’s about teaching life skills to the athletes that only a sport like ski racing can teach.

Athletes that come through our program learn the importance of hard work, grit, independence, teamwork, sportsmanship, success, failure, and much more. These skills translate into real world success. Currently, we have recent graduates from the program who are still pursuing ski racing at the highest levels, but we also have graduates who are skiing for colleges like Harvard, Yale, Colby, Williams, St. Olaf, the University of New Mexico, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Wisconsin just to name a few. THEY are becoming champions in life. Others have gone on to find success in business, medicine, engineering, education, law etc. THEY have become champions in life.

Most of the athletes started right where your child is currently; skiing and learning the basics on the Buck Hill D-team. Our coaches would love to help your child continue to develop in the sport they love on the Buck Hill ski team.

If you would like to learn more about the team please join us this coming Monday, March 4th from 5:30pm – 6:30pm in the Hutch Chalet here at Buck Hill. Coach and Program Director Jacob Olsen will be there to present the program and we’ll also have some of our newer parents on the team there to offer a parent perspective.

Sincerely,

Jacob Olsen
Director/Coach
Buck Hill Ski Team
jolsen@buckhill.com
231.838.0113