Alpine Racing
Our mission is to provide a competitive, informative, and educational program that will enable athletes to explore their potential and to achieve their goals as alpine ski racers, while maintaining the highest standards of scholastics, citizenship, and sportsmanship. The Crested Butte Academy Alpine Team provides all of the necessary tools for the young ski racer to reach world class potential. The staff, terrain, ski area support, academic support, and the athlete pool provide the greatest possible opportunity for success.
Programs: Full-time • Weekly • Adult/Family
Formula for Success
Crested
Butte Mountain Resort provides training on many different trails and venues.
The man made snow gives the athletes a hard surface to simulate race
conditions. Our training schedule compliments the race schedule, and utilizes
the best possible terrain to mimic the venues of upcoming events. Training
blocks will be meticulously planned and executed to provide the athletes with a
peaking system that will align with their individual goals for the season.
Athletes will have the ability to train on multiple venues to target various
aspects of their programming. Buckley
run, a quick turn around serviced by West Wall chair, promotes high-volume
training; a necessity in new skill development.
On-snow training also occurs on the challenging Paradise
and International ski runs for terrain and discipline variations. Coaches will have the ability to
"lap" with the athletes to give the proper feedback, maximizing the
efficacy of the given session. All of
our variations in terrain are a great advantage for CBA and allow an athlete to
gain a more well-rounded skill set, challenge their abilities, and even prepare
for an upcoming event.
Computer technology for video analysis is used in conjunction with our Brower wireless timing system to give athletes detailed feedback and confirm coach's observations. Coaches use Dartfish Pro 4.5, to analyze a session's video and work individually with the athlete to refine technique and tactics. The software is a necessary tool to for athletes to gain a visual of their skiing through overlays, side by sides and stro-motions. The video will be placed on CBA's server so the athletes can access it in the evenings or on their own. The use of timing will be employed for specific sessions to maximize intensity of training. Candy bar cups and other race simulations are often used to prepare for races. Coaches aim to keep families informed every two weeks about the progress of the ski racer using CBA's custom tracking system. The tracking system is a highly detailed way to track discipline volume, snow type, and visibility in an effort to find trends in performance.
Gain an Edge
CBA's
physical conditioning program is a demanding and integral part of our system.
Our 11,000 square foot physical performance center is fully equipped with three
Olympic platforms and various cardio and nautilus equipment. It also features a space for
medicine ball work, yoga, sports medicine, and physical therapy. We also conduct ski specific field workouts with full
access to athletic fields, a track, gymnasium, and additional resources at Western State College. Fall training also includes
hiking, mountain climbing, mountain biking, kayaking, rock climbing, soccer,
and various field games.
The goal of the CBA's physical conditioning regimen in conjunction with IMG Academies International Performance Institute (IPI) is to develop the complete alpine racer by improving performance and decreasing the risk of injury. This goal is achieved through the use of alpine specific exercises including strength training, core training, injury prevention, functional flexibility, energy system development, nutritional awareness and an overall understanding of fitness and health. Our program is designed around the concept of Periodization and uses a 3 phase progression that begins with hypertrophy building and moves into sport specific movement and explosive training as the competition season begins. Every athlete receives an individualized strength and conditioning program based on fitness test results. These programs work to allow the athlete the best skier specific preparation as they move into the competition phase. The in-season conditioning component brings a whole new element to an athlete's performance and another level of detail in an athlete's programming. In-season the training focus shifts to intermittent strength sessions and speed strength, with a strong focus on recovery in an effort to maximize on snow training and competition performance.
The CBA staff will organize and implement a specific on-snow preparation cycle in addition to summer dry-land camps. The alpine program will also work with the regional and NDS teams for some preparation camps and race series. This provides for the invited athlete a place amongst the top peers within region and nation. This is a necessary step for an athlete to gain pace and experience at a higher level.
Race Results