Team America
TA FOUNDATION
helping american ski racing reach it's peak
Team America Re-Launched for 2018-19 Season
Garret Driller
Brian McLaughlin
Alex Leever
Team America re-launches independent Alpine Ski Team as an alternative to the US National Team for NorAm and World Cup level post-collegiate alpine ski racers. The original Team America was founded in 2007 by Bode Miller when he left the U.S. Ski Team to build a program he felt would better suit his specific needs. Though no longer associated with Bode Miller, Team America continues in the spirit of independent athlete development. The 2018 version of Team America is privately funded in the spirit of giving underdog athletes and those whose needs were not met by U.S. Ski and Snowboard a chance to compete at the Continental and World Cup level and compete for coveted World Cup spots.​
Team America currently consists of 22 year-old Garret Driller, former athlete for the Montana State Bobcats, 23 year-old Alex Leever, former captain of the University of Denver Ski Team, and 25 year-old Dartmouth graduate Brian McLaughlin. Alex and Garret were All Americans at the NCAA Championships, as well as consistent high performers at the NorAm level, while Brian won the NorAm GS overall title and was the NCAA GS Champion in 2018.
Team America has partnered with SYNC Performance, a purpose-driven, high-performance mountain apparel brand based in Vail, CO. SYNC is committed to helping these athletes reach the World Cup. In addition, Team America will be an official Performance Partner for SYNC's Elevate The Athlete Project, where customers have the opportunity to contribute 10% of sales to help these athletes achieve the highest level of competition.
Team America is guided by Head Coach Peter Lange. With more than 30 years of experience in the ski racing industry, he coached athletes of all ages both privately and on the U.S. National Team with great success. Peter is highly committed to his athletes' development both as ski-racers and young adults in line with the Team America Vision.
Aiding him is assistant coach Alex Skladanowski, a former racer, then coach of 3+ years at Loveland Ski Club's Alpine Race Academy.
Rounding out the staff is Certified Athletic Trainer, Chris Toone. Formerly with the U.S. Alpine Team, Chris brings 3 years of experience as an ATC with U.S. Ski and Snowboard to Team America, as well as 2 years with University of Utah's collegiate program. Fully backing Team America's vision, Chris is looking forward to helping the athletes reach their maximum potential.
"When you're stepping into the start of a World Cup, you need to know you're a badass." Bode Miller
Team America offers a chance for athletes to learn exactly that.
Discussion on College Skiing
​In my recent post I strongly advocated for college skiing. I am no expert in the nordic world, although I have huge respect for the nordic athletes. Therefore, I will focus this discussion on college ski racing.
I will never forget one of my first exposures to college racing. I was the start referee at the Vail spring series. It was anything but a spring day, blowing cold, just plain nasty. I looked over and here was DU, CU, UU and UNM athletes, all huddled together with their arms around each other trying to stay warm. Then one at a time they raced. Each cheered loudly for the racer irrespective of the team they were on. I thought to myself, "wow, what did I just see." Go to a college race-the women slip for the guys, carry coats and visa versa. Team, team, team. Then region, region, region. Then NCAA, NCAA, NCAA. These men and women love each other.
Fast forward many years to this years NCAA National Championships. As the Championships ended tears were flowing down my face. I realized, as my son's last year of eligibility came to an end, that the amazing relationships I have enjoyed with so many college athletes, and their families, and especially their coaches, would at a minimum be less front and center in our life. Indeed, I will forever treasure these relationships. As I have said many times, college ski racing is the pinnacle in the intrinsic joy of ski racing. It is an experience every ski racer should experience.
There is the misconception that there is little opportunity for Americans in College ski racing. This is simply not true. There are two leagues, NCAA and USCSA. There are hundreds of spots for Americans. It is tough to make a D1 team. It is even tougher to earn a scholarship. This is the reality in all sports. It is estimated that 2% of high school athletes compete in D1 across all sports.
It is true non-Americans often are a high percentage of the top of the pyramid, think all-American status at NCAA Championships. There are some idiosyncrasies in ski racing that are worthwhile understanding. First is that skiing and hockey are sports that are deferred from the normal NCAA eligibility requirements. Normally, for most sports, the eligibility clock starts one year after graduation. In skiing it starts at 21 years old. Big difference. We would be well advised to be careful what we wish for. The foreign NCAA athletes provide much of the penalty for grass roots ski racing in the US. If we eliminate the foreign athletes from the point opportunities, we would have lots of opportunities for US athletes-to score 30 points. Is that what we wish for? No, the reality is we need to do a better job at developing US athletes who can score in the 20's as teens, at least. We shouldn't coddle US athletes. If NCAA racing is to be a pipeline to World Cup success, it needs to be robust.
​That being said, often our best US athletes are chasing the USST and foregoing NCAA. Look at the birth years 1998, 1997, 1996, men and women. These are all college age athletes. At least half of of the top US ranked athletes are not enrolled in college. My son raced for DU, the NCAA National Champions. Four of five of the men were Americans, just fast ones. Fundamentally, we need to do a better job of developing our younger ski racers so that they are internationally competitive, younger. Dumbing down the system making it easier for less qualified US racers to make NCAA teams is not the answer.
If we can agree, for a moment, that NCAA racing is a viable developmental pipeline, then I suggest the question is, how could it be better? There are significant limitations in the current structure of NCAA skiing. Lets discuss the major ones.
Rule limitations: there are limits on coaches contact with athletes. What is appropriate for football and basketball isn't necessarily the same for skiing. The current rules limit the "meets",' or for us races, for ski racing. Essentially this results in coaches being unable to attend all NCAA, NorAm and important FIS races with their athletes. This results in teams sending their athletes to races without coaches. This has all kinds of safety ramifications. Rule change needed. There are limitations to missing school for training. This disadvantages semester schools. Taking a break from school, while keeping up with course work, is fundamental to a developing ski racer. Limitation in staffing. Current NCAA rules limit coaching to two, men and women. No tech's allowed. So much for small coach to athlete ratio. Off season coaching by NCAA is strictly prohibited.
There are solutions. USST can sponsor off season camps where NCAA coaches are allowed to attend, under The auspices of the USST. I strongly believe the USST can and should provide prep period training for a fairly broad group of NCAA racers. This would be a good use of USST resources. Essentially we should say to all of the college age athletes, "which college do you want to go to. There is no other path." We can always make an exception for a athlete that is scoring WC points as a junior.
I believe college ski racing is critical for our national team development. There are not enough funds for USST to do it on its own. Yes, there are changes in rules for college skiing to meet its potential. Hopefully this will occur in the near future.
Submitted by Dan Leever
What's Wrong With US Ski Racing?
As a student of the sport of ski racing, I have devoted thousands of hours to understanding development trends. Much of this work is captured in what is referred to as the "Leever Study". You can find it here. tafski.org
​For years I operated outside the US Ski Team system as I believed the USST "just didn't get it" and would never change. Then when Tiger Shaw became CEO he invited me to get involved. I joined the board and served on several committees in hopes of influencing change over the next couple of years. Alas, it was to no avail. At the last board meeting, I resigned my board seat on the Foundation and US Ski and Snowboard in recognition that change was not going to occur. I had intended to just quietly go away, but upon reflection, I just couldn't. I love this sport and it wouldn't be right to just walk away. Here is the background.
I believe USST is irreparably broken. In my view, there is no incremental approach that can turn around our situation, as evidenced by our abysmal performance in alpine at the recent Olympics. Two medalists, superstars Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn, for a total of 3 medals for the women, none for the men.
What is wrong?
First and foremost, US Ski and Snowboard does not sufficiently respect the athletes. The USSA should be all about the athletes. We should have virtually no administrative and support staff until we fully fund all the athletes on any team. Park City is full of people who should be employed only AFTER the athletes are funded. We need to care deeply about each and every athlete.
US Ski and Snowboard acts as an athlete management body. We organize camps and travel and competitions pretty well. But, that's not the primary strategic initiative we should be pursuing. We should be developing, not managing these athletes. If we have a group of athletes under our charge who are not progressing, who bears the responsibility? The current system says, "you didn't make it, you are cut from the team". It's YOUR fault…Hogwash. No, I believe it's OUR fault.
We should never disrespect an athlete who is representing the USA at a World Cup. How is it that, as I understand it, a College athlete was invited to start a World Cup this year, but had no support. In fact, there was no one at the start to put her in her skis! We must do better.
We have an ethical and moral responsibility to develop our athletes as humans, not just as ski racers. The idea of forcing our athletes to make a "Hobson's Choice", chase your dream and give up your education, or, pursue your education, and give up your dream, is reprehensible at the most fundamental level. This is a fundamental issue for which there should be no compromise. We must fully embrace NCAA skiing. There is millions of dollars of funding available in the NCAA system. The NCAA programs can do a perfectly good job of developing athletes in-season, the biggest gap is in the prep period. This should be easily doable and affordable for USST. There may be a real phenom who comes along once in a great while, where it makes sense to forgo an education, think Mikaela Shiffrin, Ted Ligety, Bode Miller, Lindsey Vonn, Julia Mancuso. But for all the rest, college is a better track. To dangle the carrot of a USST jacket as these athletes forgo college for years of PG, or post high school, which leads to what? You get appointed to a USST team and spend years more without a system to develop you. Many athletes blow through their eligibility and lose the opportunity to be educated and experience college skiing. If I may digress for a moment, I believe college skiing is the pinnacle of the intrinsic joy in ski racing. One would be well advised to attend a NCAA regional or National event to see this first hand. It's a shame our governing body is denying our athletes that experience. For men especially, athletes are nowhere near fully physiologically developed as 18-20 year olds. Pursuing an education while they "grow into" their bodies is a far better use of their time. I am not suggesting the college system is perfect. There are rule changes that are necessary if college skiing is to deliver on it's full potential. That is the subject for another day.
We need to think deeply. Simply saying, "this is what the Europeans do, so we should just copy them", is overly simplistic. I spent a lot of time interviewing thought leaders in Europe. Virtually none of them thought Americans should simply follow the European model; i.e. work into Europa Cups and then to World Cups. Europeans are in their home territory for virtually the entire season. If they have a short break they can go home and see their parents, boy/girlfriends, get laundry done etc. Euros are not living out of a suitcase for months on end. Yet, blindly follow that path is precisely what we do. This is a huge difference. The Europa Cup is arguably harder than the World Cup. Getting beaten down and demoralized on that circuit is not a winning developmental strategy. We need to have a robust NorAm circuit, especially for tech, with minimum penalties. The approach of gaining a six point profile in North America, and then test yourself at the World Cup from an advantaged start position, is a well-trodden path, which the USST still denies. Look at Erik Read, Johnathan Nordbotten, Leif Haugen, etc.
USST shouldn't be selecting athletes to live a full-time gypsy lifestyle at 18-20 years old. They should simply offer developmental opportunities during the prep period and at major races, for as many athletes as possible, then see who bubbles to the top in NorAms. If an athlete is not winning NorAm's consistently, they should keep developing through the college system until they are. Erik Read was an excellent model. He went to DU, competed in NorAms, got six points, tried his luck on the World Cup the following season. It didn't work out the first time, so he spent the next season back on the NorAm circuit, scoring six points again. Then he went back to Europe in his third season of this progression, and this time was successful getting traction on the World Cup. Meanwhile earning a degree from DU (finishing this spring).
The most recent example of a NCAA skier following this path is Brian McLaughlin of Dartmouth College, who accomplished this as I was writing this memo. After winning the NCAA National Championships in GS he went to the NorAm Finals and locked up the season standings and six points. He will have start rights to every World Cup next year and enjoy a start position in the low thirties. Brian has been supported by Peter Dodge the men's coach at Dartmouth in the winter. Brian was also a member of the National University Team for two years. After the team was eliminated, he continued to train in the preparation period under Peter Lange, the former N-UNI coach and now Team America coach. Team America is a privately funded team.
The leaders of US Ski and Snowboard have said that their focus is on World Cup podium-track athletes. I get that athletes not on this initial progression are outliers. However, we do not have the depth of athletes like other, predominantly European, nations that allows us to only rely on phenoms. We don't have that luxury, so we need to think differently, and commit resources to a wider base of skiers. Promoting the culture of ski racing is also important. We need fans, and a broad base of supporters. We can't have a USST of ten athletes and disrespect all the others, and expect to have a thriving sport. Without a robust college circuit, there is no long game for 99% of our junior racers. Without a long game, how do we expect the grass roots of our sport not to wither and die? Think about it.
In fairness to USST, they are making some changes for the better. They have eliminated the full time D Team. Opting instead for a more local approach to development, supplemented by the USST. We'll see if they support the NorAms and college racing.
There is much to be done. The first step is treating the athletes with upmost respect, valuing the many years of dedication in their journey. Our athletes are not assets to be managed. They are real men and women, and are the core of US Ski and Snowboard. It's about time we treated each and every one that way. US Ski and Snowboarding needs to put the athlete at the top of the pyramid. Everyone at USST should be subservient to the athletes. We need to demonstrate that respect by radically restructuring the budget so that every athlete is fully funded.
​Submitted by Dan Leever
Team America 2016-17 Initiatives Announced
TA Foundation has announced the 2016/17 initiatives. Leading the initiatives will be the reestablishment of Team America by SYNC. For the current season, the team's sole athlete will be Hig Roberts, world cup skier from Steamboat Springs, CO.
Hig Roberts
"I am honored and blessed to be supported by the Team America foundation again. It is important to have the necessary support and infrastructure to be successful in the sport of ski racing and Team America has proven time and time again to provide that. I spent a very successful year under Team America two years ago, and I think the resources, environment, and mindset of its supporters are very aligned with mine. I cannot thank those involved with Team America and its efforts enough and I look to have a very successful year competing at the highest level in Europa Cup, World Cup, and hopefully the World Championships," said Hig.
Hig was a Team America athlete before moving to the US Ski Team last season. Supporting Hig and managing Team America will be Eric Dasko, formerly with USST women's speed team.
In addition to the senior team, TA Foundation will continue to fund Junior Team America by SYNC, an initiative in cooperation with Ski and Snowboard Club Vail to provide and fund additional training opportunities for recognized athletes. The Junior Team America roster for 2016/17 includes Allie Resnick, Cleo Braun, Jacob Dilling, Bridger Gile, Kaitlyn Harsch, Axel Bailey, Colby Lange, Kellen Kinsella, Zane Worrell, Nicola Roundtree-Williams, and Tegan Wold, and Jack Keane.
"We are pleased to support these outstanding athletes. We believe in Hig and strongly feel that top 100 World Ranked athletes need a program that supports them. Through Junior Team America, we look further down the pipeline to provide the same high-quality training opportunities for these National Class junior athletes as they advance to World Class performance. We extensively studied success in ski racing globally (see study here)(see study at www.tafski.org). One of the takeaways was the critical importance of local initiatives. We believe local micro cultures can propel ski racing in the USA to the next level. These initiatives are intended to do just that, " said Dan Leever, TA Foundation Founder and Chairman.
Eric Resnick, TA Foundation board member and supporter said, "We all know ski racing is an expensive sport, especially as athletes are striving to compete at the national and international level. TA Foundation is excited to help provide unique, highly subsidized training opportunities for the Team America and Junior Team America athletes."
​Kirk Dwyer, Executive Director of Ski and Snowboard Club Vail said, "Hig is a talented and highly motivated athlete deserving of this support. The Junior Team America programming and support identifies SSCV athletes on track toward international success and provides the incremental differentiated training critical to progress. Furthermore there is support for involvement by the next group of athletes with accessibility that is critical to development. This is only possible through the generous support of programs like TA."
SYNC Performance is a Vail, Colorado based mountain apparel brand with a focus on developing ski-racing products specifically to meet the needs of alpine ski racers.
Phil Shettig President of SYNC said, "We could not be more thrilled with our ongoing partnership with the TA Foundation and their athletes. They are vital to our product development and are instrumental in design and testing of new products for SYNC. It is through these relationships that we put into practice our commitment to focus on the athlete bringing to market innovative performance products based on their needs."
Follow these athletes all season long on the SYNC and Team America Instagram and Facebook pages.
For more information and to support TA Foundation: http://www.tafski.org/
An Analysis of Alpine Skiing: Results Posted
Over the past year, we have been working on a project to gain a better understanding of the development pathways in ski racing, with a goal to provide insight toward development and improvement in the future of USA ski racing. We looked to identify the motives, processes, people, and cultures that drive elite performance from junior level racing to World Cup competition.
The results have been finalized and are ready for broad distribution.
Follow the link below to access the findings of our study.
ALPINE SKIING ANALYSIS RESULTS
2016-2017 Projects Announced
Now accepting funding for the new project in 2016. Head over to our projects page to learn more about the latest initiative in US ski racing and how you can help.
LEARN MORE ABOUT 2016-2017 PROJECTS
info@teamamericafoundation.org​