Training with Whistler Mountain Ski Club

Cory was invited to join the Whistler Mountain Ski Club for some gate training last week. WMSC has been the home club for many of Canada's best racers and is coached by Rob Boyd, one of Canada's best known ski racers. Rob was born and raised at the foot of Whistler and remains as the only Canadian male to win a World Cup downhill race in Canada - and that was on the Dave Murray Downhill at Whistler. Cory was the first ever athlete with a disability to train with Whistler Mountain Ski Club.

Here Cory is waiting in line with members of WMSC for his turn at some start training. He has never trained this specific part of racing before and it is certainly something he needs to improve upon, so this was a good way to start the day.



His first try is a bit on the lazy side:




And in spite of some instruction from his coach and a reminder from me to put a bit more effort into it, not much improvement:





Some improvement in the effort here, but it's clear that Cory needs to work on this part of his racing:




Then it's time for some Giant Slalom gate training, with Rob Boyd at the start:





Continuing to show improvement in his stance, with his hands forward and feet apart, and looking more comfortable doing so:







And the final run of the day as the snow begins to fall heavily on the Dave Murray Olympic Downhill:




Cory trained again with Whistler Mountain Ski Club the following week for two days of gate training, one for Slalom and another for Giant Slalom.

A little warm-up here on some stubbies. There was a fair amount of soft snow which quickly became deep ruts as the racers practiced through the course.




Some instructions from Coach Rob:




More video from slalom training with Whistler Mountain Ski Club:



















Our sincere thanks to Rob Boyd and the Whistler Mountain Ski Club for including Cory in some of their Christmas 2010 Race Camps. We'll look forward to another opportunity to train with them.

Next up is the second Kokanee race of the season. Cory will once again aim to not finish last!

Training and Racing at Whistler

After his week at Hurricane Race Camp in Loveland, Colorado last month, Cory kicked off his local training and racing season with 2 days of training and racing with Whistler Adaptive Sports Programs at Whistler-Blackcomb.

Working with a new coach, Luke Hadley (who's father was a teammate of Nancy Greene in the 70s...and Cory has met Nancy Greene a couple of times now...the Canadian ski racing community is a small one!), Cory participated in a Gatebusters session on the Dave Murray run at Whistler - the same run that was used during the 2010 Olympic Games last February.



It was Luke's first time at working with a disabled athlete and it worked out really well. Luke was impressed with Cory's skiing ability and his willingness to learn - his coachability - and by the end of the day Luke was saying he was looking forward to working with Cory more often.

One of our objectives when Cory went to Loveland was to improve Cory's racing by one second - find a way to make Cory faster by one second through an average race course. Over the last couple of years, Cory has been neck-and-neck with his main competitors at Special Olympics, so going into any given race it's difficult to say who will come out the winner.

It will likely be only the winner of the qualifying races next March that will be invited to the Nationals in 2012, so we figured if Cory could find a way to become one second faster, then he would have a much better chance of qualifying and give him a larger margin for a small error.

After Coach Luke had worked with Cory for the day, he said that Cory could easily improve by one second with more coaching and training, and that's on top of what Cory learned at Loveland. So that was great for Cory to hear, giving his confidence a real boost and motivating him even more to keep working hard at improving his skills.

Coach Luke continued to work on the same things as Cory worked on at Loveland, though he has now mastered keeping his feet further apart. Luke told him to keep his hands out in front of his body and to move his body further forward, and to work harder at getting up on the edge of his skis.

And we can see some of that work in these videos:









On this day the training course was not directly accessible by chair lift, so there was a fair amount of walking uphill involved. It made for a tiring day, so by 2pm we're on our way back down...and Whistler is covered in snow.








Later, a walk through Whistler Village all dressed up for Christmas:





The next day is a chance for Cory to put his learning to work, in the first Kokanee race of the season. This series of races is held on most Thursdays during the winter at Whistler-Blackcomb. It is open to all and Cory is often the only racer with a disability. Racers earn points depending on their finish, with 100 points to the winner. The racer with the most points at the end of the season is the Kokanee champion. Cory normally finishes in last place in his age group (19-29), so we jokingly set an objective of not finishing last and picking up a few points!

Looks like a good day for a race:




Cory having a good look at the 25 gates on this Giant Slalom race course set out on the Gandy Dancer run on Blackcomb mountain:




This day, Cory is working with Sammy Kent, a former Canadian ski team member and here they are working together during the pre-race course inspection:





And some warming up just before it's Cory turn to race:




And his first run...1:06.76....though I picked a poor location, shooting a video right into the sun:





And then his second run, a much improved 1:00.24, the most improvement of any of the 52 racers entered:




So a combined time of 2:07.00, and 8th out of the 11 racers in his age group, so Cory doesn't finish last and picks up 40 points! And Coach Sammy agrees with Coach Luke that Cory can easily find another second or two with more coaching and training. Cory will need to keep working on his stance, especially moving his hips forward, and will need to learn to take a more aggressive line through a race course.

A good couple of days of training & racing. Next week, a return trip to Whistler is in the plans, perhaps working with Coach Luke again but this time with Whistler Mountain Ski Club.

Then the first week of January kicks off the official training season for both Special Olympics and Vancouver Adaptive Snow Sports, so it will be 3 times a week of training or racing, in preparation to those qualifying races in Kelowna on March 4 and 5.

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A Week at Hurricane Race Camp, Loveland, Colorado

Cory attended his second Hurricane Race Camp last week. His first was in July 2007 at Mount Hood in Oregon. This time, under very different weather conditions, the camp was held at Loveland, Colorado. In July 2007, temperatures soared to over 30 degrees C. Last week, wind chills hit minus 30C. So Cory has learned to race under a variety of extreme weather conditions.

We drove two hours to Seattle, then flew for about 2 1/2 hours to Denver, Colorado, where we were picked up by another racer and her mom. We then drove for another couple of hours to our condo at Silverthorne, CO.





The next morning we awoke to this view from our bedroom window:





Then it was time to load up the van for the 15 minute drive to Loveland:




Loveland Ski Area is built in a horseshoe shape bisected by Interstate Highway 70, which runs through a tunnel under the mountain where we skied.




The west entrance to the tunnel:



I-70 bisecting the ski area:



And here are the magnificent views from the top on our first day:








Cory was part of a group of 10 racers, all younger than him, and no others had a disability. The coach of Hurricane Race Camps is Bob Vial, who also coached Cory at Mount Hood in 2007. Bob has been very gracious at accepting Cory into his camps, and holds Cory to the same standards and expectations as he does with the other racers. And that's fine with us...it's a challenging environment for Cory since he is expected to listen, understand, and learn at the same pace as the others. In addition, there is a lot of non-skiing work involved with preparing equipment and carrying from house to car to ski lodge, putting all the equipment on, and being ready to go at the right time. But in both camps, Cory has learned a lot about what it takes to excel at ski racing.

In 2007 at Mount Hood, Cory learned about the mental challenge of ski racing, and the courage it takes to race through a race course full of plastic poles, on steep and icy terrain. He showed at Mount Hood that he had the heart of a champion, that he wasn't afraid to attack a race course and work through his fear.

Last week, he learned about the physical challenges of ski racing, not just due to the extreme cold, but also he learned how physically demanding it has to be to become a better racer. It's no longer just a matter of pointing skis down a hill and making some turns...he learned that good racers need to put into place a long series of small body movement culminating in tremendous pressure being applied, at just the right angle, to the appropriate edge of a ski, by leg muscles from the hip, through the thigh, knees, and ankles, all the while keeping the upper body straight and facing towards the bottom of the hill. For the first time, I heard him grunting as he made turns through a race course.

The days consisted of coach-assigned drills during the morning runs and then gate training in the afternoon.

One of the drills consists of sking on one leg at a time:



And here's Coach Bob instructing the team on a drill where they ski with their hands on their hips (after taking the ski poles away from the racers, Bob asks me to carry them):



Here's an example of how Coach Bob encourages his racers to get out of their comfort zone. By suggesting they put their poles up from their heads while doing a one-ski drill. By pushing themselves into doing something out of the ordinary, Bob hopes this will encourage them to continue to try to do things they don't normally do. The video also shows how windy the conditions were that day.



And here is the Hands on Hips drill, again under very windy conditions. Here the racers learn to push their hips to the side in order to gain an angle to their legs that allows for their feet to roll over in order to get their skis higher up on their edges.



This video is just about the wind:



Then one of my favourite video clips of Coach Bob in action. A great demonstration of how to keep the upper body still while making turns - imagining a flashlight in your navel.




One of the things that I like about Cory working with Bob is shown here. Bob has the ability to observe each of this racers and give them excellent individual feedback. Somehow he sees something in each of them and then can recall it a little while later to let them know what they're doing well and what they need to improve. This was still Cory's first day at Hurricane, and Bob points out that Cory isn't getting his skis up on edge enough. He has to learn to keep his feet further apart to give himself the space to turn his ankles over to get those skis up. Otherwise, instead of doing a carving turn, his skis slide away from the turn and this forces him to pivot his feet in order to complete the turn. This removes the pressure that builds under the skis, which when released to begin a new turn, actually propels the skier forward. If Cory is to truly improve his racing, then he must learn to get his skis further up on their edges.



Coach Bob then discusses how the racers need to use their Coach's feedback even while free-skiing and keep working without the coach's presence.



The next drill has the racers holding the poles across the back of their shoulders. This drill is intended to have the racers keep their upper bodies facing the bottom of the hill. Cory's body faces the bottom of the hill quite well, but he is moving his body up and down in order to generate pressure on his skis rather than shifting his hips and knees to allow his ankles to roll over.



And the snow dancing in the wind at the top of Loveland:



And then it's off to the Fuxi Racing store. Fuxi is a bit of a legend in the US racing world, and he is certainly a character. Cory and I had visited his store at Mount Hood in 2007, and believe it or not, he remembered us and remembered what we'd bought there.



Here's Fuxi in action:




And the moon rises over the Colorado Rockies as we head home:



The next morning is Day 2 of Cory's week at Hurricane Race Camp, and on this day and the rest of the week, there will be free-ski drills with Coach Bob in the morning, then gate training in the afternoon. Here we are unloading the vans as we arrive at Loveland Basin. Cory learned at Hurricane on Mount Hood in 2007 that ski racing is very much a lot of baggage handling. And this time, even more so, since after lunch each day it's time to move to Loveland Valley for gate training.





But well worth the effort since Loveland Ski Resort closes the Valley area to the public and reserves it only for race training, giving the racers the opportunity to access lifts with no waiting so they can maximize their gate training time.



And that attracts race teams from not just all over North America, but from all over the world. Here's a racer from Scotland with her coach from Team Great Britain. During the week we saw racers from France, Croatia, Norway, Argentina, and Canada. We had the opportunity to sit with the Canadian team in their trademark yellow race suits. And we really enjoyed talking with Team Argentina, 4 women who had raced at the 2010 Olympics so we had seen them in action there. Two of them were sisters: Maria and Macarena Simari-Birkner and they wished Cory good luck in his own quest to race on an international stage.



Back on the race course, a short course has been set up with brushes just to give the racers a warm up for a normal slalom course. It is easy to see here that Cory is not getting up on his edges enough and is making his turns by pivoting his feet, which results in the tails of his skis sliding along the snow.



His next run really shows his pivoting as he goes around the red brush just before the camera position as he slides down the mountain rather than hold the turn towards the next gate. But you can already see some improvement in the space between his feet:



And then his first run though a normal course, though it's quite flat near the camera and so his speed really slows. But he hasn't had much experience at attacking gates and knocking them down. There will be a total of 3 days of slalom training and 3 days of giant slalom...this is still day one.



The next day, more slalom training and Cory seems to be more comfortable knocking down gates. He's wearing new padded gloves that he bought at Fuxi's and is now wearing a "stealth" armoured vest for additional protection.



Each night at Hurricane, Coach Bob does a video review of each racer's work during the day. Here's Bob's analysis of one of Cory's runs and he tells Cory that his pole plants should be up near the tips of his skis rather than by his boots. This will move Cory's body into a more aggressive position with his weight forward and over his boots rather than behind.




Back on the way to Loveland the next morning, some old American west architecture....



And a gorgeous bluebird day on the mountain...as Bob instructs his Team Hurricane racers for another drill...






And then much to the delight of the Team, Coach Bob takes a tumble!




Team Hurricane November 2010:




Then it's back to the racecourse:



It's the first day of Giant Slalom training and Cory is showing some good speed through the course, though with all that slalom training for two days he forgets he can tuck in a GS course to pick up speed....you can hear me trying to remind him! He's now learned to keep his feet further apart and he's getting better edge pressure on his skis. He has an agressive athletic stance but needs to relax his arms a bit and keep his pole plants closer to his ski tips. He does need to move his stance up and forward a bit more as well, but as Coach Bob said, he's really starting to look like a racer now.



And a beautiful end to the day:




The next morning during a drill, Cory gains some unexpected air on a sharp turn and flies off the course and down an embankment. Fortunately, he crashed into some safety netting which pushed him away from that tree just to the right of his ski in this photo, taken as he made his way back up.




Back on the race course, this sequence of photos shows Cory in that same aggressive stance, but in this case much too far back on his skis.







And after hard day of training, a nap on the way back to the condo:



Next day, Thanksgiving in the USA, it's back into slalom training and under extremely cold conditions. With a wind chill factor of -35F, we managed 11 runs in the morning before heading over to the race course for another 7 runs through during the afternoon.

Looking really good here, attacking that gate, up on his edges, looking down the course, and his left ski bends under the pressure he's putting on it.








And after another couple of runs through, he's starting to show more confidence as he starts skiing right at the gates, getting his ski tips very close to the poles, moving his body forward a bit more, and really pushing on his edges. And for the first time ever, I can hear him grunting with exertion as he skis by me.









And yes it was cold! Cold enough to form icicles on your clothing!



And after all that work out in the cold, time to tuck into some Thanksgiving turkey dinner!





And then it's our final day at Loveland with the Hurricane Race Team. It's a day of training on a full-length Giant Slalom course and a chance for Cory to put all he's learned into the last few runs.

Here's his last run....feet apart, body forward, up on his edges, poles plants closer to the tips of his skis, and showing some good speed even on the flat part of the course.




So a very good week of learning....a week of travel, dealing with new surroundings and teammates, early mornings, new skiing drills, lots of hard work, plenty of baggage handling, listening to Coach Bob's instructions and feedback, coping with extreme cold, and racing at a whole new level.



Cory has his first race of the year in mid-December, just a Kokanee race at Whistler, but on difficult terrain and competing against non-disabled athletes who have more experience. It will be a good test of his new found skills.

But the true test remains with his qualifying races in Kelowna next March 4 & 5. There he will learn whether this very demanding week at Loveland helps put him at the top of the podium with a chance to join Team BC at the 2012 Special Olympics National Games in Alberta.

But first, he has to put all his gear away for another day.



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Look for an update after the Kokanee race on December 16.

Some Great News!

Even though it's just the beginning of September, it's been an eventful week in terms of news for Cory's ski racing career.

First, he's been invited to attend Bob Vial's ski racing camp in Loveland, Colorado in late November. Cory attended Bob's camp on Mount Hood in Oregon in 2007. Here he is with Bob on Mount Hood...





This camp will be a great start to Cory's preparations for his race in March - the qualifying race for the 2012 Special Olympics National Winter Games in Alberta - his next step to the World Games in 2013.


Here he is in action on Mount Hood in 2007.




Then at Whistler yesterday, Cory met with Rob Boyd, a former Canadian World Cup ski racer, who now is Head Coach of the Whistler Mountain Ski Club. After a brief discussion about the challenges of Cory's autism, Rob invited Cory to attend his race camp at Whistler over the Christmas holidays. Another great opportunity to improve his skills and prepare for the qualifying race in March.

Still a long time till ski season, but some exciting developments for Cory.

Cory in slalom action in January 2010 at Sun Peaks near Kamloops, in the Disabled Skiers Association of BC Provincial Championships:

Time now for our last posting about Cory at the 2010 Special Olympics National Summer Games in London, Ontario last July, with photos and video that we just didn't have time to post earlier.

Starting with departure day, July 11, 2010.

At home, looking rather pleased and excited to get going:




Airport parking lot...Cory discovered on Mount Hood 3 years ago that the life of an athlete is very much the life of a baggage handler:




With a lot of "hurry up then wait"....




...while the rest of Team BC congregates:




Time to check-in at the flight counter:




See ya in London Cory - Good Luck!



Now onto the competition:

A strike in Game 1 versus Saskatchewan, and with a score of 251, 42 points over his average, Cory earns a point for his team which gains 6 out of 8 possible points:





During Game Two, this time vs Alberta, a score of 206, 3 points below his average, but still earns a point and his team earns 7 of the 8 possible points:





Then a nice spare with Cory's uncle Gilles cheering him on:




Game 3, against Prince Edward Island, and a score of 192 which would turn out to be Cory's lowest score for the entire competition. Cory does not earn a point and the team gains only 1 of the 8 possible points.

After punching the head pin, an awkward delivery that still takes down a couple of pins:




Then a strike with Uncle Gilles still cheering with a big "Yes!":




Another good ball, still against PEI on Day One, but the right corner refuses to fall:





Then Day Two, starting with Manitoba...a nice throw..and his mum groans as the left corner pin stays up:




Next it's the right corner pin's turn again, and it was starting to look like just one of those days!




But as he has learned, he forgets about the last ball and any thought of bad luck, and focuses on getting the spare.




Then two strikes in a row...and a focused attempt for a turkey (3 in a row), with dad doing some tongue-in-cheek play-by-play, that just misses:




Cory bowls 231 in this game, 22 points over his average, earns a point and the team takes 7 of the 8 points.

Looking back, it's clear that Cory was able to win this tournament not by throwing a lot of strikes - the most consecutive strikes he had was 3, and he only did that twice all week. He has bowled up to 6 in a row before. But his ability to not get discouraged by pins not dropping and focusing on getting the spare really gave him an advantage. This was a difficult bowling alley for the higher average bowlers as only 4 of the 30 top bowlers beat their averages. With the pins not dropping as easily as they normally do, bowlers who would normally get a strike with a good ball often left just one pin standing. So it really was the bowlers with the ability to focus on their second ball that did well. Bowlers with lower averages normally need two or three balls to get all five pins anyways so the pins staying up after the first ball didn't really affect them. But for those bowlers who bowl 4 or 5 strikes per game with averages in the 200-range, spares were the only way to get a high score.

Then onto the next game, a memorable one, this one against another team from Alberta. And things did not start well, with Cory punching the head pin in the first frame.





The next frame not much better as Cory misses his target:




And by the fifth frame, halfway through the game with only 60 points up on the board, Cory struggles with his composure and it's time for his coach Judy to have a chat:





And whatever Judy said, it worked. Cory came back with a strike in the 6th frame, and with this spare on his last ball of the game, put 163 points up on the board over the last five frames to finish at 223, 14 points over his average. You can hear me say "one of his best games ever" - not because of the score but because he had to overcome a lot of adversity to get there. His 223 is 14 points over his average but not quite good enough to earn a point and his team takes only 3 of the 8 points.




After the game, a few minutes to chat with Cousin Debbie, with Uncle Gilles looking on with his other Cousin Diane.




Then it's onto Day 3 and a game against the Northwest Territories. At this point, we knew Cory's team was in 2nd place, 3.5 points behind another team from BC, a team they will compete against in the second game of the day. That game could likely decide which team will go directly to the Gold Medal game the next day.


Here's a good looking ball against the Territories, but the right corner stays up:




But all the pins fall down on this shot:





The left corner stays up on the next shot, but Cory nicely picks up the spare:





Then a strike and this game seems to be going just fine:



But then a couple of open frames where Cory did not spare or strike, followed by a couple of strikes in a row, finishing with a score of 247, 38 points above his average,earning a point and the team takes all 8 possible points.






Then it's the game against the other team from BC, which will determine who will qualify for the Gold Medal game the next day. A good start...




But then this...




and this.....




and this.




Which means time for another chat with Coach Judy.



And again Coach Judy knows exactly what to say...










And that spare ends a game of 226, 17 points above Cory's average, earning one point for the team and the team earns 6 of the 8 points and takes 1st place, moving directly to the Gold Medal game the next day.

And, Cory has a total pinfall count of 1576 for the 7 games, 113 points over his average, and that gives him 1st place in the A Division where 6 of the other 7 bowlers did not beat their averages. The 2nd place bowler was 50 points above his average, so Cory's score was more than double his nearest rival. An excellent week of bowling under pressure in a difficult bowling alley for high average bowlers.

It's great to know that Cory prepared himself very well, both in practicing a lot by playing over 200 games during the winter as well as being prepared for the pressure and adversity. Certainly his coach helped him a lot but few champions can do it all on their own. He has learned that a good plan is the basis for good results, so now he is working on a plan for the upcoming ski season which hopefully will include a first-ever race camp in November to kick-start this qualifying winter of ski racing.

The team Gold Medal win is well documented in previous posts so that brings the story to his triumphant arrival back at Vancouver airport on July 18. We had flown back the night before in order to be there when Team BC returned, and other family members and friends were with us too.


Here's Cory at Vancouver airport with good family friend Elaine, Aunt Sandie and Uncle Brian, and his mum. Sandie had brought large Canadian flag, fitting for a national champion:



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Waiting for his luggage with Cousin Rebecca:

So that's it, 2 Gold Medals from the 2010 Special Olympics National Summer Games hang on Cory's bedroom wall. A first and wonderful experience at a National competition.

Bowling season restarts in about 3 weeks and there may be a few local tournaments to compete in, but of course this is a big ski year. We'll post again in a few months when the ski season is near.

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