National Team Selector

by John Tickner

I was privileged recently to be chosen as a selector, along with coach Randy Price, past coach Brian Spear, and Snowboard Life editor Kurt Hoy, for the National Snowboard team tryouts at Snowbird, Utah. Twenty-nine of the top instructors, clinicians and examiners came from around the country, from Main to Alaska, from New Mexico to Minnesota, going head to head to see who the six top dogs in the country are.

Riding up the chair the first day I saw some amazing skiing and snowboarding going on. The Alpine and Nordic teams were also having their tryouts at the same time, so it you can imagine about 100 really nervous instructors trying to throw down something a little bigger, or a little faster or more exciting, than the last guy, you'll get a feel for the kind of energy that was in the air.

 Being on the Demo team represents one of the highest achievements one can reach  as an instructor, so no one was laying back and cruising. For the entire country, there are only six spots available on each of the Nordic and snowboard teams, sixteen on the Alpine team. (go figure)

 Needless to say, it's a long way from twenty-nine to six. The first two days the candidates were graded on their riding and first impressions. Did they come out charging right from the start? Did they ride 5mph faster than the others, and make it look easy'. Did they ooze charm and personality, and show themselves to be natural leaders? If they did, they stayed. If they didn't, they caught an early flight home, or stayed to watch the next two days unfold.

 Day three started at 7:30 am, with indoor presentations. Fourteen people remained after the cut. Lane Clegg treated us to a cattle branding demonstration as the first presenter, so the rest of the morning the room was filled with the foul stench of burnt cow ear (with hair). The rest of the presentations were equally entertaining.

 On snow teaching also began on day three. Candidates were given the task of presenting "tips" based on a given task or topic, such as "develop style, flow and shape in long radius turns", or "upper vs. lower body for turn initiation". They received their topic at the top of the hill, and were given one minute to move the group to appropriate terrain; ten minutes to work with the group. Some amazing tips and information were given. The distillation of many years of teaching was shared in a period of a few hours.

 By day four, Sunday, the weather had changed. The Bluebird days from earlier in the week had been replaced by dark menacing clouds. It had started raining at the base, and a lot of the candidates were grumbling about going out in the rain, saying things like "we don't do that in Colorado". (I figured I wouldn't be calling any of THOSE guys to clinic in the NW). I had a feeling at that point that the NW boys were going to do well. Chad and Earl were preparing just like it was another day back home; laughing and joking with the gang, and telling them it was no big deal. Once we got on the hill, we were treated to a surprise. It had been snowing on the hill just above the base. About six to eight inches of heavy Northwest style powder over rain wetted corn. Even though I did expect more in the Land of "The Greatest Snow on Earth", it was exquisite. Imagine the typical Summit snow conditions laid over some of the sickest terrain in the world. Talk about FUNI!

 That afternoon, Burton Snowboards, who had been there all week with support equipment and some demos, threw a barbecue for the candidates and selectors. We swapped stories, ate burgers and blew off some steam. The tryout was officially done. Several of the candidates wanted to keep riding, and invited me out. No more grading or trying to impress, but to "just ride". Those were, by far, the most fun runs of the week.

 By lunch time the selectors had made our individual selections. The top three spots were unanimous. Now it was just a matter of agreeing on the last three. We went back and forth, and around in circles before deciding to have a martini. Maybe because it's the drink whose shape inspired the 'Y' model, maybe we just needed to relax. But we came to a unanimous agreement, and let go a huge sigh of relief. We had made our selection of the six demo team members who will represent AASI as our top educators for the next four years. I'm pleased to say that two of them are from the NW. In fact they are even from the same school. From Stevens Pass, Wa., Chad Frost and Earl Saline rose to the challenge and joined Mikey Franco from Jackson Hole, Shaun Cattanaugh from Stratton, Gregg Davis from Breckenridge, and Rob Baker from Alyeska on the 2000 demo team. I'm confident that these individuals will take on the daunting challenge of leading our sport, and organization into the 21st century with style, class and determination. Look for a clinic with one of the new National educators this winter!