The World Cup According to Grande: Snow in the Mountains, Body Protection and Fantasy Football

By Published On: September 24th, 2010Comments Off on The World Cup According to Grande: Snow in the Mountains, Body Protection and Fantasy Football

I’ve been trying to come up with a topic for this week. So, I figured I would just hit a few lines along a bunch of different topics and see where it takes me.

SNOW!

With snow on the Cascades this morning, it reminded me that winter is just around the corner. There has been snow in Montana, on the glaciers in Europe and almost 8 inches in Banff this week. It all makes me feel like we need to get ramped up. We need the equipment delivered, we need to go, go, go! And then I sit back and I see the calendar, and it is only September 24th, still a month away from the World Cup openers in Soelden for both men and women.  We are getting ourselves ready to head to Mt. Hood in 3 weeks to bring the MRST groups there for a short, 3-day slalom camp. It’s nice to be able to get down there in under 5 hours and get on snow for a long-weekend, bridging the gap between our August Camps and November race-prep camps in Vail, Colorado. And while this one and the first camp in Vail are MRST camps, the second one in November is a commercial endeavor with www.pvalpine.com. It should prove to be a great prep season as our conditioning has gone very well and the kids are stronger and quicker than ever before.

Our National Teams are in the Southern Hemisphere enjoying very hard snow in New Zealand and Chile. Many of the tech girls have come home to rest a little before heading to Saas-Fee for their final prep before Soelden. The men are finishing up at Coronet Peak outside of Queenstown on the South Island in New Zealand. Then those boys head off to Europe as well. Time to get it all in order for the big opener!

CONCUSSIONS

With all the NFL attention this fall on concussions and dealing with athletes who want to return to games even when they have symptoms, the topic of body armor and helmets has been suggested to me a number of times. It is obvious that we need to use helmets while racing. And your helmets should be fresh. And I mean you should have a new one every year at least. I think if you are a younger athlete who has never hit their headgear hard, they can likely go for 2 seasons as long as it fits properly. With that being said, an ill-fitting helmet doesn’t do much for you. If it is too small it is painful and you likely will not wear it all the time. If it is too big it will rattle around on your head causing more damage and could come off after the initial impact with the snow. Both situations are not acceptable. And as we discuss helmets, I am not just advocating them for speed events and GS. Wearing a full helmet in slalom is important. You will see a lot of World Cuppers using half-helmets without hard ear-coverings. And while this is “cool” and can cross-over to free-skiing and the park, it is also risking your health with your temples being exposed to hard contact with the snow or a gate. If you want to make one helmet work, get a full helmet made for racing and a slalom bar to convert the full helmet to a slalom helmet.

While we are on concussions, we need to address mouth-pieces. Last year, the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl. They were well-known to have used Under Armor mouth pieces that are supposed to enhance balance and strength through how it correctly closes the jaw. That being said, mouth-pieces also protect against concussions by reducing impact in the head by softening the blow jaw to jaw. I spoke to a former USSA Sport Science person who did some testing on mouth-pieces last season and found that an inexpensive mouth-piece does all the necessary things. It helps you combat impact on your jaw; it helps with balance and strength through proper jaw alignment and helps with reduction of the instances of concussion. And it protects your teeth, which is what it was originally meant to do!

The last thing I will say on concussions is that I would encourage everyone to do an imPACT™ baseline test. It is an on-line service that takes about 30 minutes to complete. Just go to www.impacttest.com and sign up to purchase. You can encourage your club or high school to join as a client. I just took it a few hours ago. It’s easy to do and then you have a place to measure symptoms when you have an athlete who has had a concussion. It then allows you to log back in to the site to test against the baseline. As a coach, it gives you a tool to at least have the knowledge of where someone stands in their recovery. Obviously, there is an acceptable margin with regard to returning to baseline. I am sure I would not score exactly the same if I re-administered the test right now, with no difference in my concussion status.  It will definitely take some of the guess-work out of whether or not someone is ready to return to training or racing.

BACK PROTECTION

To me, this is a must for speed training and racing. Any time your skis are going to leave the ground, it is an absolute necessity. I would recommend them for GS as well. You never know when you are going to end up on your back, or sliding into something hard back-first or hitting B Net. Think about it. But adding to that, back protectors have tested faster in the wind-tunnel when put against someone without a back protector. There are many brands out there and they all work well. Try on a few different ones and get the right size! If it is uncomfortable, you will not wear it and it does no good strapped to your pack. Wear your back protector in training as well as racing so it feels no different on race day and you are used to wearing one. AND WEAR IT WHEN YOU GO FREE SKIING AND GOING BIG IN THE PARK! If you can, go find the TGR trailer for the “Almost Live, Season 2” movie. It is available on You Tube and I just re-tweeted it on Twitter as an open letter to SlyTech from Daron Rahlves. The crash Rahlves took was huge but it gives you an idea of why you should wear one when you are taking risks outside of the race-course. Again, all of the back protector brands are excellent; you need to find the one that fits you the best so you will wear it!

US SKI TEAM FANTASY FOOTBALL

In a quick update from the USST Fantasy Football League:
After 2 weeks, Chris “Uncle Virgil” Brigham is in the lead at 2-0 just ahead of my team in second. There are 8 guys at 1-1 and 2 teams at 0-2. Ted Ligety has the most points after a huge week last week at 146+ points. Ridiculous.  AlpineRaceConsulting (my team) and the Unclevirgils go head to head this weekend for the undisputed lead and only undefeated team left in the USST FFL. There can be only ONE!

Click here to go to Alpine Race Consulting

Greg “Grande” Needell grew up ski racing at Stratton Mountain,
Vermont. After graduating from SMS he skied for NCAA Division 1 St.
Lawrence University in Canton, NY where he was co-captain in 1986. Greg
returned to SMS to coach there for five years serving as the Head
Women’s Coach as well as the Head J2 Men’s Coach. He then moved to
Mission Ridge in Wenatchee, Washington in 1992 to become the Program
Director and Head Coach of the Mission Ridge Ski Club. In 1997, Greg
became the Head Coach at Mammoth Mountain, California.

In 2002 Needell was asked to join the U.S. Ski Team staff as a World
Cup SL and GS coach. From 2002 to 2008 Needell helped lead the U.S. Ski
Team Men to 43 wins, 105 podiums and 264 top ten finishes. Now at the
helm of Alpine Race Consulting, Needell offers his knowledge and
experience to clubs nationwide.

Click here for “The World Cup According to Grande” archive.

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About the Author: Pete Rugh