New Hampton School, WVA to provide joint alpine program

New Hampshire’s New Hampton School and Waterville Valley Academy are teaming up to provide a new joint alpine ski program run by the Waterville Valley alpine coaching staff, and with New Hampton School head J1/J2 alpine coach Jason Guilbert serving as NHS joint alpine program director. 

New Hampshire’s New Hampton School and Waterville Valley Academy are teaming up to provide a new joint alpine ski program run by the Waterville Valley alpine coaching staff, and with New Hampton School head J1/J2 alpine coach Jason Guilbert serving as NHS joint alpine program director.  
    In contrast with most other prep school offerings, the partnership will enable NHS alpine athletes to take advantage of an intensive “academy school approach” coupled with superior on-snow and dryland conditioning opportunities. They will also benefit from fully staffed competition schedules up to seven days a week during the winter months.
    NHS is a college-preparatory, day and boarding school with USSA and prep school racing programs, and WVA is a nationally recognized alpine FIS-level snowsports training academy.  NHS administrators met with Waterville Valley Black and Blue Trail Smashers (WVBBTS) Executive Director Peter Stokloza this winter to discuss ways to create a superior combined program.  
    “It became readily apparent,” said New Hampton Athletic Director Jamie Arsenault, “that WVA’s alpine program provides the depth to staff ratio and the customized competition schedules demanded of elite FIS level J1/J2 athletes.”
    The joint program will also offer off-season opportunities for WVA’s summer and fall dryland and aquatic conditioning programs in Waterville Valley along with on-snow programs in Hintertux, Austria; La Parva, Chile; and Copper Mountain, Colo.
    WVA’s staff includes head J1/J2 alpine coach Jack Bailey (a former Stratton Mountain School J1/J2 coach), J1/J2 alpine coach Stokloza (a former USSA Eastern Development Coach), and longtime FIS-level coach Anda Curuta (a former Plymouth State University alpine competitor), along with several other J1/J2 coaches.
    WVA alpine athletes have produced strong athletic results including three WVA athletes competing at U.S. Nationals, several podium finishes at J2 Nationals, and nine athletes competing in the J3 Olympics. These resulted in 10 podium finishes with three of its J3 Olympians earning the right to compete at the Canadian Nationals. WVA also offers its athletes a superior home training venue at nearby Waterville Valley Ski Area.  The USSA, the national governing body for US alpine racing, named the organization its 2006 Club of the Year.
    “Partnering with WVA is a natural fit,” Arsenault said. “It not only strengthens our full-time alpine USSA/FIS level J1/J2 program and our ability to attract top level alpine racers, but it also provides us with a means to create a very strong J3 development program under the leadership of seasoned WVBBTS head J3 alpine coach and executive director of athletes Tom Barbeau, a former Canadian national team coach and USSA Eastern Alpine and NHARA Coach of the Year.”
    “The synergy in establishing this program ran both ways,” Stokloza said. “Partnering with New Hampton School enables us to offer WVA students looking for the traditional nine-month college preparatory school setting to attend NHS full-time while continuing to reap the benefits of our full-time alpine training experience. Alpine athletes will attend NHS classes in the morning and receive full-time, on-snow training and dryland conditioning in the afternoons mid-week, along with weekend training in Waterville Valley.”
    The two schools already have partnered to serve elite snowsports athletes in the freestyle arena. Former NHS and WVA freestyle aerialist Dylan Ferguson is now on the U.S. freestyle team, and current NHS and WVA student-athlete Ali Lee has just earned her way onto the U.S. freestyle team.
    For more information on New Hampton School, call 603-677-3400 or visit www.newhampton.org. The Waterville Valley Black and Blue Trail Smashers Ski Educational Foundation operates Waterville Valley Academy. For more information, log on to www.wvbbts.org or call 603-236-4612.