As last season wrapped up with youth skiing championship races, one team kept popping up on podiums—first at the NH State Championships, then at the Eastern Championships, then the CanAms and then to the Whistler Cup. The team was CMS, Cardigan Mountain School.

To insiders, the 525-acre campus perched on a peninsula in Canaan St. Lake in New Hampshire is known as “The Point.” It is no new kid on the block. The school for boys in grades 6-9 was founded in 1945, with skiing as one of its original athletic offerings. By 1953, the school fielded a ski team and hosted competitions on its own (now gone) ski hill. From its founding, sports participation has been central to Cardigan’s philosophy of education, whereby values like teamwork, fitness, hard work and fair play contribute to personal development. Recently, however, the school has also delivered impressive skiing results that along with those values.

Perhaps not coincidentally, Julia Ford is starting her sixth year as Cardigan’s alpine ski program director. Ford came to CMS after a career as a two-time national DH champ, World Cup skier and 2014 Olympian. Despite her high-level background, the former Okemo and Holderness skier settled into her role seamlessly and finds herself right at home coaching middle school boys.

FORD ON FUNDAMENTALS

Ford feels passionate about the need for great coaching on a grassroots level. “I had some of my most influential coaches from this age group,” says Ford. “Obviously, my mom (Middlebury skier Lori Ford) was one of them, but I had absolutely incredible coaches at Okemo. A lot of my values and a lot of my passion for skiing started at this age.” Her main goal is to teach solid fundamentals in a highly supportive, low-pressure environment. “Skiing is so simple. Everything’s about efficiencies. We just overcomplicate it. If we’re going to develop good skiers and good people, it has to start when they’re younger because if they don’t have that foundation, there’s nothing to build off of.”

Ford, a three-sport athlete at Holderness, was attracted to a culture that blends multi-sport experience with rigorous academics and a small, supportive community. She joined a highly experienced staff who embodied Cardigan’s values and vibe. “I came into this incredible resource of knowledge, culture and community,” says Ford.

A key mentor is Alex Gray, who has been teaching and coaching skiing at Cardigan for 30 years. Gray explains that CMS attracts a mix of kids, day and boarding, local and from all over the country and world. No matter how you slice it, middle school can be rough. Gray and Ford both note that the single-gender environment allows boys to be more vulnerable and to take more risks. By living away from home at that age, says Gray, “a brotherhood forms between these kids. They know each other so well and learn to take care of each other.”

MORE TIME, MORE CONNECTION

It’s not just the kids who know each other well. Coaches at prep schools play many roles—coaches in multiple sports, teachers and dorm parents. Ford finds that helps build a level of trust. “They have to feel that you care and your stoke level is high.” It also assures the kids are even more inclined to review video, talk about training, or simply get to know each other better. “There’s just always time that you can connect,” says Ford.

Time is perhaps the most significant advantage of boarding school. Ford notes that coaches and athletes often panic or pivot if something doesn’t work right away. “But it takes time for all of us to learn and grow, and that’s where the passion for the sport comes in. That’s where you have to love skiing. You have to love the repetition. You have to love the pursuit of just trying to get better at something.”

Many Cardigan students also take advantage of the opportunity to repeat a year, either when they first come to the school or when they leave for high school. “It’s just a huge year of gaining maturity,” says Ford.

LOVE OF SPORT

The joy of skiing has always been the driving force of the program. “We ski a ton,” says Ford. Students are dismissed at 12:45 and have four hours to train. Sunapee, Whaleback and the Dartmouth Skiway are located 20-40 minutes away. They venture to Okemo, Stowe and Cannon for big mountain days to let loose. Cardigan’s coaching staff—Ford and Gray, Doug Clark and Giovanni Fassina—keep the energy high and fast-paced, striking the balance between disciplined training and stoking the fun meter. Ford explains: “We’re incredibly focused, but then sometimes we say, ‘We’re just gonna go shred today.’ Our goal here is that you love to ski more when you leave here than when you came here.”

GROWING POPULARITY

The alpine ski program had 15 kids in the winter of 2018. Last year, 50 of the school’s 233 students opted in. Ford added a JV Team that competes in the New England Preparatory School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) races against other prep schools to accommodate the surge in interest. The varsity team now focuses more on USSS races in New Hampshire, and kids who aren’t quite ready for JV head to the rec program to build skills. The idea is to meet kids at whatever their level is and celebrate it. “Because these kids spend so much time together, they’re able to find value in other people’s skill sets,” says Ford. “You might not be the fastest kid on the team, but you’re an incredible math student, or you’re great in another sport.”

In addition to skiing six days per week in-season, Cardigan provides interested kids ample off- and pre-season skiing opportunities. Those have included summer camps at Mt. Hood or Mammoth, indoors at New Jersey’s Big Snow venue in the fall, November trips to Copper Mtn. and a week-long pre-season camp at Sunday River in December. These trips all evolved as low-key family-friendly trips where, as Gray explains, “The basis was: learn to love skiing and you’ll love skiing for the rest of your life.”

UNIQUE ADVANTAGES

Another increasingly rare benefit Cardigan enjoys is the absence of cell phones. Ford explains: “When I’m at a meal at a race, or even between runs, the kids don’t have cell phones, so what do they do? They go skiing.” And they wrestle and have snowball fights and are generally…just being kids.

Each season, all students must actively participate in one of the 17 available sports. That daily exercise helps maintain wellness and mental health, and the variety of sports teaches kids to be good teammates and appreciate kids with other skills.

The academic schedule is ski racing friendly, especially the three-week spring break in March. As more kids qualify for championship events and feel motivated to compete in them, these events are increasingly becoming a significant part of Cardigan’s program.

Going away to school in 6th grade is a huge adjustment for any kid, especially for international students so far from home and family. It also offers unique opportunities for friendships and a broader, global perspective at a young age. “The international kids learn to cope at such a high level,” explains Gray. “It’s really good that the boys see different examples of how other boys are growing up.” Additionally, says Ford, all the kids “create a bit more autonomy, a bit more independence and confidence.”

In addition to the multiple fields, rinks, gyms and sports facilities on campus, CMS skiers, snowboarders and mountain bikers enjoy the Ski and Bike Center (SBC). The recently converted workshop houses lockers, a tuning room and a comfy video room with a huge TV monitor.

COST AND OPPORTUNITY

Private schools and ski racing are expensive at any age. That said, accessibility is a key part of Cardigan’s strategic plan. Cardigan’s total financial aid budget for this year is two and a half million dollars, with more than 30% of kids receiving some form of aid. There is also non-tuition funding available to support sports participation, and the school stockpiles a supply of gear, clothing and equipment to pass along to students who need it. “For families that are really interested but might not have the means, I always suggest, apply anyway,” says Ford. “If it’s a good fit, we have aid for you.”

Learn more about Cardigan Mountain School at Cardigan.org. Follow Cardigan’s teams @cardiganathletics