USSA commends Sailer, Buck Hill Ski Racing Club

At age 80, Erich Sailer has seen almost everything in the world of alpine racing. But maybe the most inspiring thing the native of Austria and former ski racer has seen is the rise of Minnesota’s Buck Hill Ski Racing Club over the nearly 40 years Sailer has presided over the club south of Minneapolis.
    “It’s a slalom factory, the Buck Hill racing team. A really, true slalom factory,” Sailer said of the hill that sports just 300 vertical feet but has produced some of the top gaterunners in the history of American ski racing, including Kristina Koznick and current World Cup overall champ Lindsey Vonn. And in one of the proudest moments of the club’s existence on Friday night at the annual USSA awards banquet, the Buck Hill Ski Racing Club was named the USSA Club of the Year and Sailer was presented with the Tom Reynolds Lifetime Coaching Achievement Award.
PARK CITY, Utah — At age 80, Erich Sailer has seen almost everything in the world of alpine racing. But maybe the most inspiring thing the native of Austria and former ski racer has seen is the rise of Minnesota’s Buck Hill Ski Racing Club over the nearly 40 years Sailer has presided over the club south of Minneapolis.
    “It’s a slalom factory, the Buck Hill racing team. A really, true slalom factory,” Sailer said of the hill that sports just 300 vertical feet but has produced some of the top gaterunners in the history of American ski racing, including Kristina Koznick and current World Cup overall champ Lindsey Vonn. And in one of the proudest moments of the club’s existence on Friday night at the annual USSA awards banquet, the Buck Hill Ski Racing Club was named the USSA Club of the Year and Sailer was presented with the Tom Reynolds Lifetime Coaching Achievement Award.
    “[Sailer] represents integrity, passion, commitment. His work ethic is unparalleled,” USSA Director of Alpine Education Finn Gundersen told the crowd at the awards dinner.
    “I think many coaches in this room can remember Erich skiing down alongside his competitors yelling at them during a race. There’s no one like Erich. He’s an institution in this sport and he continues at his age of 80 right now.”
    Always gracious and deferring praise for himself, Sailer accepted the two awards and commended USSA President Bill Marolt for his leadership of the organization. Sailer also pointed out that he was probably the only person in the room who had hired Marolt to work for him many years ago. “I had the pleasure once to have him work for me,” Sailer said.
    “I’m not here for myself. I’m here for the club,” Sailer continued. “I am grateful and honored to have received this award, so on behalf of the Buck Hill Ski Racing Club, its team and many parents, volunteers, and all of the past and present presidents and board members I’d like to thank USSA.”
    Sailer also is the only inductee to U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame for his work in junior athlete development.
    “No foundation or trust, no rich donors, just people working really hard and staying motivated and doing the best they can for their children,” Sailer said of the work ethic and philosophy of the Buck Hill program. “The skiers are doing their part as well, skiing approximately 400 gates a night through the winter. I know some don’t think that’s so good. I think it’s very good. Repetition is the biggest part of our training.
    “I feel lucky and blessed to work with young people, stating active and motivated in the sport. I hope and wish the same for all of you.”

Silver level awards were also awarded to cross-country, freestyle, ski jumping/nordic combined and snowboarding clubs from across the nation on Friday night:

APU Nordic Ski Center Honored as Cross Country Club
The Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center, under the leadership of the USSA's Domestic Coach of the Year Erik Flora was recognized as the USSA Cross Country Club of the Year. APU, which has operated a training center for cross country skiers for ten years, has worked on training and developing some of the nations most talented nordic skiers. The first female World Cup winner in U.S. history Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, AK) is among the Olympians, national champions, Europa Cup winners and U23 medalists to call APU their club.

Freestyle Honors Sugarloaf/CVA
The USSA Freestyle Club of the Year award was presented to Sugarloaf/Carrabassett Valley Academy Freestyle. Its athletes had 12 top 10 finishes during the eight-stop NorAm tour this season. CVA, known for it's state of the art antigravity training complex, has produced a number of U.S. Freestyle Ski Team athletes including World Cup winner Emily Cook and Dave DiGravio.

Nordic Honors to Park City Nordic Ski Club
Park City Nordic Ski Club, a leader in national nordic sport development, was named the USSA Jumping/Nordic Combined Club of the Year. The club is home to athletes consistently progressing towards athletic success, which is illustrated by the fact that all six women on the U.S. Women's Ski Jumping Team and one U.S. Cross Country Ski Team athlete hailed from the program. This season, the club also hosted the backcountry.com U.S. Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Championships, which included the first nordic combined national championship event for women. Former U.S. Ski Team athletes Alan Alborn and Clint Jones headed the coaching staff under the club leadership of Greg Poirier.

Park City Snowboard Team Honored
The honor of USSA Snowboard Club of the Year went to Park City Snowboard Team, which hosted two major events – the Revolution Tour and Race to the Cup – and achieved outstanding results from its athletes this year. The Team, under the leadership of Mike Bell achieved two invites to the Lake Placid World Cup, two Junior World Championships invites, a number of Revolution Tour podiums, and in alpine, multiple podiums at NorAm events.