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St. Luke's Ski Team Season Preview
The St. Luke’s Ski team is looking forward to another fun-filled season on the mountains under the tutelage of head coach Chris Phelps and his new assistant coach Brinley Ehlers.
Phelps, who started the ski program at SLS in 2007, is excited by the number of racers he has this winter and has been very impressed with the group so far. He said, “Preseason was great. Dry land training can be really tough because all you do is exercise but I haven’t seen a group of kids work as hard as this one.”
The coaches have really focused on keeping things fresh and have made yoga a mandatory part of their training twice every week. Phelps says it was initially met with some scepticism but thinks team members are beginning to see the results: “We changed things up a little bit this year and talked about the need to develop strength, flexibility and power. This is what yoga works on and I think the skiers are already seeing the benefits.”
This season will see SLS have two full teams for the first time in its history and Phelps is looking forward to working with the student athletes: “We have two full teams which is awesome. We have really focussed on grades 8-12 and developing the kids we have which is going to be great for them and the program.”
The line-up for the boys team will consist of Jack Viergever ‘17, Andrew Kurth, ‘18, Dominic DeMarco ‘18, Ben Jackson ‘18, Curtis Camp ‘19 and Archer Goodwyn ‘21. On the girls team will be Hannah Dekker ‘19, Kirsten Pastore ‘19, Harper Boege ‘20, Phoebe Kurth ‘20, Kathleen Ehlers ‘21, Lucy Ehlers ‘21 and Marie Berliet ‘21.
The team will start their on-snow training when they get back from break and will visit a number of local mountains including Mount Southington in Plantsville, CT, Mohawk Mountain in Cromwell, CT, and Thunder Ridge Mountain in Patterson, NY. The Head Coach is looking forward to hitting the slopes but knows the time they spend there has to be used wisely: “We only get about an hour and twenty minutes on the snow per week so it’s important we make the most of it. Going out and running gates is the important thing. We will spend twenty to thirty minutes on drills and then the rest of the time we will have them running gates.”
Phelps sees a number of the team competing with the best skiers around but says the main focus is always to improve and have fun. “My goal is for every kid to do better from the beginning to the end, to have fun and improve.” He added, “What’s great about our ski team is that it’s one of the few times where boys and girls come together and they are just together. I don’t see or experience a lot of status based on grade. They are just out there and out there together. It’s just them and the mountain!”
The St. Luke’s Ski team will have their first race of the season on January 5 on Mount Southington at 4pm.
St. Luke’s School is a secular (non-religious), private school in New Canaan, CT for grades 5 through 12 serving over 40 towns in Connecticut and New York. Our exceptional academics and diverse co-educational community foster students’ intellectual and ethical development and prepare them for top colleges. St. Luke’s Leading with Humanity curriculum builds the commitment to serve and the confidence to lead.
