By Alexandra Sprouls ’19

With the wind whooshing against their chests, the ski team carves their way through Mount Southington in Plantsville, Connecticut after triumphantly concluding their extensive five week preseason.

Without any snow on the ground  during preseason, the boys and girls teams participate in dryland training to get in shape for their upcoming season.

“[Dryland training] helps establish who the racers are that are willing to dedicate the time to training, rather than individuals who just want to ski. How racers participate in dryland speaks a great deal about what we can expect from them once we are on the hill,” girls coach Rebecca Anderson-Furlong said.

Squats, wall sits, pushups and ab workouts are all part of their daily exercise routines that take place at Staples. They also partake in human slalom which replicates ski racing on land.

“Skiing requires you to use different muscles than you usually use throughout the year and therefore you have to prepare them so that you are ready to hit the slopes as soon as the snow comes,” boys coach Courtney Ruggiero said.

Without junior varsity ski teams, athletes can get cut at tryouts, even after participating in dryland training.

While Ruggiero understands how it may be upsetting to participate in dryland training and end up not making the team, she holds a strong belief that “it would be more unfair to not help all athletes be physically prepared for time trials […]. All of this helps kids start off on a more even playing field before we get on snow.”

After weeks of training, the skiers hit the slopes to take part in tryouts consisting of time trials where potential members are timed as they race down the Mount Southington Giant Slalom course.

Practicing on the slopes largely depends on the amount of snowfall.

“Snow is 100 percent the biggest thing that affects our season,” Hope Penwell ’17, a captain of the girls ski team, said.

There are very rigid margins for practice because when there is too little snow, the mountain will be closed, and when there is too much snow, school can be cancelled resulting in a lost practice.

“Last year the lack of snow made us uncertain when practice was, when race day was and when tryouts were,” Timothy Chiang ’17, a co-captain of the boys ski team, said.

This is the first time in the past four years that tryouts are being held before December break due to an increase of artificial snowmaking and snowfall at Mount Southington.

“We have some amazing racers on our teams,” Anderson-Furlong said. She would “encourage everyone to come up to Southington. Not only to cheer on these great racers but to see what an exciting and intense sport it is.”