Special Olympics GB SE Region Ski Training Week in Serre Chevalier

March 30, 2010

 

 

Special Olympics SE
Region Ski Group

 

Race Training – Serre Chevalier 
March 2010

Twenty skiers accompanied by 5 instructors and a team of carers departed at the ungodly hour of 06.30 from Gatwick Airport bound for Turin and on to Serre Chevalier in France. The group included six SOS athletes:- Tom Cardillo Zallo, Greg Friend, Mikael Undrom, Phil (PJ) Jordan, Karen Oosthuizen and Caroline Ball. Tom and Greg are advanced skiers, Mikael, Caroline and PJ are intermediates and Karen a beginner, having never skied on snow before.

We arrived at Turin in heavy snow (but with no disruption!) and were soon on the coach for the 2 hour journey to the resort. As we crossed the pass from Italy to France we left the snow behind although it was pretty murky. The group established themselves in the hotel and sorted out their hire gear while head coach Liam de Vanney dragged his weary coaches off on a tour of the lifts and pistes so as to be ready for an early start on Monday morning. Liam gave the skiers a briefing on the next day’s plans and provided them all with note books to list the highlights of each day. This was followed by a 5 course buffet dinner and an early night.

We were greeted on Monday morning by a clear blue sky and an endless vista of snow covered peaks. We all traveled up the Grande Alpe gondola to the Serre Ratier ski area where we separated into ability groups and set off for some practice runs. Karen was led by her instructor and assisted by Sue CZ to the gentle nursery slope to begin her first acquaintance with snow. Liam spent the first two days coaching the beginners and intermediates before taking over the advanced skiers for some serious race training.

Tuesday was once again sunny till lunchtime when it closed in and became very murky with low cloud so skiing was somewhat restricted. Karen managed a half day on the nursery slope before retiring for a break. On Wednesday which was cloudy but bright in the morning I took over from Sue to help Karen and her instructor of the day, Spike (the instructors rotated each day). She had obviously gained considerable confidence by now so after a couple of quick runs Spike decided that she was ready to ski down the long easy run through the forest back to the village which she managed with ease apart from a brief hug with a tree. We then acquainted her with the chair lift back to the lunch stop. This can be daunting for a first timer as you have to get on and off wearing skis but she managed this with no trouble.

We all met at the same mountain restaurant each day where lunch was organized by Will Cottrell’s parents, Peter and Maureen. This saved a lot of hassle as the athletes were ready for a hot meal and a drink by now. It snowed heavily during lunch on Wednesday so when we all took off in the afternoon there was a lovely layer of fresh powder snow on the hard piste. Spike and I took Karen on another long chairlift nearly to the top of the mountain. She skied back down on Green (very easy) and Blue (easy) runs getting better all afternoon. She even managed a Red (difficult) by the end of the day. She was now able to join the other two competent novices in the party but soon proved too quick for them and was promoted to the intermediate group by Friday. Sue and I went with her to make sure she could cope. On Friday afternoon we set off on a cross country route and traveled a total of 16 miles up and down. This was quite an achievement for a skier who could barely link two turns on Monday. I have written much about Karen because she was the success story of the trip but our other skiers also worked hard. On Thursday Friday and Saturday we were blessed with glorious cloudless skies and superb skiing conditions. On Thursday I skied with the novices in the first part of the morning then moved over to the advanced group where Greg, Tom and the others were practicing race starts and learning to ski on one leg (wearing only one ski) to refine their ski control on a slalom course. Helpers were not excused the exercises so fun was had by all. In the afternoon we set off for several hours high speed piste bashing which was very exhilarating. On Friday I joined the intemediates as I have described. They are no sluggards and we clocked up many miles. Saturday was more of a fun day where we skied far and wide in our groups.

Mikael was the fastest of the intermediates and the plan was for him and me to join the advanced group in the afternoon but we were out so long in the morning that we missed them at the lunch break which was probably just as well as they returned pretty shattered after 4 hours of high speed piste bashing to another village and back. We clocked up 25 miles of up and down (on my GPS) in the intermediate group. For the end of the afternoon the group slowly depleted as members got tired and returned to the hotel with their carers. Mikael and I were left together on the mountain. He had requested that we finish with a black run as he had never done a whole one from top to bottom. This is the sort of run you see in the World Championship Downhill events. We had a great finish to the week descending the “Luc Alphand” named after a local ski star although we must confess to putting in just a few more turns than Luc would have needed!

The evenings were also good fun with a quiz on Thursday, which we came third in, mainly because of the athletes’ knowledge of popular music. The carers were unable to assist! Friday was Disco and Karaoke which was much enjoyed by the whole group. Saturday was a quiet evening with awards and thanks for the group leaders, coaches and carers. The athletes were all presented with a participation medal on behalf of Nielsons by Cookie our dedicated and popular rep.

Altogether this was wonderful experience for the athletes and a rewarding one for the carers and coaches. Our thanks in particular to Judy Way of the Bromley Group for organising the whole thing, to Liam for his dedicated leadership of the training, to Chris, Spike, Kevin and Keith for their coaching and to all the carers who made it logistically possible.

Photographs can be viewed by visiting http://tinyurl.com/yky3fjg

 

Skiing Photo