Whistler’s Jordan Williams, men’s head coach for the B.C. Ski Team, says he used to spend a lot of time “trying to motivate guys to get up and do their job” when he was with the team some 15 years ago. No longer.
“These guys know what they want, they know what they’re doing, they know what they need to do,” Williams said on Saturday (Nov. 14) at the Whistler Mountain Ski Club (WMSC) cabin, while the 12 hardworking athletes being named to the B.C. Ski Team and development squad were put through their paces in the Canadian Sport Centre Pacific gym.
The final team rosters were announced Saturday.
Williams said the team members, ranging in age from 16 to 21, have worked so hard over the summer that a big storm could be brewing — but the coach noted that they won’t really know how the racers will stack up against the other provincial teams until they hit the race courses.
“What we’ve asked (of the athletes), we’ve been getting, for the most part,” Williams said.
Whistler’s Conrad Pridy is expected to be a leader of the five-member men’s team, as the 21-year-old works toward making the national development team. His brother Morgan joins him alongside fellow WMSC members Ben MacLean of Whistler and Michael Cadman of Anmore, as well as Tyler Werry of the Fernie Alpine Ski Team.
Williams, who will be joined by assistant coach Jeff MacLennan of Whistler to lead the men’s team, said he hopes to see Morgan Pridy, MacLean and Werry qualify for the world junior championships, particularly since they won’t be juniors after this year.
“It’s a good time for them to step up,” Williams said, adding that he believes they can do it, given all the work they have put in, though the efforts by competitors remain unknown.
West Vancouver’s Jocelyn Ramsden, a 16-year-old WMSC member, has qualified for the national team alongside Sarah Freeman of the Fernie team. Women’s head coach Gregor Druzina said the young skiers had a “really good” summer of training, and will be expected to build their experience this season by going to more NorAm Cup races and moving toward qualifications for the national team.
“Realistically, we’ll see. We have some potential here but they’re still younger. We’ll have to work harder,” Druzina said.
WMSC members Ford Swette of North Vancouver and William Konantz and Spencer Morris of West Vancouver have been named to the men’s development team. On the women’s side, the WMSC’s Alecia Willis of Surrey joins Celine Rytz from the Fernie team and the injured Sarah Elliot of the Big White Racers.
The athletes were chosen for a B.C. Team Training Group at the end of last season, and have worked through intense dryland and on-snow training and fitness testing from May 15 to Nov. 15.
The men’s team members have been given 79 days of training since they started back to work in May, Williams said, and Cadman and Werry attended every one, while Conrad Pridy and MacLean missed just one day each. At a base camp in May, the coaches established the three things they would look for from their athletes: FIS points, positive changes in dryland testing and attendance at the training opportunities, Williams said.
The group took part in more training and testing in June and July before going to Mount Hood, Oregon, at the end of August for 10 days on snow, followed by a major camp in Chile that featured some valuable training alongside the U.S. ski team. The Pridy brothers impressed even the members of that World Cup team, Williams said. Another camp followed in Copper Mountain, Colorado.
Teams try to get 55 days on snow before the season starts, and the B.C. men have reached just over 50 days to date, Williams said. Druzina said the women have put in 42 days on snow so far, and will head to Panorama on Sunday (Nov. 22) for eight or nine days of training.
Of the Whistler racers on the team, Williams said he is “pretty impressed with the impact they’re made since they’ve been with us.” MacLean is a big trooper for the squad, Williams added, as an invitee to the training group who couldn’t be denied a spot.
“Since he was so committed, we couldn’t turn him back,” Williams said.
Willis was also an invitee who proved her worth through the summer and earned a berth on the development team. Druzina said the focused athlete is “excellent” to work with.
“She did really good work and proved herself that she had some potential,” Druzina said.
Druzina, who worked with the blooming women’s skiers as the development team’s coach last season, said Ramsden is a strong giant slalom skier who is improving in super G and downhill.
“It’s amazing to work with her because she’s so focused, she’ll do everything that she’s told,” Druzina said.
Williams said the men are expected to race Saturday (Nov. 21) at a giant slalom event for men only, and the whole team will head to Lake Louise for NorAm Cup races in the second week of December. After that, it’s on to Panorama for more NorAm events, and then Nakiska for Miele Cup races.
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