CHRIS TIERNEY
Today our HP progression mission was put on hold when we heard that Thomas Tikos-Kadji was coming up to the hill with the sole intention of shooting photos. My entire Elite Crew have various sponsors, and its important for them to have a library of shots to send to said sponsors. This was a great way to slow the crew down a bit and refocus on amplitude and style. We treated this like any of our daily missions and the results were pleasing.
JAMES HAFFNER
It only took an hour or so for the guys to get some killer shots, and then progression proceeded. James landed his first backside 9 which he comboed into a front 9. Joe has regained full amplitude and is working his cab spin. Hunter is stomping full runs with 5s, 7s and 9s. He is on the cusp of several new tricks. Randall landed the nicest front 7 I have seen out of him. In 3 days of pipe riding he is already ahead of himself at the end of last year (does that make sense?)
So please check out the work of Thomas Tikos-Kadji and tell me, do you think these guys are developing amp and style?
RANDALL STACY
At the years first Grand Prix in Copper Mtn I was proud that our first ever elite girls squad held their FIS seedings among the worlds best. I mentioned that it was long term strategy implementation and execution just to get on the invite list at these events. I mentioned also that these are the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Qualifiers for the US Team and plenty of other national teams. To be a high school athlete at a world class event is an incredible honor, and an opportunity that few will ever get the chance to understand. For me as a coach and a witness to work with these kids and Kirk out here is as much as i could ever ask for. The reason is that everyone here is taking the opportunity in hand. To improve at the little skills that bring the big runs together and not overreach is the challenge that Jenn Cohen, Joe Mensch, James Haffner, Shelby Simpson, Serena Shaw and Spencer Shaw have met today. With one day in a little (18foot)pipe and one day in an imperfect 22' to get back to form before today's contest the SMS Elite kids proved to the world why they deserve to be here. The event score keeper's laptap is still down and the boys results are not in but for the women we have a proud crew led by Serena Shaw in 17th, Jennifer Cohen in 23rd and followed up by Shelby Simpson in 29th. Shelby is bringing more amplitude and getting all of her tricks but couldn't smoothe it out today. Jenn and Serena each landed their strongest runs of the year. Not once but twice. The kicker for a coach is that each girl added one to two points to their first run by tightening up combos and changing up grabs. SMS Snowboarding has a saying,"sms riders land runs"... Today they landed and then landed better runs. My hats off and it feels good.
