OCR Text |
Show Thursday, October 25, 1979 Page 15 Pro Skiing Proves The Critics Wrong "Professional ski racing has about as much chance of making it as trees on the moon," was the prevailing opinion by skiing critics of World Pro Skiing when ski racing aficionado, Bob Beattie opened the doors of what now appears to be the next evolutionary state of ski racing to the sports world in 1969. But today, those who pooh-poohed the concept of world-class amateur racers turning pro, certain it would die a quick death, are congratulating World Pro Skiing's success and its influence creating the healthy regional pro tours around the country. And more are on the way. In the past 11 seasons only three Americans have reigned supreme Billy Kidd in 1970 as the first pro champion; the late Spider Sabich, who achieved back-to-back victories in 1971 and 1972 and Hank Kashiwa who regained the American pro crown in 1975. Since these heroes, World Pro Skiing has not hailed another American as champion. But the regional region-al pro circuits are working to change all that by providing a pipeline to World Pro Skiing of American racers experienced in the pro format. It goes back to amateur racing. The questin is historic; "Why are European ski racers much more consistent in the "win" column than Americans?" The United States has plenty of good training centers with programs pro-grams that seem to develop quality racers. Josef Odermatt from Switzerland, Switz-erland, a six-year pro skiing veteran and consistently ranked at the top, appears to have his finger on the pulse of the situation. "It's all a matter of numbers," says Odermatt, the 27-year-old grand jetes' of the international ski world. "In the United States your parents have to be rich for kids to ski. And because the cities are where the populations are concentrated, concen-trated, few kids get the chance to ski, much less train to be a racer. So what do they learn? Basketball, football, baseball and those types of sports. In the cities they're readily available; they're free and there are plenty of kids to do them with. In my country, and other northern European countries, coun-tries, we grow up on skis. We ski to school. We play on skis. And when it comes time for contests between kids, we ski race. Europeans aren't generally better skiers. There are just more of us to choose from." America's contribution to international skiing was in sad shape until 1960 when along came a gutsy coach who had proven great success suc-cess at the University of Colorado and was named to coach the U.S. Ski Team-Bob Team-Bob Beattie. As Odermatt professed, skiing takes money. And with the same tenacity that made World Pro Skiing a success when it appeared that it was going sour, Beattie became the voice of U.S. skiing, pounded on doors and campaigned with the fervor of a convicted felon looking to be governor and succeeded. The fruits of all this handshaking and arm twisting was a well-financed well-financed team that produced a string of World Cup victories capped by a generous gen-erous display of Olympic medals. But even with this spark in ski racing interest in the U.S., American skiers still had few heroes to follow. World Pro Skiing and regional re-gional pro circuits are changing all that. With the dual slalom-style of pro racing catching the eye of competitors and recreational recreation-al skiers alike, and because of the increasing purses offered and its unique snec- I if ;vf?' $ YV : T ' . vL J Bob Beattie tator advantages, a wave of land and Robert Schuchter l young American skiers are. on the rise and becoming familiar with this format. Dual slalom is now used in NASTAR recreational races. The regional pro Americans are becoming more skilled at this unique kind of racing. Very soon World Pro Skiing will boast of a viable contingent of top contending young racers who have the experience to challenge the best Europeans. As an example, ex-ample, when World Pro Skiing was introduced, there were only approximately 50 racers in the world who could race pro-style. Today there are more than 1,500 racers and many Americans wno are competing in the pro format. One such upcoming American Ameri-can ski racer who has made an impact not only in the U.S. but on an international scale as well is Lonny Vanatta from Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Vanatta, a successful regional re-gional circuit racer fresh off the U.S. Department Ski Team, made his World Pro Skiing debut two seasons ago. With this experience he easily qualified as an "A" pro at his first race. Since then, Vanatta has developed to become the top American racer of the World Pro Skiing tour finishing 5th overall with only Jim Hunter of Canada, Hans Hinterseer of Austria, Walter Tresch of Switzerland and the amazing two-year WPS champ, Andre Arnold, ahead of him. Vanatta Vanat-ta is the first to admit that, combined with his natural slalom ability, the regional pro tours fostered by World Pro Skiing is what gave him the experience and confidence confi-dence to be successful as a World Pro Skiing competitor. competi-tor. There are more stories in the making with American racers who compete on the World Pro Skiing tour, seldom receiving points, but continually finishing on top in regional pro competitions. Racers like David Oswald of Colorado, Mike Dorris of Idaho, Kurt Belden of Vermont, Ver-mont, Glair Howe of Oregon and Greg Bartlett of California Cali-fornia who compete on the WPS tour are proving that the regional circuits are training Americans how to be competitive on the World Pro Skiing tour. Woodworth is another example ex-ample of who's on the way up in the way of class American racers. A star on the NorAm circuit but unheralded by the U.S. media, Woodworth left the U.S. team to turn pro last season. Accomplished in slalom, giant slalom and downhill, Woodworth is the newest American hope in all three disciplines. Struggling in the beginning gaining familiarity with the pro. format which also includes an elimination downhill, Woodworth finished 10th overall last season in the awesome company of Tyler Palmer, Josef Odermatt,' Manfred Jakober of Switzer- Austria. Even more to his credit, in the top 10 finishers on the 1978-79 World Pro Skiing tour, only three were Americans. According to Beattie, it all comes down to experience, and lots of it. "Eighty percent of the racers on the World Pro Skiing tour are caught in ;i Catch 22 situation." says Beattie. "If you don't train hard and race frequently, you don't win. The reason Arnold never trains during the season is because he w in a lot. races a lot and therefore trains while he races. Most racers mi thr tour seldom get as far as Hie round of 32. They just don't get the experience necessary while they are .younn and competitive." Beattie believes that Hiis is where the regional circuits help World Pro Skiing hy "feeding" the tour with young experienced racers who are familiar w ith the pro style and race more often This holds true not only lor the Americans but lor Europeans Euro-peans and. in the luture. possibly the Japanese. South Americans and even the upcoming Chinese racers as well. Canadian racers who aspire to finish on the top of the World Pro Skiing tour are also gaining pro experience on a regional tour conducted in their country. Even the World Cup competitors have a race that is in the dual slalom format, furthering the exposure of pro racing style to the general skiing public. As testimony to the wide acceptance World Pro Skiing is receiving, the sport now enjoys international prominence pro-minence with races scheduled sched-uled this season in Europe, North America and possibly Japan. The rewards for those who do well on the tour are also steadily on the climb. In 1969, when Beattie first unleashed the pro tour, total prize money squeaked to $92,500. This season will see the richest tour ever with more than $700,000 up for grabs making it possible for this year's champion to earn, with sponsor bonuses and endorsements, more than $200,000 in just 15 short weeks. As more skiers become experienced in dual slalom racing from NASTAR to regional circuits pros. World Pro Skiing will continue to be the benefactor. And Beattie himself has taken the sport to America's youth at his Mt. Bachelor summer camp with the first World Pro Skiing training center beginning in 1980 with instruction by the pros themselves. America's backyards are full of competitive ski racers and the opportunities for them have never been greater. This season's World Pro Skiing crown will again be freshly polished for the taking. And with stars like Vanatta and Woodworth and the new talent schooled by the regional circuits, the future will surely see the most experienced line-up of American's in World Pro Skiing's history. P.C. Ski Club Past And Present Continued From Page 14 to take home every trophy available. That's called a clean sweep. After five years of hard work and an enormous amount of personal satisfaction, satisfac-tion, the officials who had been running the racing program could no longer handle the club and team responsibilities, as well as their own careers. In the winter of 1970. some Park City Ski Club expert members moved to Park West to join forces with Bob Autry. Robin Newcomb. Tony Hedgecock and Bob Marsh. The rest of the Park City Ski Club members became members of the Park City Racing Team. Mike Wilson and his staff acquired many more racers than they had bargained for when both the Park City Ski Club and the GTO i Gaddis Training Organization), found a home under one roof, the Park City Racing Team. Jim Gaddis took charge of the racing program and made a great deal of progress in regard to resort cooperation and individual talent. The resort was helping help-ing to sponsor more prestigious presti-gious caliber races such as the Tribune Classic and Lowell Thomas Classic. Things now seem to be going well. Because of the overcrowded training conditions and the many different age and ability levels, it was decided that Park City again would field a junior league team, made up of Park City community members Tli.it next year, the Park (il Ski & Sport Club became a home tor many oiing aspiring ski racers I'lie idea then, as it is today, was to begin w illi a ki team and eventually add various spoi ls as interest increased The Sports Club made substantial progress with the program during the next three years, and many team members benefited Ironi the hard work It wasn't just the coaches of course, who were doing the work. Ski swaps, ski movies, bake sales, dinners etc. w ere activities that drew many supporters and workers In 1975. Jim Gaddis decided he could no longer contribute the necessary time to the club and he resigned his post as Park City Racing Team Director and Head Coach. The interest in ski racing was growing rapidly during this time because of the skiing Cochran family. Jean Claude Killy, and many other skiing greats who brought the ski racing world alive in the middle seventies. The resort had shown signs of concern over the idea of two teams training on the same mountain and made a request for consolidation of the two teams. The teams agreed. The season of 1975-76, Bob Marsh assumed the head coaching position for the now one large group, and brought his racers from Park West, where he was employed as head coach of the Park West Ski Team. With the many runs available avail-able at Park City, and now only one group of racers to deal with, resort ski team cooperation became strong et us help you get ready for the holidays rtith nert vtinfovl treatments. save 20 on fabrics thus Dec. 1 14 days delivery on 1 decor hlinds Von Statzer Designs 649-6277 evenings drapes carpets niini blinds wallpaper verticals er. There was no reason why Park City should not have a ski team comparable to the best. The natural setting alone would interest any ski enthusiast, young or old. Through the alpine racine program, youngsters and adults alike develop special skills through practical training experiences that will enable them to become better skiers. The racing program provides pro-vides youngsters with a unique opportunity to develop devel-op higher skiing skills, but equally important, a chance to explore new areas and attain personal growth. Discovering full individual potential can lead to new horizons for our young athletes. ath-letes. It takes a tremendous amont of motivation for an athlete to reach a world class level. It requires patience and hard work. Like the athlete, the ski club must progress at the same rate so an equal balance can be maintained. Growing pains are common on both ends of the spectrum, especially when a sport depends on snow, ski resorts, the econ-onmy. econ-onmy. community, support, and morale for continuity. . i all of which can fluctuate considerably Satisfaction can mean learning how to ski better, being with fellow team members or overcoming the elements of competition. The key word is for young competitors is "FUN". Space 1975 the Park City Ski & Sport Club has continued to represent the community while increasing its membership mem-bership But for the most part, membership is still parents supporting their children's interest in ski racing Sure, there have been many changes, just as you would expect in a community that is growing as rapidly as Park City. But the interest in our young people is still the same. Different faces doing the same jobs the old timers did way back when. As the community grows, so must the community activities, activi-ties, and skiing and ski competition are no exception. ex-ception. The alpine program has become more sophisticated sophisti-cated and the coach that once was a part-time instructor in-structor has been replaced by salaried and part-time coaches, who have chosen sk: coaching as a profession The rtsort facilities are improving tremendously and the whole concept of competition com-petition is becoming stronger strong-er in all sports, due to exposure and worthwhile experiences in individual and team functions. Yes, there is a story to tell about the groups who have represented skiing and ski competition in Park City. The groups have changed names, faces, and locations but the tradition lives on. It would be impossible to mention everyone who helped help-ed contribute to the ski clubs, ski team success during the years of existence. As we continue our progress forward, we won't forget the long hours and hard work of our predecessors, and we won't give up! Beavers Predict Snow The beavers are using more logs in their lodges, the rabbits are finding their shelter in the valleys and there aren't nearly as many acorns as there were a year ago. And that bodes well for the 1980 Olympic Winter Games slated for this coming com-ing Februarv in Lake Placid. NY. It means, if one is to believe the folklore of weather forecasting, fore-casting, that we can look forward to a relatively mild winter w ith plenty of snow. In fact, if we are to take our cues from muskrats. rabbits, acorns and wooly-bear caterpillars, cater-pillars, weather conditions for the Winter Olympics should be ideal! Weather is on the minds of a lot of people who have a high stake in the international w inter sports competition. TOP POCKET Opens at the Resort Center (in the old Coffee Trader location) Complete Selection of Gourmet Coffees and Teas Open Daily 649-9791 is CALL 272-9414 or 649-61 ask for Bruce, owner-agent Being in hot water takes on a whole new meaning. It "'IHIl I Mil:',' .. I.K i- lt;;k' ,i mi s,K VU m .k. s i.hi Ii i : iik .. Kith iK-vvr ...iiU I Vk tills ti-lls -K !ll.M,.lh,.:i..T'll K 1.1. II. H..-fM,..,.1.1 ( V. .HINV k-i-hiK- lkV III I -..Mii'iliin. . -a "njtn mi i. Oi,i-r it.,' tHV I.I, U. l!lii.... Imk ii h., ..,, rit.-.l SHllH -III, K .'HI ,HllVl .111 lltihk'tl.'ll WNlVflt. ,i rt.ilJ t.Lin..u- I ii. pmi ,n, ilh- .,u!.H ni.iv.-m- .1, ti..n ,.nl Whis Jll u-.tis 1 K 1 U'11,1 III Will! . I' tlh.,1. !! Ii ilk km.! . Ii.'' .h, i Jacuzzi. Wetland Bath Sales NANCY JACUZZI NIPKOVV Authorized Dealer 640-975Q LTD. for Park City Players present by Agatha Christie Friday, October 19 Saturday, October 20 Thursday - Sunday, October 25 - 28 8 p.m. Starring David Gomes Robin Elaine Westphal Curt Graf Anne Burnett Geneo Pirraglio Mary Austin Chuck Folkerth Ron Burnett Directed by Don Gomes Tickets: $3 KAC Members $4.50 Non-Members In the gallery at the Kimball Art Center Park City, Utah For more information 649-8882- Produced by special arrangement sale 1:'' with Samuel French, Inc. |