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Show 3-"'. V- .,vijKASt! "Park Record. www.parkrecord.com O SATSUNMONTUESJUNE 15-18,2002 SPORTS EDITOR: Shane McCammon 649-9014 ext. 1 10 sportsparkrecord.com IN THE B SECTION Weather B-2 Business B-9 Professional Services B-ll FYI B-12 U.S. Ski Team in the Hunt for more success Sports ."W' i .iijij ii -ii II I III II T 'I 'J T-1i-..-T.T..Tr-.r-, i II ' it i,-lfrn.r M.,......,-i.-,.flrtrif,-Vlf;W)tM1 f JTj Briefs Baseball and softball camps A five-day softball and baseball camp will begin Monday, June 17 at the Park City High School Little League Field. The camp, run by the Park City Recreation Department, will run each day of the week from 9 a.m. to noon. The camp which will focus on the fundamentals of throwing, fielding grounders and fly balls, hitting, pitching, infield strategy and baserunning costs $55 for registrations taken before or on Wednesday, June 1 2, or $65 after. Call 615-5400 for more information or to register. Youth swim lessons at Racquet Club The Park City Recreation Department is offering swim lessons for kids of all ages this summer. The rec department will host three two-week two-week sessions, with the first starting Monday, June 17. Other session dates are July 8 and July 22. There will also be a parenttot class. Call the Racquet Club at 615-5400 for details on skill levels and times. Skateboard clinics begin next week The Park City Recreation Department is hosting three skateboard skate-board clinics throughout hs summer, the first of which begins Monday, June 17. The four-day clinic is for boarders age 7 and older, and will cover skateboard skate-board basics, dropping in, grinding, ledging, flat ground, rail tricks and carving carv-ing the deep bowls. For more information, call 615-5400. Dog days of summer The rec department has upcoming sessions of dog obedience classes. Dates for the sessions are Tuesday, June 18 through July 23 and July 30 through September 3. The classes will be held Tuesday evenings, with the beginner course starting at 7 p.m. and the advanced at 8. Meet at the Park City Racquet Club on the grass outside of the east end of the gym. If the weather weath-er is behaving as poorly as Fido, meet inside the gym. The class costs $50 and registration will continue until full. Dogs must be at least 4 months old and handlers have to be at least 14. Call 615-5400 for more information. LEN0tft Consult your u Ktoia igdino, deductibility of ' I Alpine director Jesse Hunt plans to integrate winning philosophy across board By SHANE McCAMMON Of the Record staff Jesse Hunt has had to accomplish big, daunting tasks before which is why he isn't intimidated about his latest job. After all, taking a rag-tag program that had seen little success and transforming it into the U.S. Ski Team's greatest strength gives most people a bit of a confidence boost. "My experience from bringing this team from a place without much credibility or results gives me confidence," said Hunt, the recently named alpine director of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association. Hunt leaves behind close relationships forged during his four years as head coach of the U.S. Ski Team's men's slalom and giant slalom program, but says he is looking forward to the challenge of using his philosophies to make the U.S. the best skiing ski-ing country in the world. And what a challenge it will be. Blue prints for gold medals Hunt firmly believes the foundation for the U.S. Ski Team's success is in place. As he sees it, his job is to draw upon that well of experience gained as a ski team athlete and coach and integrate a winning philosophy from USSA's elite programs down to the grass-roots development system. As if that weren't a big enough challenge, Hunt has little precedent to help him because the ski team hasn't had an alpine director since the mid-90s, Hunt's job is essentially new. "This is basically a new position," he said. "That gives me an opportunity to come in with a clean slate, to look at the programs and make changes where I feel I need to Young Riders5 Park CHy High freshman enters N0RBA race with long winning streak By SHANE McCAMMON Of the Record staff Nobody pushed Hilary Wright to join Young Riders, and nobody pushed her to start competing in the country's best mountain moun-tain bike races. Yeah, she's head-strong. Wright, 14-year-old freshman at Park City High and already a veteran of four NORBA races, joined the Young Riders club seven years ago, when she saw a sign at Jans Mountain Outfitters. She was in the store to buy her first mountain bike, and it seemed logical to her to join a club where she could learn the fundamentals of the sport. "I signed up when I was 7 and went through all the programs," she said. Now she is one of the best 14-year-old racers in the country, having taken first place in three of the previous four NORBA races she has entered, competing in the Junior Olympic level. Wright races in her fifth NORBA this weekend at Alpine Valley, Wis., but this time she entered the Junior Expert division a step up in quality qual-ity of opponents and courses. "I got first in the last couple of races and I decided it was time to go up," she said. Even if that meant having to settle for something other than first for once. Wright hopes to come away from the Wisconsin race with a top-three finish. "It's going to be harder and a longer course," she said. "And it's 18-and-under instead of 15-and-under." When Wright first signed up with the Young Riders, she had "no idea" she would OUR 4 X I.' V . You're busy. We know thatThafs why we make it easy to find the best home equity loan or line of credit to fit your individual needs. You can apply in person or by phone and you'll get the right loan with an affordable payment plan, flexible terms and a competitive rate.Home equity loans are smart because the interest is often tax deductible. After you get your loan, you can access your account information online at wellsfargo.com and even set up automatic repayment from your Wells Fargo checking account. So apply for a home equity loan or line of credit with the nation's number one home equity lender. Stop by and talk to a Wells Fargo banker at your local branch. mtttwt e 2002 WHh Fargo Bri. Membm FWC All rigMi rrifvd 1 1 H xN - '7 cs PHOTO COURTESY OF U S SKI TEAM Jesse Hunt, left, helped turn Erik Schlopy and the rest of the U.S. Ski Team's technical squad Into one of the best in the world. As alpine director, Hunt hopes to do the same with all of ski team's programs. . - make." Because Hunt feels the U.S. Ski Team is already on its way up and its performance perform-ance at the 2002 Winter Olympics certainly backs up that premise he doesn't plan drastic alterations to the current system. Instead, he hopes to get everybody on that proverbial same page. Hunt's plan to turn the U.S. into the best in the world by the 2006 Games revolves around four points: improving content, stressing results on all levels, united the association's varied nationwide programs and improving the education of the team's Wright storming mountain bike world be competing in NORBA races just seven years later, let alone at such a high level. She says the reason she joined was to have fun, which is exactly why she has stuck with the sport when so many people her age give up on childhood sports to follow new endeavors. "I really liked it and it was a lot of fun," she said. "The biking community is a lot of fun, too. It's a nice group of people. It's great." When asked what long-term goals Wright has, she doesn't talk about trophies or medals or setting the biking world on fire. 'i just want to have fun," she said. "It's the only reason I do it." Making it more enjoyable, Wright says, is her supportive mother, who is making the trip to Wisconsin to watch Hilary compete against some of the best teens in the country. coun-try. "She's really supportive," Wright said. "She signs me up for something she knows I'll like. She's not one of those pushy parents." Despite her young age, Wright is keenly aware of her status as a high-profile representative repre-sentative of the Young Riders. She wears her club jersey during competition and says she tries her best to uphold the Young Riders' winning tradition. "It's a little extra motivation," she said, "that you represent your team too." It's also the source of some extra nervousness. nerv-ousness. "I am a little nervous," she said, "when I'm thinking about the competition. I get a little nervous beforehand but I at the start line, I get just as nervous at Fedalfest as I am at NORBA." Despite her success this season and throughout her career, Wright is just hoping to get this next NORBA out of the way and start getting nervous about the next one. "I wish it would kind of be over with." HOME EQUITY LOANS ARE FLEXIBLE. OR UMBER, IF YOU PREFER. Wells Fargo Home Equity Loans Flexible terms Competitive rates Affordable payment plans Apply when you want 'SEP .: , 2k coaches. Hunt explains content as "the quality and volume of training, and making sure the programs are providing the right quality and volume of training to specific athletes." Bumping up the amount and caliber of training is essential in the current state of the sport, Hunt says. "With the sport evolving the way it is, it's critical to have high quality training," he said, adding training has an education component com-ponent and that it's crucial for the team's long-term success to examine that education. educa-tion. "I will be taking a close look at the wiiiiiMmmHuii in i mtmmmmmmmmmmmmm .11 im 111 mn mmm mmmmmwm mm 1 !iu-.C.w1i?J5'Xv7J j 'l-.i - "1.."' PHOTO COURTESY OF HILARY WRIGHT Hilary Wright, 14, hasn't lost a single race she has entered this season Including last Saturday's Pedalfest and she is gunning to keep her streak intact at this weekend's NORBA competition In Wisconsin. She is entering the race as a Junior Expert, the toughest division she has competed in. teaching methods - what we teach and how we teach it." It's hard to teach winning, but I lunt plans to stress results from the youth levels to the A Team. "It's a critically important concept" to focus winning on every level, he says, and that too will be under the magnifying glass of the ski team's new alpine director. "We need to take a close look at racer management man-agement ... and ensure that they are winning win-ning on every level." That means. Hunt explains, that coaches and athletes know exactly where and how they should be performing which events to enter, what to shoot for in terms of results and where to go from there. It's all about "having a clear path for advancement." he adds. "We're going to work on being sure that we have calendaring that satisfies winning at every level," he said. "Coaches and athletes will know where they should be, what races and what athletes should be achieving at their age and skill level." Hunt says his goal of uniting the country's coun-try's various programs under one philosophy philoso-phy will he his most dilficuit but most important. It's a gargantuan task since USSA alone has close to 20,000 athletes in over 300 local competition clubs coast-to-coast, plus over 3,000 alpine coaches. There are another 100 or so elite athletes participating partici-pating in development and U.S. Ski Team alpine programs. "Bringing the country together and uniting unit-ing the country and providing! a clear path from the grass roots level on up to the World Cup is probably the biggest challenge," chal-lenge," he said. " The scope is so huge, so broad. To be able to affect change across the country is a challenge. I here is a geographic geograph-ic challenge and different regional structures. struc-tures. To bring it all together will be a challenge." chal-lenge." Hunt is already start ingj integrate the Please see Hunt, B-5 The Next Stage" in wellsfargo.com |