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Show New ParkWest ski team coach is no stranger to teaching youth V? JiSp : by JIM SMEDLE Y Record staff writer The coach of the newly formed ParkWest Ski Team has recently arrived ar-rived in Park City and he likes what he sees. Tom Acker said he likes not only the town, but also the talent he has on the team. "I've skied out West before, but never at Park City, It appears that you have a great community here," said Acker, who for the past four , years has been the coach at Stratton Mountain School, a ski racing academy. There, he worked with skiers the same age as the new team at ParkWest. "I was approached by the group (parents of skiers that left the Park City Ski Team) this summer while on vacation and I was looking at the job market," Acker said. "I saw this as an opportunity to run my own program pro-gram with a small, concentrated group of athletes." The 36-year-old Acker said he has been coaching for the past 15 years and has participated in different events with the U.S. Ski Team staff. Acker worked with former Park City Ski Team members Tyler Tebbs and Jeremy Nobis two summers ago at a United States Sk( Team developmental camp in , Mount Bachelor, Ore. Aside from Nobis and Tebbs, the ParkWest team includes Shannon Nobis, Dan Tebbs, Scott Black and Matt Golden. Acker said he was looking to expand the team with qualified candidates. The ParkWest team is involved in a "very intense" dry-land training program now in which it meets early in the morning for 45 minutes and then later in the afternoon for 2 12 hours. "The kids are in a situation where they have to conduct their athletic involvement as professional athletes in terms of amount of time, but still have to maintain high academic standards," Acker said. "These kids have the potential to be world-class athletes, but they have to continue to workhard." The ski team's first competition will be Dec. 13-14 at the Grand Targhee downhills in Idaho. "We're looking forward to a lot of community support for the team," Acker said. JlmSmedley Tom Acker has worked with skiers on ParkWest Ski Team before. |