| OCR Text |
Show '.' ' ' " ' ' !' V ' . ... ., 7 - 1 ' . ' !; " '' J - IS if-., . - ? . pnoto oy Lon Aaamsxi Jim Richards, a 17-year-old member of the NBS ski team. World class black skiers not far off? ;' ... 'v: . n., - ' -. i g . fy .ST"'- V I, - fa-'' . , f ' J S ' , 1i;1:;!',';'' -'"'J V : . ' If - r - "AnHz Jim McKay by Nan Chalat Until now, black athletes have been represented in almost every Olympic sport except skiing but the National Na-tional Brotherhood of Skiers (NBS) aims to change that. The NBS represents 33 black ski clubs across the United States and the organization will be holding its annual convention in Park City in 1985. As part of the Park City Ski Area's invitation to the NBS, a team of young black skiers was asked to join the Park City Ski Team Christmas Christ-mas training camp last week. Nine members of the team accepted the invitation and were hosted by ski team families. The young skiers were also accompanied by their coach, Jim McKay, who is a ski instructor at Alpine Meadows. McKay works with a team of 16 young black skiers ranging in age from 7 to 17. ""It is a difficult! job because 5 the kids are spread out from New York to California," said McKay. In addition to the Christmas Christ-mas camp the team members mem-bers will train together at Alpine Meadows during the area's Martin Luther King Celebrity Weekend. As part of the event, funds will be raised to send some of the young team members to join team members to McKay's summer training camp in Chile. During the year McKay sees approximately 500 young black skiers at the NBS's regional and national workshops. According to McKay, "the NBS is making a big effort to keep the top eight black skiers on snow. No one else has made an effort for these talented kids. In 30 years of Olympic skiing their has never been a black competitor." competi-tor." The NBS, which plans to bring 2,000 skiers to Park City in 1985, has been in existence for about 10 years. However, McKay said the racing program is only two years old. "The camp has been a great experience for the kids, and I have to thank Craig Badami for having the heart to continue the Badami family tradition of supporting young Olympic , talent. I think he can see the dominance that blacks have brought to the American teams in other sports, and he can see what they could bring to skiing," said McKay. This year the NBS will spend $50,000 toward developing potential Olympic, Olym-pic, talent, he said. McKay won't say exactly when he expects one of his the Olympic ranks except that it will be soon. "I don't want to put too much pressure on the kids but let me say this when the door opens I don't want to see just one black skier. I want to see three or four rush through." In addition to preparing black skiers for competition McKay said that the NBS support will encourage blacks to also pursue other careers related to skiing including coaching, teaching and marketing. When McKay is not on the slopes of Alpine Meadows or Termas de Chillian in the Andes, he travels through South America as a marketing market-ing representative for Alpine Meadows and Park City. At last summer's training camp he organized a Park City team which took the South American Cup, he said. Among the benefits gained from the training camp, the members of the team were exposed to top-quality racers rac-ers of their age, . -f And they s a developed some outrageous friendships. They want their Park City friends to visit them and we are working out an exchange program for the camp in Chile," McKay said. According to Park City Ski Team Director Bob Marshy "The raw talent is definitely there. It is just a matter of training." |
