NEWSLETTER
July Newsletter
Ruapehu Snow Sports Club Newsletter - July 2008
Thanks to Mother Nature, Ruapehu Athletes have had a great start to the season. Last year I remember days on end confined to Lorenzo’s and on a good day Happy Valley!
Coaches and athletes alike report a very positive attitude and some great training is now under our belts before the end of the holidays. A big thank you to John Armstrong and Sam Zander who did so much work preseason to ensure a good start. Also to Delwyn Armstrong for her patience as she works through the registrations.
The committee are here to serve you as our members. If you have suggestions or ideas for us, we would like to hear from you. Our contact details are on the Ruapehu Sport Website Club webpage as well as at the end of this newsletter.
Last weekend Ruapehu Snow Sports Inc. had their first committee meeting. At this meeting we were thrilled to report our Magic Mountain Ball in June raised approximately $6000. This money will be used to assist Ruapehu Sport athletes with their trips to train and race in the South Island.
Pete Gendall (Whakapapa) and Rowan Eves (Turoa) are your Alpine (Ski Racing) representatives and are there to help Ski Racing athletes and parents. This may include providing information, advise or act as another source of communication to the programme and coaches.
Meridee Beange (Whakapapa) and Sue Graham (Turoa) are your freestyle representatives who will provide the same support to the athletes and families in the freestyle disciplines. Unfortunately Meridee had an accident skiing last week and has a nasty leg fracture which required surgery. We all wish her well and a speedy recovery. I can verify her xrays are very impressive.
UNIFORMS
The new Ruapehu Sport Uniforms look great. Please remember it is compulsory for all racing athletes to wear their uniforms every day to training. Please return any old Team Turoa or Whakapapa Snow Sports uniforms to Sue Marquet. These belong to the club and we would like to have the opportunity to raise funds by selling them.
If your uniform does not fit please contact Sue (0272787934). She will do her best to find a better fit.
We have just received a supply of junior sizes (jackets and pants) and hopefully our smaller kids will soon be kitted out in new gear to join the older athletes.
We have a good supply of Ruapehu Sport green vests ($85) and black softshells ($135). Parents and supporters are also welcome to purchase these. Again, contact Sue if you are interested.
Sue Marquet puts in a huge amount of work being in charge of uniforms and the club is enormously grateful to her for all this work.
UPCOMING EVENTS
1.* SKI RACING AND FREESTYLE MEETING FOR TUROA PARENTS – information meeting for Turoa parents. Saturday 26 July 4.30pm - 6.30pm Ohakune Club , 71 Goldfinch St , Ohakune RSVP Robin Dixon: robin@waimarinolodge.co.nz
2. *NORTH ISLAND SERIES August 2 & 3 (Saturday – Sunday). Whakapapa. Slalom. Coaches to provide details to athletes.
3. * SKI RACING AND FREESTYLE MEETING FOR WHAKAPAPA PARENTS – information meeting for Whakapapa parents. Saturday 9 August - 2.30pm at the Schuss House , Hutt Flat , Whakapapa, followed by official opening of Schuss House at 3.30pm . Coaches and athletes to join parents at 3.30pm for opening and BBQ. RSVP Robin Dixon: robin@waimarinolodge.co.nz
FOR SALE
Lange World Cup 100 Team Ski Boots $250
• Size 41.5
• Race specific boots. Junior fit
• Used for only one season
• Flex 100
• Custom pro system, bi injected shell, canting, power plate
• Purchased for $649, yours for only $250
• Phone Meridee or Tyler Beange 07 3789012 or 0274502504
Just to remind everyone here is your committee again and their areas of responsibility:
Alison Knowles President , Social Events , Fundraising 0274302010
Robin Dixon Secretary , Communications , Volunteers 021305413
Grant Dixon Treasurer , Funding Grants 021486061
Sue Marquet Uniforms , Schuss House , Gym maintenance 0272787934
Catherine Loe Past President WSS 0272401206
Rowan Eves Past President TT , Alpine representative Turoa 021979771
Pete Gendall Alpine Representative Whakapapa 021366454
Ken Price Schuss House , New athlete and Parent liaison 0212774235
Meridee Beange Freestyle Representative Whakapapa 0274502504
Sue Graham Freestyle representative Turoa 0272903388
Luigi Hotter
John Neeson
Hopefully we’ll all catch up soon at either one of the parent information meetings, on the hill, or at races. In the meantime take care, both on those roads and on the snow.
Yours sincerely
Alison Knowles
President Ruapehu Snow Sports
Coaches Corner
The holidays have been perfect for training and we have had the best snow and time on snow in recent history. It has given us a boost for the season ahead and we look forward to the snow this week and training for the first weekend of Term 3.
The fulltime programme and mid week numbers are looking very strong, almost to a point where the coaches are fully engaged mid week. The freestyle numbers have also gone up from what was expected. They are now almost full in each group.
Josh Briscoe and Delwyn will be hosting “give it a go” sessions at Whakapapa in both freestyle and ski racing next to the Schuss Haus. Ryan Enfield has a mid week snowboard group with Ohakune Primary School. Jody Blatchley will have a snowboard group from Turangi school.
All of the programmes are looking strong. The goal for this season is to have the 2009 programmes available by August 30. If you have any comments please contact John Armstrong.
The first ski race is set for the 2 – 3 of August at Whakapapa. This race has been switched to Slalom, due to a narrow slope.
We still have a number of second hand race skis for sale. There are a couple of pairs of SG skis left as well. Rossignol and Head are liquidating skis and bindings at discounted race team prices. If you would like to have a look at the used equipment list please email Sam Zander. If you are interested in the new discounted skis, ask your coach.
We have an online fitness programme for the K and J athletes, which will help with overall fitness and core strength. This is under Athlete Resources on the team website.
We hope everyone has a productive week back at school and look forward to seeing you on the weekend. The full time programme athletes start their first week of term three, which will be mostly school and fitness training.
Kind Regards,
The Coaching staff.
RUAPEHU SNOW SPORTS has just had a very successful weekend with a Ski Swap, New Uniform Distribution , Inaugural Annual General Meeting and Fundraising Ball at the Chateau.
The Inaugural AGM of Ruapehu Snow Sports was held at National Park School on Saturday 21 June. Ruapehu Snow Sports is now an Incorporated Society and a member
organisation of Ski Racing New Zealand. Athletes automatically become a member of RSS when they enroll in a Ruapehu Sport Programme and your club subscription of $40 is collected by RAL on behalf of RSS.
This AGM also saw the winding up of Team Turoa and Whakapapa Snow Sports who previously represented athletes at Mt Ruapehu.
The new committee would like to take this opportunity to thank the past committees of TT and WSS for the enormous amount of work that has gone into organising the ‘merger’.
RSS Constitution
The new RSS committee is:
PRESIDENT Alison Knowles loreto@xtra.co.nz 0274302010
SECRETARY Robin Dixon robin@waimarinolodge.co.nz 021305413
TREASURER Grant Dixon grantd@withersco.co.nz 021486061
Committee
Rowan Eves – Alpine Turoa (Immediate past President of Team Turoa)
Catherine Loe (Immediate Past President of Whakapapa Snow Sports)
Peter Gendall - Alpine Whakapapa
Meridee Beange – Freestyle Whakapapa
Sue Graham - Freestyle Turoa
Sue Marquet – Uniforms suemarquet@gmail.com 0272787934
Luigi Hotter
John Neeson
Ken Price
Over the coming weeks your new committee will be meeting and clarifying their objectives for the 2008 season and beyond.
Ruapehu Sport – Competitive Snowsports programme has made recommendations of roles and assistance that RSS could provide. They are;
1. Assist Mt Ruapehu run events by providing volunteers.
2. Assist athletes to train and compete in the South Island by providing financial assistance where possible.
3. Hold fundraising events.
4. Assist Ruapehu Sport with the organisation of social events such as Welcome BBQ, End of season Prize giving and Party.
5. Provide support and information for new athletes and their families.
6. Provide Uniforms.
7. Assist Ruapehu Sport with communication and parent/coach liaison.
8. Provide fitness equipment.
9. Assist Ruapehu Sport with the Development and Promotion of their programmes
MAGIC MOUNTAIN BALL
Saturday night was a great success and RSS is enormously grateful to Kirsty Gendall who has for the third year in a row organized a magnificent Ball and fundraiser. The Chateau put on a great party and the Dance Floor was always full (despite half the men sneaking next door to watch the Rugby).
A special thank you to everyone who attended, ate, drank, danced and bid on auction items.
We would like to acknowledge the following for their generous donations:
HERITAGE VILLAGE COUNTRY RESORT, Wanaka
WITHER HILLS
COMPOSITE DEVELOPMENTS (Importers of Rossignol)
L’OREAL
JAMES AND AUGUST
THE VASMAN
EBBETT PRESTIGE HAMILTON
THE MOUNTAIN HOUSE, Mt Egmont National Park
WUNDERBAR, Oakura
AHU AHU BEACH VILLAS, Oakura
RUAPEHU ALPINE LIFTS
The Eves family
Debbie Metcalf
The Knowles family
The Neeson family
Ball Postscript: The Rugby sweepstake was won by a Canadian Ski Coach (John Armstrong) who was the closest to the 44-12 win by the All Blacks, with a 48-12 sweepstakes bid.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments regarding Ruapehu Snow Sports Incorporated.
Yours truly,
Alison Knowles
President
