Monday, August 15, 2011

Close to Camp

Hi Everyone,

After a few days of recovery (who knew our parents' vacation would extend a few days after camp as their children SLEPT until Monday), I wanted to post one more time. Thank you to all of the parents who attended the awards ceremony Saturday morning. It was a wonderful hour celebrating your children's accomplishments for the week. Each year I get a little emotional, and this year was no exception. The camp may have been the best one I've had the pleasure to run (6 years now), and I am SO excited with the direction we are moving. Even better things lie ahead as Matt and I were brainstorming and dreaming of the next step for Stowe Dryland Camp all the way home to Maine.

Parents who attending the closing ceremonies arent the only ones who get credit. All of you who wanted to support your children's social and athletic development by having them join us for the week should have a sense of accomplishment as well. I understand, and some day your children will too, the sacrifices you had to make in order for this week to come to fruition for them. The return rate was impressive this year, and after such a great week I can only imagine even better numbers for next year.

Here's a list of the award winners from camp...
Beanie O'Shea - Camper of the Week United States
PJ Fraterrigo - Camper of the Week Canada
McKenna Wilson - Camper of the Week Sweden
Austin Roussel - Camper of the Week Norway
Bella Amico - Camper of the Week Austria
Maddy Leiblein - Camper of the Week Switzerland

Cole Deschamps - Male Testing Winner
Beanie O'Shea - Female Testing Winner

Ethan Ashe - Director's Award
Andrew Fraterrigo - Director's Award
Mason Kirley - Director's Award

Josh Turner - Stowe Dryland Camp Scholarship

Congrats to the award winners, and a HUGE congratulations to each and every one of our campers. You accomplished a ton in just one week, and everyone should be proud of themselves. I know I am proud of all of you.

Parents, please keep in touch throughout the winter season. I'd love to stay updated with how everyone is skiing. dwnoyes@colby.edu

Thanks and I hope to see you next year,

Danny Noyes
Stowe Dryland Camp - Camp Director

Saturday, August 13, 2011

BBQ, Bouncy House and Dance Party


Good Morning! It's always a bittersweet time during our last breakfast at camp. The campers are recharged from last night's evening of fun on the Roundhearth front lawn. After our afternoon activities of testing and skills/games, campers and counselors had a blast running, jumping and crawling through the bouncy house dual obstacle course! We had an awesome DJ running a dance
party and limbo competition. After a while, the counselors hopped in the fun and everyone danced to cotton-eyed joe, the macarena, and the cupid shuffle! We danced and played for the rest of the night. Meanwhile, the camp enjoyed grilled hot dogs and burgers for dinner, provided by the Roundhearth. For dessert, we were treated to Ben and Jerry's ice cream with brownies.

After the bouncing and fist pumping came to an end, the campers packed up their bags and cleaned their rooms to prepare for this afternoon's departure. Right before bed they got one last treat of smores by the camp fire.

Right now, everyone is enjoying their breakfast before our last camp activity.

Thanks so much to everyone who has been following the blog this past week. Stay tuned for updates on our last day of Stowe Dryland Camp.



Thanks again!


Alex Norden - Assistant Camp Director

Friday, August 12, 2011

Testing

Good Evening,

Up late putting in the final testing results. It was a great session this afternoon. The athletes did a great job with a series of screening and functional movement tests. We feel that it is very important to get a baseline on young athletes so that they can track their progression, and identify any issues that may show up in the tests. Each camper will receive a conditioning evaluation tomorrow at closing remarks. Please feel free to catch up with me to go over those sheets in more detail if you would like. There is a lot of valuable information in those reports and can be very help to each individual person.

Just a reminder that Cole will be selling camp DVD's tomorrow morning. He will be setting up at the counter.

Thanks for another great camp! I will post again with closing remarks after a bit of a break!

Matthew Maloney
Assistant Director

REMINDER

Hi Everyone,

As tomorrow is pick up day, I would like to announce an invitation to all parents and family to attend our end of camp awards ceremony. We commence at 11:00 am and will be finished by 12:00 noon. While you may be in a rush to get out of here and get somewhere, we need everyone to stay out of the Round Hearth until 11:00, and we need for you to hold off on packing until after awards. We have run a very organized camp all week and when kids have their parents around it is much more difficult to maintain order. I know you all understand.

Matt will make a quick post about this afternoon's testing, and Alex will shoot out something about tonight's inflatables, dance competition, camp fire, and s'mores.

See you all tomorrow,
Danny Noyes
Camp Director

Day 6 Morning Session - Mt. Mansfield Hike

This morning the entire camp loaded up the bus and headed over to the Midway Lodge for a hike up Stowe. It was a new and exciting hike for most of the campers. Although challenging, the sense of accomplishment at the top was well worth it.

The hike started off with some single track, and a lot of quick vertical. The trail featured a lot of cool stepping stone rocks, and a few water crossing. It weaved its way through the woods, occasionally crossing some of the Stowe cut trails until filtering out onto Nosedive. Then most of the campers hiked Nosedive to the top of the quad as the clouds started to clear. You could see most of Stowe village! It was a great hike down as the weather continued to clear. Hiking is a great cap to our week, as it is a fun activity that brings together all the elements that we have talked about this week.




This afternoon we will be doing some conditioning screening with the older kids while the younger kids work on some skill development and play some games!

It has been a great week thanks for tuning in!

Matt Maloney
Assistant Camp Director

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Skating, Games, Water Balloon Ambush!

After an awesome dinner of grilled chicken, fettuccine with veggies, and quesadillas, the camp kicked off the evening with another skating session. The teams grouped up with their counselors and rolled up and down the rec bike path. The 62 campers learned how to conquer hills, bridge crossings, and even jumping over flags that lay across the path.

Afterwards, we "wound down" with some field games such as criss-cross, shipwreck and even the "yelling and screaming game". The campers were unaware where their counselors had gone off to while Danny Noyes and myself kept them engaged in Top Notch field. After some time of games, Matt's white truck appeared in the field with the American flag waving in wind. The campers stood perplexed, while their counselors charged out of the vehicle, decked out in warpaint and camouflage. It wasn't until a few kids were targeted and hit with water balloons did they realize they had been ambushed! The scene quickly took a turn into a whole camp water balloon fight! The excitement escalated as everyone ran and laughed while getting wet, (some completely soaked!)

After the excitement died down, we retired for the night with snacks of spice cakes and pretzels. Everyone is asleep in bed, getting rest for tomorrow's morning stretch and for some lucky ones, taking the miller fitness test.


















Have a fabulous night. Until tomorrow!

Alex Norden - Assistant Camp Director

Day 5 Explosion

As Matt mentioned, Gus MacLeod from St. Michael's College was our featured coach today. Gus and I started coaching the same year, about 10 years ago, and we took extremely different paths. I knew I wanted to work with college kids, so all of my coaching experience has fallen with that age group. Gus started coaching the college level but transitioned to the academy level with Mount Mansfield, making a great name for himself... good enough that the US Ski Team came calling and he spent several years with them as a ski tech for their Men's Speed Team. He is back at St. Mike's for his second year this fall.


Gussy worked in circuits of boxes, med balls, hurdles, and short distance speed burst sprints. A great mixture, the kids were engaged all the way through, ending the session with a match of Tug of War, ladies vs gentlemen. LADIES WON 2 out of 3!




Great night session ahead. Its hard to believe we only have 2 days left.

Thanks, Danny Noyes
Camp Director

Day 5 Morning Session - Secret Swimming Hole


Good Morning,

After a great night of rest and a movie, the kids were excited to be up and active this morning. Molly ran a warm-up this morning which set the tone for a what will hopefully be another great day. Again we were split up into to groups, the younger kids were in the field with Danny and featured Coach Gus MacLeod (St. Michaels College), while I was with the older kids at the Secret Swimming Hole in Jeffersonville.

The water was, well refreshing, this morning, but felt good as it has been a hard week on the kids bodies, of both the kids and counselors. Cold water is a great way to recover during conditioning periods. The kids enjoyed jumping off some of the rocks, the waterfall, and building a dam to help increase the water level for the little kids. At one point we had almost all 30 kids picking up rocks and working as a team helping to make the pool deeper.



The Round Hearth staff prepared another great meal for us today, some yummy pizza! Check in this afternoon for an update from Danny on our featured coach.

Thanks!

Matt Maloney
Assistant Camp Director

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Day 4 Alternate Session

Hi Everyone,

We took to the Stowe Rec Path this afternoon for an alternate training session on our bikes. We had three destinations along the 6-mile path, the Stowe Bike Park, Lackey's General Store (Candy), and a spot to swim. Some groups got in all three, while others spent a little too much time at one of the stops (Candy). The kids had fun (Candy), got wet (Candy), and managed a $3.00 budget to get the ESSENTIALS!

Overall, the camp is extremely well behaved this year. The nights have become quiet for the most part, and everyone is getting the rest they need. They work hard during the day and pay attention to our featured coaches so each of them can take something away that will help them improve this winter. I cant wait until my own boys are old enough to attend. The socialization skills that each child is able to work on are invaluable to their social development. Learning physical/athletic skills are also important, but they are secondary to this opportunity to develop listening skills, teamwork, and the ability to follow directions. I am very proud of the effort displayed by all campers, and the comfort level has risen so high that I would say camp now feels like a little home away from home.

Tonight we have scheduled a movie night with popcorn, and I think everyone will enjoy the down time as much as our coaches and counselors.

Thanks,
Danny Noyes - Camp Director

Day 4 Morning Session - Speed

We awoke here in Stowe as the rain from the night before cleared and the sun began to burn off the clouds. This helped dry up the parking lot at the resort, and we were on to the bus to head up for a great session on skates led by Danny Noyes.


Danny has done a great job this week as the camp director, but today he was able to jump in and run a session as our featured coach. He currently works as the Head Men and Woman's Head coach at Colby College in Maine. During his tenure with the Mules, both his athletes and he have shared in a lot of success. With multiple NCAA competitors (Jim Ryan - Team USA) and a 2010 EISA Coach of the Year Award for Danny, the Mules trophy case continues to grow.

Today's focus was applying the basic skills we have worked on to standing on our skates. We started the session stepping back to basic athletic stance to make sure the camp had a great understanding of that position. We then translated that position on skates, as we moved through a few drills to help get comfortable. The counselors did a great job helping the kids, and also with some great demos. That balance athletic stance was then used to work on making some turns and we introduced some terms that will be consistent with what the athletes will hear on snow this winter.


We ended our session with the annual SL Challenge which was won this year by Cole! Thanks Danny for a great session, it is a pleasure to work with you each year! We are headed to the bike park and Lackeys this afternoon!

Matt Maloney
Assistant Camp Director


Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Evening Talent Show!

Usually during camp we do our best to accomodate outdoor activities during rain or shine. Although due to our full schedule during the day, and our rainy evening we decided to hold our annual camp talent show. The campers and counselors stepped it up and performed awesome skits, lip syncing acts and even a stand up comedy act! Props to everyone who participated and to our awesome judges.

We also have been thinking of a brand new logo to represent our time at Stowe's camp. The campers worked hard to design a new symbol. Stay tuned for our selection which will be held on Thursday.

Everyone's retired for the night. We'll see the campers bright and early for some 7am stretching led by Canada's counselor, Justin. Have a wonderful night.

Alex Norden - Assistant Camp Director

Day 3 Swimming at Bingham Falls

On top of leading two sessions in the field focused on agility, Chip Knight spoke to the group at lunch. His message to the camp was to remember why they love to ski, because there will be times where it wont be easy and even times where it wont be fun. He suggested that the kids make it fun, even the more challenging aspects of the sport, such as dryland training. Chip also mentioned that the sport is always changing, whether it is the radius of the ski, or the length, or the size of the gates, etc. You have to be aggressive to adapt and change with the sport or else you'll be left behind.


Our destination for the alternate session today was Bingham Falls where the kids were able to jump and swim in a huge bowl at the base of a series of waterfalls. I thought last night presented the coldest water we would see at camp, but sure enough today's trip to the falls topped yesterday's water. With slightly blue lips, the camp enjoyed a warm ride to to campus.




Rain is on the radar for this evening, so a talent show might be replacing the Water Balloon games that we have scheduled. We'll have to wait until Alex's write-up tonight to see this camp's next chapter.

Thanks, Danny Noyes
Camp Director

Day 3 Morning Session

Good Morning,

We are very lucky to have today's featured coach working with us at camp. Chip Knight is a Stowe, Vermont local, World Cup and Olympic ski racer, and current Dartmouth College Head Woman's Coach. Chip competed on the World Cup circuit from 1993-2006, during that time he competed in 3 Olympics (98, 02, 06) posting his best result in 2002 with an 11th in the SL. It is a great experience for the kids to be able to interact with one of the United States greatest ski racers.

Today's morning session focus for the younger kids was agility. Chip did a great job getting the kids active, yet working on helping them define agility. The group worked through the ladders, hurdles, and cones, while the counselors helped make sure that they were balanced and moving as quickly as they could. It was a great session run by Chip!




Danny will be posting later this afternoon with some pictures of the swimming adventure at Bingham Falls.

Thanks,

Matt Maloney
Assistant Camp Director

Monday, August 8, 2011

Night Swim and Games

After an awesome taco dinner, the teams split up, played some games in Top Notch field and jumped in the river for a quick dip. The majority were troopers and jumped right in the water, which was refreshingly chilly! In the field we played everything from Quebec ball to speedball. All games included using the soccer ball and even big physio balls. We winded down with circle games like duck-duck-goose.

After a gold fish and rice krispie treat snack, the camp is retiring at 9:15 tonight. Ready for another fun day, starting at 7am!



Until tomorrow.
Alex Norden - Assistant Camp Director

Day 2 Balance Sessions

Stever Bartlett, Head Alpine Ski Coach at Middlebury College, joined us today as our featured coach. He led Switzerland, Austria, and Norway in the morning through a session focused on improving our BALANCE , and Sweden, Canada, and United States in the afternoon. Stever is a very well-known coach in the industry of ski racing, and his commitment to joining us each year (third year) shows the emphasis HE places on dryland training with his own team.

Whether we were on one foot, two feet, one hand and one foot, etc. Stever did a great job of exposing our weaknesses and showing us where we need to begin in order to strengthen our core balance skills. When you are within your frame consistently counting on your strength, its easy to forget about the stabilizing muscles throughout your whole body that are so critical in our sport. We create angles and our center of balance constantly shifts as we use force and pressure from turn to turn. Balance is necessary in all sports, but balance skills are at the top of our priority list in the sport of ski racing.




A few games added even more fun and spirit to already killer sessions, and Taco's on the menu had everyone challenging each other to an "eat off." Supposedly the record from last year was 17. I'll believe it when I see it.

A great day in Stowe!

Thanks, Danny Noyes
Camp Director

Day 2 Morning Session - Johnson Skate Park

Good Morning again from SUNNY Stowe Vermont!

After a good nights sleep, the campers awoke to a great warm-up session lead by Eric, where they prepared themselves for today's activities. This morning the younger kids were in the field with featured coach Stever Bartlett from Middlebury College, while the older kids headed over to Johnson Skate Park.

The skate park is always one of the campers favorite parts of the week. The park has come a long way in the past few years and the town of Johnson has done a great job taking care of the facility. We feel that the skate park is a great way to try some new things, work on balance (today's theme) and have a lot of fun at the same time. There are a lot of valuable skills that are learned rolling around the skate park, and we are able to apply them to skiing, which helps tie it all together at the end of the session.

The highlight of the morning was counselor Justin Sperry with his big airs, and sweet mini ramp tricks. It was great for the kids to see him skating around and Justin did a wonderful job helping get the kids comfortable on some of the elements in the park.


Lunch time again, look for Danny's post this afternoon where he will fill us in on Stever's sessions. Hope all is well, we are sure having a BLAST!

Matt Maloney
Assistant Camp Director

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Obstacle Course and Capture the Fox

After listening to our guest speaker, the teams jetted over to Top Notch field. We ended the day with a fun dual obstacle course and a game of Capture the Fox. The name Capture the Fox stems from the camp's past when our home base was the Red Fox lodge near Smuggler's Notch. To keep tradition, we kept the name. Our dual obstacle course was rode through in relay teams on bikes. The courses consisted of slalom turns, ramps, jumps and even "land mines". We had tons of fun and ended up playing until dark. Afterward, the teams retired to the lodge where we had a quick snack and headed to bed. Looking forward to another fun day!




Tomorrow, we're kicking off the morning with a skating session and a balance session with featured coach of Middlebury's ski team, Stever Bartlett.
Have a great night!



Alex Norden - Assistant Camp Director

Day 1 Afternoon Session

After lunch Jerry Murphy from SWIX presented his annual base-prep and waxing session. Jerry has been coming to camp longer than I have directed, and his clinic is one of our ways to remind campers of our camp's overarching goal of preparing for our ski racing season. He handed over a lot of SWIX gear for us to give out at the end of the week.


For the Afternoon session we were watching the radar and keeping our fingers crossed that the thunderstorm would hold off... and luckily it did. We were prepared to alter the session to a closer, easier activity on this side of the notch, but the sun actually came out and we crossed Smugglers notch in search of our series of Mountain bike trails.

The six teams split up in different directions with varying levels of difficulty. The oldest two teams (Canada and United States) challenged the Smugglers Trail System, which I believe is the most trying and advanced activity on our schedule all week. The younger teams will eventually get to those trails as they move up each year, but for today we had them shoot down the farm road and into the woods onto the Moose Trail. Everyone had the opportunity to find some water before loading the buses for the return trip.


After dinner Chad Couto, fitness director at the Stoweflake Inn and Resort, led the camp through an interactive discussion on nutrition. He is very engaging and approaches the conversation at a level where everyone can take something away. A great educational piece, Chad comes back each year and we are lucky he does so.


Night activity led by Alex ahead of us!
Danny Noyes - Camp Director

Day 1 Morning Session - Basic Athletic Stance

Good Morning from beautiful Stowe, Vermont!

Thanks Danny for a great first blog post! I am very excited for another week of camp and looking forward to blogging after each morning session.

I want to first mention the great photos that Danny posted last night. We are very lucky this year to have Cole Gibson, a post-graduate skier at Stratton Mountain School, on staff with us for the entire week. Cole will be taking photos and videos during the weeks activity, making sure to capture all the memorable moments. This year Cole will be dedicated all his effort to ski racing, and will be traveling the Eastern Cup and Nor-AM (2 steps below WC) circuits. A schedule like this means a HUGE traveling expenses, so in order to help off set those costs all profits from the camp DVD and camp photos will go towards Cole's season. Thanks for being here Cole! If you are interested in a camp DVD or photos please email me: matthew.maloney@yahoo.com.

Now to our morning session. I find it very important to start camp off with the most basic part of all athletic movement, basic athletic stance. This position sets the tone for all of our weeks focuses, balance, agility, speed, and explosion. It also gives us a key word the counselors can use through out the week. At all levels of ski racing, all the way up to the World Cup, basic athletic stance is worked on as a building block to success. Make sure and take a minute to ask your child about it and get a demonstration. (CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE)




Well the lunch bell is about to sound, and I need to fuel up for our bike ride this afternoon. Thanks to all of you for providing this opportunity to your child and I promise we will take great care of them! Until tomorrow morning.

Matt Maloney
Assistant Camp Director

Drop-Off and Orientation

Hi Everyone,

Thank you all for choosing Stowe Dryland Camp for your children this summer. We have a great week planned and will be updating the blog 2-3 times a day to keep everyone connected to the great things we have planned.

The first afternoon/evening of camp is designated to heighten comfort levels of all campers and to get the kids used to moving and having a schedule. For the most part, the first night at camp was the smoothest since I've been involved, and everyone got at least SOME sleep.


Our full-time staff is fantastic, made up of young coaches as well as college ski racers. The energy we bring to an already energetic group will keep the entire camp moving at even the most tiresome times. The counselors for the six countries are Justin Sperry (Colby College), Marley Pawlak (Plymouth State), Will Randall (Colby College), Kali St. Laurent (Plymouth State), Jim Ryan (Colby College), and Isabelle LaMotte (CIT). Coaches/counselors also joining us for the week are Alex Norden (KMS), Molly MacLeod (St. Mike's), Eric Barthold (Colby College), and Shawn Dunstan (Colby-Sawyer). Due to our first ever Counselor Orientation, this group has already had time to bond and share some great ideas for activities this week.


One major goal of mine is to get the kids in the water at least once a day, and this even included last night!


We'll keep updating as the days go on.

Danny Noyes - Stowe Dryland Camp Director

Monday, February 28, 2011

Mid Season Nutrition Tip

You trained well yesterday, fastest runs of the seasons so far, you listened to your coach and worked on everything they had to offer you that day, your skis are tuned and ready for another great session tomorrow. What else can I do to make tomorrow-another great training session?


Prepare your body for the intense session of skiing that next morning through proper nutrition and watch your training sessions step up to the next level. Even at a young age understanding what your body needs to ski for a full day of training is important. As young athletes it is not as important to count every calorie, as it is important to make sure your body has the fuel it needs to last all morning!


Breakfast is a very important meal for ski racers. They are usually up early in the morning, and many times lunch comes at 11:30, which is a long time from breakfast in most cases. This being said it important that the fuel you have lasts until your next meal. Eating a well-balanced meal in the morning will keep energy levels up, sustain your ability to focus, and help prevent injury. Here are some examples of “fuel filled” morning meals.


Breakfast

  • Cold or hot cereal with fruit or fruit juice and low-fat or nonfat milk
  • French toast or pancakes with maple or fruit syrup
  • Breakfast burrito (scrambled eggs, salsa, low-fat cheese in a flour tortilla) and fruit juice
  • Toast with jam or honey and low-fat yogurt
  • Bagel or English muffin with jelly and/or peanut butter, a banana, and fruit juice


There are sometimes when you do not have time for a sit down breakfast in the morning. There are healthy alternatives to donuts and pastries in the morning. Think about you meal before training as “quality in, quality out” the better quality your meal is pre-workout/training session the better fueled your body will be. Try a few of these quick on the go meals for the car ride to the mountain.


Quick Snacks

· Trail mix with dried fruit

· Fresh fruit

· Bagel

· Pretzels

· Wheat or rice crackers

· Small sandwich

· PowerBar® Performance Energy bar

· PowerBar® Fruit Smoothie Energy bar

· PowerBar® Energy Bites

· PowerBar® Energy Blasts gel filled chews

· PowerBar® Energy Gel

· PowerBar® Nut Naturals Energy bar

· PowerBar Harvest® Energy bar

· PowerBar® Triple Threat® Energy bar


Even when you consume these suggested meals pre-workout there are times when during a session you still need more, maybe you have to take 2 more runs, or the session has run longer then normal. Coming prepared to the hill each day will help those situations and make sure that training session is not wasted. You should carry a water bottle, hydration is very important, and a quick snack.


I hope these tips can help you with your training sessions! Good luck, ski fast, and most of all make sure you are having FUN!