Explosion Session with Gar Trayner

This morning we were greeted with sunshine and humidity for our last field session of SDSC 2017.  Gar Trayner, Director of Athlete Development at Killington Mountain School, joined us as the featured coach.  Gar enjoyed an incredibly successful career as an athlete on the British National Team, and competed in the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, finishing 22nd.  When Eric introduced Gar to the camp this morning and shared that he skied in the Olympics, the level of awe wasn't quite where it should have been.  I interjected:  "Does anybody know who Bode Miller is?"  The answers of YES came out of all mouths.  "Well Gar beat Bode Miller in that Olympic Slalom,"  and the crowd went nuts, and several sought out his autograph at the end of the session.

We've been very fortunate the last two weeks to have staff coaches (Eric, Micaela, and Danny) who know what the campers are getting for instruction and curriculum daily so if there is a hole of info or guidance they are missing, we are prepared to fill it.  We are EVEN MORE fortunate that our two guest coaches (Martin Guyer, US Ski and Snowboard Eastern Region Director of Development, and Gar Traynor) have brought unique ways to think about the same topics we instruct daily.  While we all may have the same end goal, there is more than one way to get there and we need to bring as many different ways of thinking and explaining to our sessions.  These two guest coaches really increased the value of our education with their approach, their energy, and certainly their accents (Martin is from Australia and Gar is from England)!!