Fall Newsletter 2011
October 4, 2011
Dear Friends of Freestyle and Freeride,
With winter rapidly approaching I wanted to get a newsletter out to our Club members, coaching staff, and those who have supported our efforts. With very successful summer programming at the Utah Olympic Park water ramps, Mt. Hood, and Snowbird behind us, I and my coaching staff are excited about our up coming winter. I invite all of you who have questions or concerns about the up coming season to meet with me personally or call me. I am more than happy to discuss your individual needs and answer inquiries. I can be reached at (801) 272.7177. Registration and program information is now available on our website at www.wasatchfreestyle.com. Please visit our parent organization’s website at www.wasatchfriends.com as well for additional information and updates. At this time, our Deer Valley programing is nearly half full. I encourage all of those interested in Deer Valley programming, which includes Deer Valley Mogul Monsters, Deer Valley Freeski, and Deer Valley Freestyle team, to send in registration and payment to secure a spot.
Please remember all skiers and coaches participating in any Wasatch Freestyle Foundation programing must be USSA members. The USSA membership deadline is October 15th, 2011 for new and renewed memberships. The price for new and renewed memberships goes up after October 15th. I highly recommend taking care of your USSA membership by October 15th. USSA Membership is done online at www.ussa.org.
A reminder to all, our Team Equipment night is October 18th, 2011 at the Utah Olympic Park’s Alf Engen Museum at 6:00 pm. The prices made available to our team members are unbeatable. Skis for all ability levels and styles, goggles, helmets, boots, poles, bindings, team jackets, sweats, and t-shirts will be available for order or purchase. Coaches and volunteers will be available to help with the necessary forms, program payment, and programming questions. Mark Kozak will be premiering a slideshow that should prove to be greatly entertaining. Please join us for Team Equipment night Tuesday, October 18, 2011.
Things are shaping up nicely for our younger skiers. Three Devo mogul meets are scheduled for this winter. The Devo meets are at Deer Valley in January, the U.O.P in February, and again at Deer Valley in March. The Devo meets are designed to be fun, low-pressure experiences, introducing young skiers (7-14) to ski competition. A devo mogul course is designed to meet the skill levels of these young skiers. With easy to manage moguls even the youngest mogul monster should feel at ease and enjoy the experience. Those who participated in the two Devo meets last year had great success and lot of fun. While participation is optional, it would be great to see all our young Wasatch team members participate.
Another way to participate and help ensure Wasatch Freestyle Foundation is here for years to come is through the Jan’s Winter Welcome fundraiser put on by the Winter Sports Alliance. The auction and dinner event is on October 29th, 2011 at Deer Valley. This is an annual fundraising activity for the Wasatch Freestyle Foundation and many other youth programs. The more participation we have (even an hour of envelope stuffing counts towards our program) the more our foundation benefits. Gaylynn Mooney has graciously offered to head up our effort again this year. Hopefully, you have all been receiving her emails requesting volunteers, auction items, and raffle ticket purchases. I appreciatively thank Gaylynn for her efforts. Wasatch Freestyle Foundation is a 501-C3 non-profit organization. With out efforts like this it would be impossible for our Foundation to exist. If you would like to help make Jan’s Winter Welcome a success for Wasatch Freestyle please contact Gaylynn directly at skyemooney@comcast.com.
The goal of Wasatch Freestyle is to meet the needs of the kids who join our programs. There seem to be a number of skiers who would like to ski with the full-time team but do not have the academic flexibility, or have other logistical challenges preventing them from doing so. I would like to see these young skiers stay with the sport and realize scheduling programming for them is a challenge. I would like to meet briefly with the parents of these skiers at our equipment night to discuss options for these skiers for this winter. If you feel you have a skier that falls into this category I ask that you contact me at (801) 272-7177 at your earliest convenience.
Our weekend programming at Deer Valley will start December 3, 2011. An orientation meeting will be scheduled the week before Deer Valley opens. This is the perfect opportunity to pick up your child’s season pass (avoiding those long new season lines) and ask any last questions before the programs begin. This was a great help to our families and the Deer Valley ticket office last year. Please check the website, and your email for the date.
Last I would ask all of you who have had a positive experience with our club to please tell your friends and family about us. As a non-profit organization we rely on our members to get the word out. We greatly appreciate your kind words.
Again, I invite anyone who may have questions about our club to contact me. I am happy to meet with you in person or converse via phone. Please call me at (801) 272-7177. I thank all of you for your involvement in and support of the Wasatch Freestyle Foundation.
Best Regards,
Jon O’Brien, Director
Wasatch Freestyle Foundation
