<p>Thanks, Soozievt! She's going through websites now. If we have more questions, I'll PM you.</p>
<p>Woody, I will offer different advice than Sooz about schools with competitive teams. If you daughter is interested at all in a school I would suggest looking at it and talking to the coach (if they'll talk back). The experience was very valuable for my S. It helped him solidify where skiing was in his priorities. In the end he choose a school he knew he would never make the traveling team (Dartmouth). He choose this over a school he most likely would have been one of their top skiers. Dartmouth has a pretty deep development team (on the nordic side) so he will be able to train, compete in the first couple of races, and be part of the whole scene. </p>
<p>During the campus visits the interaction with some of the coaches and other skiers was invaluable. It gave another peak in the door. It helps of course to visit at a time the coaches are not busy coaching. We went a week after NCAA's - mid-March. </p>
<p>The first school my S visited was UNH (in his sophmore year). He had no clue what to ask a coach. The meeting started out with my S looking like a deer in the headlights. The coach there was fantastic. He talked to him for over an hour - giving him advice on what to ask other coaches and things to look for in a team, school and coach. It was a great start. The Williams & Middlebury coaches were equally helpful. </p>
<p>In the end competitive skiing may not be what drives her choice. The good news is, looking only at "ski schools" narrows the field. Good luck to your D. She will have some great choices ahead of her.</p>
<p>The thing is, I know Dartmouth has a development team so that works there. But that is not the case at many other schools.....there is ONE team. I do believe that woody's D would be best looking at USCSA Varsity team schools or Club team schools, rather than NCAA schools for ALPINE ski racing. His/her D is not even racing the USSA circuit and is only doing high school racing, and that is not even taking into account not attending a ski academy. I truly believe his/her D could not race for Middlebury or UVM, for example.</p>
<p>Feel free to check out <a href="http://www.uscsa.com%5B/url%5D">www.uscsa.com</a> to find more USCSA colleges/universities in the East. I coach at Castleton State College and raced (and coached at) for Green Mtn College (both in VT...both varsity programs). Both schools are in the USCSA's Eastern Collegiate Ski Conference (ECSC), Thompson Division. The ECSC is split into four divisions; MacConnell, Thompson, Reynolds and McBrine. Traditionally, the MacConnell Division has fielded some very strong teams, but I would not label them as "Division I of the ECSC or USCSA". </p>
<p>Please do not be turned off by club ski teams either, as many of them would surprise one. Many club ski teams, such at Syracuse (in the NY Conference), WPI (ECSC), Boston University and Tufts University (ECSC) are successful teams with structured programs and great coaches. </p>
<p>On Sunday, October 21st from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM, the ECSC will be hosting it's third annual college fair at the WPI campus in Worcester, MA. The fair is designed to help student athletes determine where they fit in the larger spectrum of collegiate racing.</p>
<p>I hope this information is helpful. Please feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions or need some contacts for coaches in the ECSC. My contact information can be found at <a href="http://www.castleton.edu/athletics/skiing/coaches.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.castleton.edu/athletics/skiing/coaches.htm</a> .</p>
<p>Don't forget McGill University in Montreal. OMG it's near the best skiing in the east!</p>
<p>EderCSC- Will there be another fair in the CT region?? The date in MA won't work for us - older son's Parent Weekend.</p>
<p>Weenie - Thanks for the heads-up on McGill - we won't forget it though - S just started there and loves it. From what I've learned though, the ski team is quite competitive with Olympians on the roster- YIKES!!</p>
<p>^ Oh that's funny. We LOVE Mt. Tremblant, and it is still less known among Americans than one might think. (We also LOVE the restaurants in the area. LOL)</p>
<p>Woody...the program in Worcester, MA is actually on the same day as our annual fall coaches meeting, so it is the only one I know of. What area of CT are you from? There are many general college fairs in CT during the fall (I work in admissions at Castleton as well and CT is my territory). Many colleges with ski teams are represented at those fairs. Although the coaches are not at these fairs, it's a good way to pick up materials related to those institutions and speak with one of their representatives regarding academic programs.</p>
<p>Is she an Alpine or Nordic skier? I'm assuming Alpine></p>
<p>My D is a nordic skier at a Division 1 school. Like skier's moms son she will probably not make the traveling team, but will compete in other races. She enjoys training and being part of the team. </p>
<p>Contacting coaches is a good idea and visiting. What is nice about skiing is you mostly have the spring to participate in other things.</p>
<p>My son is at University of Denver--no classes on Fridays so the kids can hit the mountains. Very good merit money there as well. He loves the fact that he is in a great city, at a school with great programs in both business and public policy, and able to hit the mountains frequently.</p>
<p>WOODY - I agree - USCSA would be a great place to do some good sleuthing for schools/ski teams that your gal could well fit in as a good addition to a ski team. When we were doing the college search thing - mine insisted on a college snowboard team!!! LOL - being as there were only 23 in the country - at the time (and ruling out any New England school!! also) - that was a huge piece of the pie for us. Believe it or not - she found several schools of interest - all with snowboard teams - on the east coast - and ended up in eastern North Carolina!!! (no where near any mountains LOL) It was a club team - but that was enough to charge up the batteries - so to speak. She absolutely loved it - was competitive yet fun at the same time - her team went to Nationals every year - east coast/west coast - and has actually been ranked at the college level in the top 5 for 4 years now :) This with no practice or coaching demands - they just went and raced - and did fantastic. All the other schools seemed to have the benefit of - required practices/coach programs - but these kids really wanted to race - and ract they did - thanks to USCSA. Fantastic experience.</p>
<p>Club level ski racing can be very comptitive - and can be a better choice for some students because of the lesser committment required - a great option.</p>
<p>Soozievt is right tho about the northeast and western schools - I have to agree that many will be out of your gals league - but....... that said - there are still many many other high quality schools that would fill the bill for sure.</p>
<p>EDRCSC - wow - a blast from my past for sure LOL - I am an alum of CSC :D - tho at that time - things were alot different - I used to teach at Killington - junior program - many a year ago LOL. Some of my kids went on to be incredible racers - whew - talk about memories :)</p>
<p>WEENIE - for many years - I spent my Thanksgiving weekend at Mt Tremblant - absolutely georgous place - great skiing - great memories too LOL.</p>
<p>SOOZIEVT - it is now bittersweert that my gals racing days are over :( - but she is returning to New England this weekend - and has accepted an internship in Maine - seasons pass for Sunday River/Sugarloaf/Loon in Nh as well - is under the tree :) Can't wait!!! I recall that you met her on the wagon going up mountain at Sugarloaf a couple of years ago :D Her new board boots just arrived - so she is all set to go - hard to take the New England out of a New Englander LOL - even tho NC was awesome for her.</p>
<p>WOODY - go to United</a> States Ski and Snowboard Association - USCSA is the sports federation for collegiate team ski racing & snowboard competition in America. - and on the left side - click on conferences - you will see a map and the list of conferences that are clickable that will show you the schools in that conference with teams.</p>
<p>Just an FYI - You will find that some club teams may not have a coach listed - you may have to dig thru school sites to find the club sports listed to find a contact.</p>
<p>My son attends Lafayette and joined the Ski Racing Team. It's a club sport and they take all comers. I'd look at schools in VT, NH, Maine, Mass & New York State and look under their extra-curriculars for what Club teams they offer. Also Lafayette is in PA, and I think most of the schools in their club league are eastern PA and NJ. (I suspect the season would be longer further north or in the Rockies). My sense is that there is a very active club-ski-racing circuit, it's fun and a lot less stress than trying to ski Division 1.</p>
<p>JeepMom....I think I met your daughter riding in the cat up the mountain in Idaho, not Sugarloaf, actually. It was the year your D was on crutches. </p>
<p>Yippee for your D's internship in Maine. </p>
<p>At the moment, my D is at Mt. Tremblant with her team for a pre-break training session before coming home. I hope it is great. Today was their first day on the hill. We have lots of white stuff here in Vermont. D has three weeks of training camp coming up at Wildcat. Nationals this year will be at Sunday River. Ski racing has been a big part of her life since she was a toddler and this is likely her final year of it, or at least in this organized team capacity. </p>
<p>Hopefully Woody has looked at the USCSA for both varsity and club teams as these are likely viable options. I believe her D also is interested in architecture (which is also my D's field). These two factors played a part in narrowing my D's college list back at the time.</p>
<p>My kids are all ski racers on a mountain team, much more competitive than the varsity team they ski for. They all realize that there is no way they could ski for a college. The best girl on our mountain team, who is really a very talented skier and competes all over the country, could not make a Div I team.</p>
<p>From what I hear from my kids' coaches, many spots at the colleges are taken by kids from the ski academies and foreign students "recruited" for skiing. These kids are from countries with a strong ski tradition. A skier from a varsity team would not be skiing at this level. </p>
<p>I would have my daughter pick the college she loves, and then see if she can ski at the club level. And have fun looking at schools!!</p>