Dedication to ski team pays off
Aseries of cold fronts passed through this week, significantly improving ski conditions, but before we get to that, here’s the concluding piece about the Santa Fe ski team.
“Skiing is something you can do your whole life and it’s a most exciting way to find out who you are; that is what we concentrate on,” says Santa Fe Ski Team head coach Hubert Seigmann. “Our idea is to keep the opportunities here, and with the help of the UNM ski program we are building our own success track.”
One local skier he can point to is 16-year-old Yanick Schlenzig, who has been on the team since he was 9. Now living in Albuquerque, Schlenzig makes the drive to the team’s home at Sipapu every weekend for training, but his dedication is paying off. A month ago he won a giant slalom at Purgatory against a field of 40 athletes from Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. “I love the sense of community we have,” Schlenzig said. “It’s an individual sport — you race by yourself and progress by yourself — but it is also very much a team sport. They help cheer you on, help with advice.”
Schlenzig noted that his improvement is more mental than physical, noting that his technical skills developed more in the first few years he began skiing. He added that
the visualization process also is key.
“We get to inspect the course before a race and you try to commit it to memory,” Schlenzig said, “then run through it in your head over and over so you can anticipate tough turns.”
Jeffrey Gallegos, 9, is a promising young skier in the program. He won his age division race at Purgatory by what is an eternity in skiing — 6 seconds in his first heat, and by 11 on his second run. His dad, Carlos Gallegos, is on the team’s board of directors and played a role in his desire to be on the team.
“A lot of [his success] has to do with being on the team, the training here at Sipapu and the good coaching,” Jeffrey Gallegos said. “I am focusing now on bending my ski, getting my hip in, pressuring forward in my boots.”
Santa Fe head coach Hubert Seigmann praised the younger Gallegos’ approach for his strong times.
“He is totally knowing what he needs to do in his drills,” Seigmann said. “He is not focused on the outcome, but the outcome is phenomenal when you focus on the basics. He left them behind on the flats because he knows how to milk every bit of speed. It was amazing.”
Assistant head coach Lexie Doth has been with the team on and off for five years. Seigmann was her coach at Ski Apache, when it
fielded a team. Being a part-time coach is a challenge but Doth noted, “I’ve watched the kids grow up and that’s been fun for me!
“They have great heart and work hard,” Doth added. “My motivation as a coach is not just to teach them how to be as fast as they can be, but to be able to ski anywhere in the world with confidence and control. A lot of other teams stress running gates and go hard just at skiing fast, but we teach technique and foundations first, and the ability to ski any hill. I’ve seen other kids were super fast but as they grow up they hit a wall because the foundation wasn’t there.”
The Santa Fe ski team oversees multiple programs designed for skiers of various ages and degree of interest. Fees range from $275 for an introductory program for youngsters to $1,150 for advanced racers. The masters program for adults costs $650. Financial aid is also available through the support of the Lennox Foundation. The team begins training in October and also runs a 10-day summer program in Austria.