Lucky Fin

[Jack M]

This is one of the main reasons I can't stand racers. This mentality is all too common with them. I have been hit by a racer before who said I shouldn't have been turning like I was.

That's when you hit them in the face and say "well you shouldn't have been standing there, brah."

[Buell]

That's when you hit them in the face and say "well you shouldn't have been standing there, brah."

Ace, you Colorado guys are way nicer to people like that than we are in Oregon and California.

[twelsch42]

I don't usually paint with such a big brush, but I effing hate racer kids. Especially at Copper. After a single early season day, I won't make any more turns there, untill those pesky kids take off.

T

[fin]

I thought I would wait to join in here until I was able to get a response on this. And thanks to ACE for putting up the video.

Actually, I was only mildly upset at the time it happened but it was not until I watched the video from ACE that I actually become much more upset and made the decision to follow-up.

What ACE’s video show’s is at Copper Mountain during the Race to the Cup race that we (Bomber) sponsor and support. I decided to make a run down Main Vein with ACE who was visiting from CT at the time. Interestingly enough, ACE was wearing his GoPro again and had it running. After my issues with Keystone last year, I think I am now going to just pay ACE to follow me around the hill and document everything.

Anyway, I decided to stop and wait for some others, so as always, you stop on the far side of the run and make sure people can see you. What that video does not show is there is probably 50+ yds of run to my left so it was not like it was a choke point in the run. I felt I was fine as I was actually right up against the ropes and if I turned around I could see all skiers coming down, so they could obviously see me.

It was at this point “Chachi” (I call him this as he reminded me of Scot Baio from the TV show Happy Days. That and they would not give me his name because he is a minor) decided to try and jump over the rope to my right which essentially meant he also had to jump over me. All I remember was seeing the bottom side of a set of ski’s as they lofted over my head. The whole time Chachi was waving his arms frantically trying to roll down the proverbial “windows” on his fictitious car. Keep in mind he was not going slow and when he landed he was not in control. God forbid there was a family of 4 below me. Or worse, what would have happened if I had stood up at just the wrong moment. The attached still shots show Chachi doing his thing and even cutting the rope in the process.

Honestly I was stunned at first and could not believe what just happened. But after snapping out of it I felt this need to have a discussion with Chachi. So I followed Chachi down to where he had stopped at the top of a training course his team had set-up. I address Chachi and asked him what he thinking in jumping over people on the run? Him and two of his buddies (I assume Ralph and Potsie) just stood there giggling like school girls saying things like “It’s all good bra” and “No worries Bra”. At first I thought maybe this was the Special Olympics training at Copper but knew they did not come in until February. After failing to get an adult response out of him I realized this was going to go nowhere and my other option was not doable due to the Child Protection Laws in Colorado. So I went down to chat with his coach at the bottom of the course.

I approached the coach, introduced myself, and told him what happened with racer Chachi. His response was complete indifference and he seemed more annoyed that I was disturbing his training. Once again realizing I was not getting anywhere I took note of the team name and left to go discuss this with Copper Mountain.

The good news is we have a great relationship with Copper and do business with the head of patrol and the race department. Once I showed them the video they were stunned and took immediate action. Unfortunately that was the last day of the teams camp and Chachi had already gone home. I was promised a letter of apology and told Chachi would be reprimanded by the team. Hmmm, I did not hold my breath.

So below is a copy of the e-mail I got from Chachi. I’ll let you decide if it is sincere or not. I have my opinion and will leave it at that. But I will say this, I am tired of being buzzed by these ego driven racer types on our hills and now it seems jumping over us is the new game. For whatever reason, they think what they do in the course can also be done on a public hill. You don’t see Michael Schumacher or Mario Andretti using the public highways as their own race course. So Chachi, I suggest you keep it on the race course and work on some self control when on public runs. Because some day, you might severally hurt someone and it won’t be so funny.

If the race team has the goal of creating responsible, talented racers then they have failed with Chachi. Their website has a page called “Core Values”

__________________________________________

(from website)

CORE Values

Attending National Sports Academy is a privilege. To ensure the school runs smoothly, it is expected that all members of the NSA community strive to embody our core values:

CONSIDERATION

Carefully considering and being tolerant of others and the surrounding environment.

ORGANIZATION

Striving to maintain organization in all areas of school life.

RESPONSIBILITY

Taking responsibility for your actions, obligations to others and your role within the extended community.

ENERGY

Approaching all aspects of school life with vitality and commitment.

______________________________________________________________

(appoligy e-mail I received from Chachi)

Fin.

My name is M***** S*****, I am the ski racer from "Fin burn."

I apologize for how I acted when you approached me. I did not mean to make you feel as if I was blowing you off. At the time I didn’t think I had done anything wrong.

After reviewing the video, I understand that by jumping to the side of you onto a blind trail I was putting you and the other skier/snowboarders in danger. I didn’t mean to frighten you or anything like that.

Sorry for the stress I caused you, I have learned my lesson and will not be jumping over any ropes or anything else of the sort.

M***** C S*****

________________________________________

I would suggest to the coach to send Chachi back to class to go over these so called Core values before he is a guest at our mountains again.

And if you guys want to tell this team how you feel about this, go ahead, this is the one time you have high-definition video proof of one of these empowered racers acting reckless.

The team is the “National Sports Academy” out of Lake Placid, N.Y.

E-mail: grand@nationalsportsacademy.com

and address it to Steve Mergenthaler head Alpine coach.

[trailertrash]

Did you get the coaches name that couldn't be bothered?

[Jack M]

I would say Chachi's response is fairly sincere for a teen. Or if not, it sounds like he got a stern talking to. I think you probably taught him a lesson.

[Dan]

Did you get the coaches name that couldn't be bothered?

(Tossing in some key words to lift this thread in Google searches...)

I was wondering the same thing. Is Steve Mergenthaler, the head Alpine ski coach over there at the National Sports Academy, the one who didn't think it was important that one of his racers was skiing recklessly on public slopes?

If you're a racer at the National Sports Academy in Lake Placid, your parents are footing the bill for you to head out to Colorado for race training, and you didn't get some guidance about appropriate riding techniques on public/open slopes, then your coaches didn't do their job. Hope that Steve Mergenthaler and the alpine ski coaches under his supervision will rethink their responsibility to their students, and change up their approach.

[Buell]

I think the kid only understands that someone was mad at something he did. They complained enough and he had to write a letter apologizing for it.

It is a start though and hopefully he will begin to understand sometime in the future.

I have seen it several times, and just cannot understand, the coaches don't care if their riders are endangering others on the hill.

[queequeg]

IMO: the biggest problem in these sort of scenarios are the coaches. The the reaction from the coach (or lack thereof) is all you need to know in order to understand why the kid is behaving the way he is. The kid simply doesn't give a $hit, because the coach has not taught him discipline and respect ... probably because the coach doesn't much care either. The coach is the disease, the kid is just a symptom.

The kid's letter sounds to me like somebody sat him down and forced him to write it out of obligation, but given his (and his mentor/coach's) response to Fin's rebuke, it's pretty hard to imagine him feeling sincerely apologetic. His word choices "I didn't mean to frighten you" as opposed to something like "I'm sorry I took your life in my hands, without your prior consent" seems pretty telling.

We all make mistakes, but I don't get the impression that this kid is learning from his.

[J0hn]

The coach is the disease, the kid is just a symptom.

Wow, quote of the year.

[trailertrash]

It is the parents. I am betting the coach is tired of being a babysitter and cleaning up after the little spoiled brats.

Another example of modern parenting failing yet again...

[Seraph]

Fin,

The thing that surprises me the most (or maybe not, all things being considered) is that if the coach and the school were taking this seriously, the coach probably would have made a personal call or sent an email saying that the incident was unacceptable and would not be repeated in the future.

That being said, if it were me, and I had the relationship you have with Copper, I would pass along their email with its implied apathy, and let the chips fall where they may. If Copper management feels that they need to set an example for the National Sports Academy and the other teams that visit their fine establishment, maybe they tell the National Sports Academy that they are un-invited from visiting for one year due to their athletes reckless behavior and their schools indifference in ensuring appropriate behavior by their athletes. The tarnish of being banned from a ski area would certainly affect their image in the community and might get them thinking that respect for others by their coaches and athletes needs to be applied rather than just given lip service.

[bobdea]

IMO: the biggest problem in these sort of scenarios are the coaches. The the reaction from the coach (or lack thereof) is all you need to know in order to understand why the kid is behaving the way he is. The kid simply doesn't give a $hit, because the coach has not taught him discipline and respect ... probably because the coach doesn't much care either. The coach is the disease, the kid is just a symptom.

The kid's letter sounds to me like somebody sat him down and forced him to write it out of obligation, but given his (and his mentor/coach's) response to Fin's rebuke, it's pretty hard to imagine him feeling sincerely apologetic. His word choices "I didn't mean to frighten you" as opposed to something like "I'm sorry I took your life in my hands, without your prior consent" seems pretty telling.

We all make mistakes, but I don't get the impression that this kid is learning from his.

wow, I am in complete agreement. I've dealt with a few junior teams. let me tell you, there's coaches that run a gulag on skis and coaches that are basically doing it because it's better than teaching in a ski school and the whole college thing did not work out.

guess what one's kids are awesome and who's are not?

thats why I can't broadly say all racer kids blow. I've had coaches and teams really help me out on hill before and even gotten thank you letters from race teams for helping them get on hill early.

[trailertrash]

Facebook anyone?

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/GoMountaineers?v=wall

[Mr. T]

[Jack M]

Wow, quote of the year.

No, it is the parents.

[carvin29]

I've had a few hotshot skiier kids try to race me. It's like they have this anger or need to show people up. I wish that Chachi had been punished more severely- there's nothing worse than a coach turning a blind eye just because they want to make a player/skiier feel good.