Blog
Scott in Sport: YUsnow
Friday 5th February, 6pm, James College Cashpoint next to YUSU Student Centre.
This one's another tricky one as I've been racing for YUsnow since it was YUSSC (York University Ski and Snowboard Club) in my second year, but here goes anyway!
As ever when a journey is involved, we met up at James Cashpoint outside the YUSU Student Centre at 6pm on Friday to head off to Sheffield Ski Village. There were 15 of us in all, some regulars, some newbies, some with all the gear, some with no equipment, but all with a love of snowsports. We packed up the minibus, hopped in and then we were on the road to Sheffield. There was plenty of chat on the bus and quite a few giggles as a result of the social the preceding night!
After an uncomplicated journey, we got to Sheffield Ski Village, unloaded the minibus and traipsed inside. We paid our £10 for 2 hours of race training, which YUsnow subsidises once you have been twice, and then got changed and kitted up. Equipment hire is included in the £10 if you need it.
At this point I was getting pretty excited as I hadn't raced since early November and even though it was only training, I felt the pre-race butterflies of anticipation! We got outside and I quickly realised I had forgotten how odd dry slope feels underfoot, but I clipped into my skis and got on the button lift. This is essentially a pole with a round "button" attached at the bottom that is connected to a cable, along with many other equally spaced poles. The button is placed between the legs and the lift then "drags" you up the mountain - it's a bit of a bizarre feeling the first few times!
The first time down the slope felt really strange as I was pretty rusty and had forgotten what dry slope feels like, especially after skiing on real snow in France over Christmas! However, by the end of the slope it started feeling a bit more normal and then I was back on the drag and back up the slope. Next time down I skied the course through the gates (slalom poles), but wasn't great! Ideally you should be getting really close to the gates and hitting them with your shins (you wear plastic shin protectors to avoid the bruises!), but I was nowhere near the gates the first time down! After a few more times, it started getting better and I was getting closer to the gates, although not hitting many of them.
We had maybe half an hour of free practice where we just did what we wanted and practiced the gates with words of advice from the coach at the end of a run. Then another set of gates was set up next to the initial ones so we could practice race technique with teams going down each course. Team racing is basically a relay race with the next person going as soon as the preceding racer has reached the bottom and the flag has been lowered. We then spent about 45 minutes practicing down these courses, focusing especially on starts as this is something we frequently lose a few seconds in races (which can be the difference between winning and losing). This was really useful and we hoped everyone would bear it in mind at the next race the following day.
After this, the second course was taken down and the first course extended, which we then practiced repeatedly with the coach watching us and giving us specific things to work on for the next time down. This is so helpful and allows you to tweak seemingly small particulars, which can make a big difference to your racing. I felt myself rather in need of this coaching given how rusty I felt after very little racing of late.
45 minutes of this and the session was over. We then helped to take the course down before heading inside to de-kit. At this point some water was very well received as 2 hours of race training is pretty thirsty work! We chilled at the bar for a bit before loading the minibus up again and heading home, via McDonalds!
YUsnow welcomes any competent skiers/boarders for race training and no previous race experience is necessary. They train weekly either on dry slope or indoor snow at Castleford. The next training session is a Castleford on Sunday evening. If you are interested in getting involved in racing, email the race captain, James, on snow@yusu.org.
However, YUsnow offers much more than just race training and has recreational sessions at Castleford once a fortnight. These are open to skiers/boarders of all abilities and the club gives members discounts for lessons. The next recreation session is next Wednesday evening and there is another on Wednesday week 9.
There is also Freestyle training every Thursday evening at Castleford if you consider yourself a bit of a budding trickster. Like race training, you need to be a competent skier/boarder, but do not need any previous freestyle experience.
The highlight of the year is the annual holiday in the first week of the Easter holidays. This year it is returning to Val Thornes for what promises to be an epic week of skiing and socials! There are very few spots left - get in touch with the committee to see how you can nab one of the last places.
The club is also pretty renowned for its "steezy stash" - you may well have seen some cool yellow YUsnow hoodies around campus. If you want one of these or want any more information about the club, why don't you visit the YUsnow committee on the Snow Stall every Monday from 12-2pm at Vanbrugh stalls or email snow@yusu.org?
Emily xo
