Two Holderness skiers – a rising junior and a recent graduate – recently took part in the US Ski Team’s National Development Group, an invitation-only camp for the nation’s best 15-20-year-old skiers.
 
Emma Reynolds ’22 and Finn Boissoneault ’24 joined a handful of other elite skiers for the camp, which began with 10-days of on-snow training at Mt. Hood in Oregon, followed by seven days of fitness training and education at the U.S. Ski & Snowboard USANA Center of Excellence in Park City, Utah.
 
“It was another exciting start to summer training for both Emma and Finn, as they had the honor for the second year in a row of being invited to the NDG (National Development Group) at Mt. Hood, Oregon and to a dryland camp at the Home of the USST (US Ski Team) in Park City, Utah,” says Holderness Director of Snow Sports Ben Drummond. “We at Holderness are proud of their accomplishments and applaud them for their great fitness test results and quality skiing with this great group of top-level women from across the country.”
 
The purpose of the National Development Group is to provide young athletes with training experiences and learning opportunities that will help them compete at the top of the NorAm Cup and prepare them for future high-level international competition. To qualify for nomination to the National Development Group, skiers had to have been in the top 30 of the FIS Age World Rankings in Slalom or Giant Slalom, or the top 15 for Super Giant Slalom. Only 10 skiers were invited to participate in this year’s women's National Development Group camp, and all of them - with the exception of Emma and Finn - were drawn from high-powered ski clubs in Colorado, California, and Washington state.
 
While challenging weather conditions limited on-snow training at Mt. Hood during this year’s camp, athletes learned a great deal through workshops that focused on tactical discussions, video analysis, tuning clinics, and boot setups. When the group moved to the USANA Center of Excellence in Park City - a key dryland training center for the U.S. Ski Team - the group enjoyed full access to unrivaled training resources. During their seven days in Utah, the group underwent baseline fitness testing and learned the finer points of nutrition, sports psychology, and physiology. They were also able to see how current U.S. Ski Team athletes were preparing for their own upcoming winter seasons.
 
Looking to the future, Emma will spend a gap year training and competing at Burke Mountain Academy. Finn, a rising junior, will continue to compete for Holderness School’s Eastern Alpine skiing program, a recognized leader in ski racing in independent schools. Holderness skiers train and compete at the Mittersill Race & Training Slopes at Cannon Mountain, a designated training site for the U.S. Ski Team. This world-class facility includes full-homologated GS and slalom courses, a T-bar to maximize training time, and the 9,500-square-foot Mittersill Performance Center.