Aerialists began training without snow

KAMAS — Not all skiers need snow to train.

The U.S. Ski Team's aerial skiers spent the fall practicing the twists and flips on diving boards and trampolines.

"I think any kind of flipping and twisting they want to do is helpful," said assistant aerials coach Brian Lake, who prodded the athletes into making diving a regular part of their training regiment this season. "They weren't really doing anything acrobatic outside our mandatory training session, like the summer water ramp and trampoline camps."

Diving into a swimming pool helps the athletes on a number of different levels. They have just 10 feet to perform tricks that they'll have 35 to 40 feet to perform on snow.

"Everything here happens faster," Lake said. "It also helps with aerial awareness, knowing how things feel in the air."

The athletes can try new tricks or perfect something that's giving them trouble on snow in the diving and trampoline camps. Where the snow is very unforgiving, water will allow for a few more mistakes.

Working the tricks faster off of the diving board also helps the athletes to "work it" when they're on snow, and maybe come into a jump too slow so they have to make the trick fit the different timing.

The team actually started training on snow Nov. 25, but most athletes say the extra time flipping off of a diving board helped not only their technical skills but their confidence.

"The gymnastics is absolutely helpful," said Ryan St. Onge. "It's a lot different because we don't get much air from the board . . . I'm a little worried I'm going to learn to land on my head."

He said the trampoline work helps so much, he does a cross-country show where he performs trampoline tricks wearing his skis for two weeks of the offseason.

"It's a lot of fun," he said. "It's a bit of work, but it's a high stress situation . . . It almost simulates a competitive situation."

Diving into water also helps those athletes recovering from injuries, like 2001 U.S. Aerials champion Emily Cook, who broke both of her feet just before the 2002 Olympics.

"It really helps me to do this," she said. "The last time I jumped on snow was January of 2002. So it helps me to know I still have all of the skills."

Lake said it gets the athletes thinking about the small, technical aspects of their tricks and perfecting them may be the difference in how successful they are in the long run.

"This is also so they can step out of their comfort zone," he said. "You can do tricks here with less perfection than when we move to snow."

The team will head to Italy on Dec. 18 for its first competition on snow since a World Cup in Australia on Sept. 4 and 5. They will return to Deer Valley for a World Cup competition on Jan. 27-28.

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E-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com