School's odd schedule helps winter athletes

PARK CITY — Back to school. It's the time of year students dread the most. But for 14-year-old Jessie Delacenserie it's made worse because it also means winter is over.

That's right. Winter.

Delacenserie is a student in the Winter Sports School in Park City. The school is in session from April to November giving the student body — most of them elite winter athletes — time off when the snow flies to pursue their slippery goals.

Notable alumni include Olympic gold medal skiers Julia Mancuso and Ted Ligety and for students like Delacenserie, a Wisconsin native who has been ski racing since 5, there's no choice.

"It's pretty much my life," Delacenserie of ski racing. "I've been missing school since, like, second grade. In Madison they just didn't understand how important ski racing was to me."

That's not a problem at the Winter Sports School, where students are often competitors in the classroom and on the slopes, and many of the teachers have backgrounds in competing or coaching.

"I was a hack really. I was OK," says Rob Clayton of his youth as a ski racer. Clayton has headed the WSS for six years.

Clayton came to Utah from his native Vermont 15 years ago to coach and was hired by the WSS in 2002. Before coming to Utah, Clayton had worked at the Stratton Mountain School, a ski and snowboard academy in Vermont "in almost every capacity besides janitor," he said.

What first struck him about the WSS was the "intelligence" of the schedule. Between training and competitions, many of them a day's drive or more away, it makes no sense for teens actively involved in high-level winter sports to be missing weeks of class or worrying about making up course work when they're trying to pursue their dreams, he said.

Secondly, with other winter sports academies, the training program comes with the education.

"You not only buy their educational profile, you also buy their coaching staff," Clayton said. "We provide you the best education we can provide. You go find the best coach and the best program."

The WSS program is modeled after the international baccalaureate program and is rigorous and college preparatory, Clayton said.

"We don't just take jocks that want a college diploma. We provide the education, but we try to facilitate those who have high aspirations," he said.