Local man looks to start up skiing program for students
Local man looks to start up skiing program for students
Meeting scheduled for Jan. 30
By Emory Rounds
Staff writer
Middle and high school skiers from the Scarborough area may be in luck this winter.
That is because one-time Falmouth alpine ski coach Dave Mills is spearheading an effort to establish a fledgling program affiliated with area schools. If things go according to plan, the new program should support an age range of 11 to 18.
Mills, who coached the Falmouth ski team from 1995 to 1996, has been an alpine skier since he was employed at Sugarloaf as a ski coordinator in the mid 1980s. Now he is hoping to introduce a new generation of student athletes to the joys of competitive skiing and has scheduled an informal meeting on Jan. 30 at 8 p.m. at the Scarborough Public Library.
“It’s a growing sport,” Mills said. “And we’re seeing a lot more children in Maine getting into programs. Most recently, Windham and Cape Elizabeth have established teams. What we are trying to do in Scarborough is to establish a feeder system much like lacrosse and soccer have done at the middle school level and then introduce kids to skiing while they are somewhere around sixth grade. We’d be satisfied seeing 10 or 12 kids turn up for this first meeting, although something like 20 or 30 would be excellent.”
High school skiing in Maine runs a parallel schedule to other winter sports, featuring a season that stretches from December through late February. Mills is looking to establish a team that practices about three nights a week at Shawnee Peak. Competitions would be held in places like Mount Abram, Sunday River, and Lost Valley, in addition to Shawnee.
“In the competitions, you can have as many as three or four schools competing against each other at one time,” Mills said. “As far as practices go, I know that Falmouth practices as many as five days a week, but I think three weekly practices would be acceptable. Ideally, we’d like to get the kids up on the mountain right after school and get in a couple of hours of ski time.”
Mills’ program would be strictly for slalom and giant slalom and he stressed that, at the present time, there are no planned accommodations for snowboarders.
“There are a lot of snow boarders out there today,” he said. “And there have been some boarder cross programs set up elsewhere in the U.S., but so far nothing has gotten started in Maine.”
Ultimately, Mills would like to add a nordic program to the current plans for slalom and giant slalom.
“We’d like to develop some of these kinds into skimeisters – skiing all three disciplines,” Mills said.
As far as funding is concerned, Mills said that for the first few seasons the team will rely mostly on out-of-pocket donations, as the Scarborough school system requires new sports teams to adopt a club format for several years.
“A lot of the children interested already own ski equipment, so that is not as much of a necessity as it might seem,” he said. “We are planning on having a few major fundraisers – things like bake sales, bottle drives or even yard cleanups in the spring and fall. We’re also open to the idea of approaching local businesses and professionals who might be able to help the program through advertising of some sort. It only costs about 12 or 13 dollars a night to ski on the various mountains, so it is rather reasonable.”
Mills said once the school system does take over, the primary financial need will be related to bus transportation, as a healthy booster system should already be in place to handle many of the other fees.
He also added that he expects that the program will be competitive within the span of a few years.
“Because of the quality of athletes that we see in this community, after the first couple of years I believe we will have some strong competitors in this program,” Mills said. “Some of these children are already involved in alpine programs, so they can compete right out of the gate.”
Meeting scheduled for Jan. 30
By Emory Rounds
Staff writer
Middle and high school skiers from the Scarborough area may be in luck this winter.
That is because one-time Falmouth alpine ski coach Dave Mills is spearheading an effort to establish a fledgling program affiliated with area schools. If things go according to plan, the new program should support an age range of 11 to 18.
Mills, who coached the Falmouth ski team from 1995 to 1996, has been an alpine skier since he was employed at Sugarloaf as a ski coordinator in the mid 1980s. Now he is hoping to introduce a new generation of student athletes to the joys of competitive skiing and has scheduled an informal meeting on Jan. 30 at 8 p.m. at the Scarborough Public Library.
“It’s a growing sport,” Mills said. “And we’re seeing a lot more children in Maine getting into programs. Most recently, Windham and Cape Elizabeth have established teams. What we are trying to do in Scarborough is to establish a feeder system much like lacrosse and soccer have done at the middle school level and then introduce kids to skiing while they are somewhere around sixth grade. We’d be satisfied seeing 10 or 12 kids turn up for this first meeting, although something like 20 or 30 would be excellent.”
High school skiing in Maine runs a parallel schedule to other winter sports, featuring a season that stretches from December through late February. Mills is looking to establish a team that practices about three nights a week at Shawnee Peak. Competitions would be held in places like Mount Abram, Sunday River, and Lost Valley, in addition to Shawnee.
“In the competitions, you can have as many as three or four schools competing against each other at one time,” Mills said. “As far as practices go, I know that Falmouth practices as many as five days a week, but I think three weekly practices would be acceptable. Ideally, we’d like to get the kids up on the mountain right after school and get in a couple of hours of ski time.”
Mills’ program would be strictly for slalom and giant slalom and he stressed that, at the present time, there are no planned accommodations for snowboarders.
“There are a lot of snow boarders out there today,” he said. “And there have been some boarder cross programs set up elsewhere in the U.S., but so far nothing has gotten started in Maine.”
Ultimately, Mills would like to add a nordic program to the current plans for slalom and giant slalom.
“We’d like to develop some of these kinds into skimeisters – skiing all three disciplines,” Mills said.
As far as funding is concerned, Mills said that for the first few seasons the team will rely mostly on out-of-pocket donations, as the Scarborough school system requires new sports teams to adopt a club format for several years.
“A lot of the children interested already own ski equipment, so that is not as much of a necessity as it might seem,” he said. “We are planning on having a few major fundraisers – things like bake sales, bottle drives or even yard cleanups in the spring and fall. We’re also open to the idea of approaching local businesses and professionals who might be able to help the program through advertising of some sort. It only costs about 12 or 13 dollars a night to ski on the various mountains, so it is rather reasonable.”
Mills said once the school system does take over, the primary financial need will be related to bus transportation, as a healthy booster system should already be in place to handle many of the other fees.
He also added that he expects that the program will be competitive within the span of a few years.
“Because of the quality of athletes that we see in this community, after the first couple of years I believe we will have some strong competitors in this program,” Mills said. “Some of these children are already involved in alpine programs, so they can compete right out of the gate.”
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