Behind the Scenes of the Ski Team

By Molly Bell

            The Squash team has Squash Alley in Stamford. The Boys’ Swimming and Diving team as well as the Gymnastics team have the Darien YMCA. The basketball teams have three gyms. But what about the ski team? Without a nearby mountain to practice on, and living in a town with an elevation of a mere 52 ft, the casual onlooker would not see the Darien High School ski team as a serious contender. However, the team, one of the four co-ed teams at DHS, has enjoyed great success in recent years. In 2010, the girls’ team won the state championships (even though the team is co-ed, boys and girls compete separately). Just last year, the girls’ team placed first in the Class L division, while the boys’ team placed third.

According to Captain Fay Rizzuto, (who was also a captain last year) some of the team’s aspirations are to “Place well in states. Another goal is to get several people on the Darien ski team to qualify for the state team and go to Eastern championships. For the past five years we have had only one person represent Darien on the team”. Despite the loss of superstar skier Meg Del Col, there is great potential for a successful team. Del Col’s younger brother, Junior Peter Del Col, the MVP of the boys’ team for the 2011-2012 season, is a talented skier to watch out for this season. Rizzuto, also the MVP of the girls’ team and one of the team’s best skiers, brings great skill and experience heading into her fourth season.

One might ask, how does the ski team train for the strenuous season? Without any local mountains, the actual skiing time is limited. Rizzuto explained that from the start of the season until Christmas break is the pre-season. Often, the team will run to Middlesex Middle School and play a sport, such as dodgeball, in the gym and then run back to DHS. They also take advantage of the newly-built team room to strengthen their muscles for the season. After Christmas break, the real season begins. The ski team practices about once a week on Woodbury Commons, a small mountain in Woodbury, Connecticut, located about an hour from Darien. Although it may not be ideal, with only 9-10 gates, it does provide an important training location.

As for the races, they take place on Mount Southington, in Southington, Connecticut. Like most of the DHS teams, the ski team usually races once a week. These long commutes to races and practices require members of the ski team to have extraordinary dedication. Also, many of the skiers have been skiing since their early childhoods. This experience is one of the reasons that the ski team has been able to thrive.

However, despite all of this hard work and dedication, many students do not regard skiing as an actual sport. For the talented skiers of DHS, they can often burn 475 or more calories an hour at racing pace. Also, skiing requires great core and lower body strength, as well as great cardiovascular endurance, which are all areas the team focuses on in their pre-season, which is often called “dry-land training”. Ski team requires some of the most commitment out of all the DHS teams, as practices are not just for a couple of hours at DHS, but instead for a couple of hours with an hour long bus ride there and back. Overall, the ski team is an on-the-rise program, and with great senior leadership, another successful season is under way for both the boys’ and girls’ teams.

Pictured above: Senior captain Fay Rizzuto on the slopes for the Blue Wave. Photo credit: Darien Patch.