CDS Cyclones find provincial success on the slopes

March 16, 2016 · 0 Comments

The Country Day School girls and boys snowboard teams both medaled at OFSAA earlier this month, bringing home the silver and bronze respectively.
Photo courtesy of Jen Weening

By Jake Courtepatte
The Country Day School snowboard team made a name for themselves this year in the OFSAA competition at Beaver Valley Ski Club.
A new and inexperienced group of 10 boarders, five on the girls’ side and five on the boys’ side, returned to the independent school in King City with silver and bronze medals after a day on the slopes earlier this month competing in giant slalom.
The accomplishment was amplified by the fact that the girls’ team did not exist last season. Three new Grade 9 students this year entered the fray, and the girls were able to capture the silver medal.
As for the boys, it was their third year of competition. The team competed in OFSAA last year, but only by virtue of the fact that CISAA played host, therefore allowing the division to bring their fourth-place team of CDS boarders.
Finishing in seventh at OFSAA last year, this year the team improved to a bronze medal performance.
“It was huge for us,” said the team’s coach, Jennifer Weening. “The team is very new, with the boys only qualifying last year because of hosting. What they accomplished this year was definitely amazing.”
How does one train for such a sport? For the CDS team, dryland training begins in November, and runs every Monday throughout the season. Wednesdays were usually reserved for race days, while the team trained on a number of different hills, from Mt. St. Louis in Coldwater, to Devil’s Glen in Glen Huron, to Mansfield Ski Club.
Weening said this year’s training schedule was a difficult one with the unseasonably warm weather, getting in only one training session on the slopes before competition kicked off in January.
“It’s important to get the muscles ready,” said Weening. “… but at the end of the day they’re out there to have fun. What’s most important to them is they have a good time, they’re so dedicated to each other, and they’re so good at being together.”
Giant slalom has only one racer go down the hill at a time, each competing for the best time in two combined heats. CDS’s best time in the girls’ competition was by Kitt Empey, a Grade 9 student who finished 13th overall, in the competition consisting of all ages. On the boys’ side, Alex Sward was the school’s top finisher, combining for fourth overall.