Date: Fri 15-Dec-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Illustration: I

Quick Words:

Newtown-High-ski-team

Full Text:

New Ski Team

At Newtown High

B Y K IM J. H ARMON

People 'round here used to only use phrases like fast-break, three-second

violation, medley relay, and pins when it came to stuff that happened in the

winter. But some new words will be entering the lexicon in the next few

months, words like slalom and bindings and Rossignol and . . . well, and

frost-bite. Newtown High School has a ski team.

It's only at the club level and receives no funding from the school, but that

isn't stopping 16 would-be skiers from ponying up $250 to form a team, pay a

coach - Rod Taylor of the Woodbury Ski & Racquet Club - and compete in the

long-standing Connecticut Interscholastic Ski League (CISL).

It is the result of a lot of hard work, a lot of meetings, and a lot of sweat

off the brow of co-captains Roland Long and Derek Tietjen. It was Long who had

the idea, a year ago, of forming a ski team and managed to pull together half

a dozen students who created the club.

" I wanted to bring it a little further, " said Roland, " make it a team. We

had about six or eight kids last year, but it kind of fell apart because of a

lot of red tape. This year we spent a lot of time in Mr Manfredonia's office

and he's been cooperative. "

Athletes in school-funded sports at Newtown High pay $50 to play while

lacrosse athletes, up until this year, paid better than $125 to compete. The

$250 fee the skiers are paying covers a season pass at Woodbury Ski & Racquet,

the cost of joining the CISL, the cost of the coach, and the cost of a trip to

Vermont. " We ran into a lot of a red tape whenever we tried to get it

started, " said Derek, " with insurance or whatever. Whatever we had, they had

a counter plan. We asked them what we definitely needed, got our adviser (Tom

Zmuda) and started getting the flyers out. "

The flyers sparked a lot of interest and led Roland to once again secure Mr

Taylor as coach. Coach Taylor, a former Olympic skier who raced professionally

even past the time he bought the Woodbury ski area in 1972, was involved with

the club last year. Incidentally, 18 years ago he also helped form the CISL

with about 12 original schools.

" It was very difficult (getting it started). All the negatives of the sport

bothered them. But the sport has come a long way, " said coach Taylor.

As has the Newtown High team itself.

" They did race (last year) and raced very well, " coach Taylor added. " I was

surprised how well they did in their first race. The enthusiasm was nice. And

I was surprised they got this many people out. I give Roland a lot of credit

because he worked pretty hard at getting this organized. "

One of Roland's bigger successes was finding Derek, who raced for two years

with Fairfield Prep before transferring to Newtown High School a year ago.

Derek, maybe a true snowboarder at heart, is the most talented on this young

team with experience on the skis going back as far as he can remember.

Yes, the team is young, and with only a couple of people having any racing

experience, the goals are simple.

" We're just looking to establish a team, " said Roland, " and, hopefully, the

school can keep it up in the future. All of us have been on skis before. I've

been skiing before, but last year was my first year racing. Racing is just the

next step. "

The Indians, led by Roland and Derek, will feature Daniela Sanchez, Megan

Costa, Thyra Wilson, Pam Roy, David Howard, Jesse Holmes, Eduardo Sanchez.

Justin Tietjen, Chris DeFeo, Russell Zinn, Garrett Tietjen, Matt Bouteiller,

and Doug Randlett.

The Indians will compete at Powder Ridge in Middlefield and Mount Southington

in Southington against teams from 20 others schools in the CISL - Cheshire,

Darien, Holy Cross, Amity, Weston, Williams, Greenwich, Southington, Joel

Barlow, Fairfield, Pomperaug, Staples, Danbury, Wilton, East Lyme, Lauralton

Hall, Ridgefield, Fairfield Prep, New Canaan and Foran.

The 1996 season opens Wednesday, January 3, at Powder Ridge in Middlefield

against Cheshire and Darien.