Having started as a branch off from the Student Association (SA)-affiliated Schussmeister Ski Club, the University at Buffalo Ski Team has skied a long steep course from its humble beginnings to its dominating presence today.
Approximately 30 years ago when the Schussmeister Ski Club became too big to provide students and members with ski instruction and lessons, the UB Ski Team became its own SA club and entered its first Mid-East Conference Alpine skiing meet. Since then, the UB Ski Team has been racing its way to becoming one of the best co-ed ski teams in the Empire Division of the Mid-East Conference.
“Our goal is to set up a team so that after we leave, it will keep going,” said Ski Team President, Frank Ronci. “We’ve been building a program, not just a team.”
Their hard work ethic in building a substantial ski program has made this team put in numerous hours of volunteer service and charity work to help support their budget.
“We kick off fundraising at the first UB football game of each year and continue throughout the season,” said Ronci.
With the team rapidly growing in size, (the UB Ski Team has evolved from an 11 person team to a 25 people this year), the volunteer and fundraising work becomes not only a necessity to keep the UB Ski Team skiing, but a fun way to get their name out to the community.
“The roster has doubled,” said former UB Ski Team President, Greg Rhoads. “As the program has grown, the support from SA has grown, almost doubling our budget.”
But with 25 SA sports teams and 115 other SA clubs, SA is only able to pay a fraction of the $22,000 budget the Ski Team creates each season.
“There is a huge gap between what SA can give us and what we need to make up,” said Ronci.
Even though SA pays part of the fees, which include training expenses, snow time, traveling, race fees, registration fees, overnight hotel fare, and coaches, each team member pays between $450 and $500 per season to make up the difference that SA and fundraising does not cover.
Race fees amount to $80 per racer each weekend for a competition. Multiply that by the ten person travel team, and multiply again by five, the number of weekends the team is away racing, the costs of competing comes to $4,000 alone, said Rhoads and Ronci.
So with all this money to be made and little time to make it in, the UB Ski Team has been fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to volunteer at ski shops like Cupolas Sports that will provide some training money, discounts on equipment, and free tuning and maintenance on their skis.
“Skis are expensive too, ranging from $600 to $1,000 per pair, and a good racer needs at least two pairs, one for giant slalom and a pair for slalom, to be competitive,” said Rhoads. “Every weekend we have mandatory fundraisers.”
The team also joined fundraising efforts with Buffalo native Kelly Hilliman, a seven time Top Ten World Cup finisher and Olympic Freestyle racer from Tonawanda, New York.
According to Rhoads, the UB Ski Team helped raise money for her 2006 Olympic fund, and in return, Hilliman gave some of her proceeds from her Olympic fund money to the UB team.
“We are being recognized for the work we’ve put in,” said Rhoads.
And the hard work is paying off, as both the male and female teams head for the regional meet at Blue Mountain Pennsylvania this weekend.
“Three out of the four years I’ve been on the team, the women have made regionals and qualified for nationals twice,” said Rhoads. “This will be the first year since 1996 that the men’s team has made it to regionals.”
According to the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association, the Women’s UB Ski Team is second in the Mid-East Conference and the men are in fourth, making them both likely contenders for top finishes in regionals, which will land them a spot in the national meet that takes place in Idaho from March 7 – 12.
With the excitement of having two great teams this season, both Rhoads and Ronci hope that this will lead to more exposure for the university and the outside community.
“We have pulled enough ski racers from local programs to make a competitive team that can race,” said Rhoads.
But they also encourage students with no racing experience to come out for the team as well.
“Anyone who is at the intermediate ski level and enjoys skiing can join the team. We practice three nights a week at Holiday Valley and Kissing Bridge” said Ronci. “We make no cuts or turn anyone away.”
Students like Nate Stock, a junior mechanical engineering major, come out for the team for fun and end up becoming really good racers, said Rhoads. But there are also skiers on the team like junior art major Natalie Heck, and freshmen Maura Baritot and Paige Baritot who are great racers and have had past experiences with training and racing before.
“Skiing gates makes you a lot better,” said Rhoads, “and more than half of the people on the team are with Schussmeisters. We train at the same time as Schussmeisters at Kissing Bridge and Holiday Valley so any member of Schussmeisters can come out and check out the team.”
The best way to find out about the UB Ski Team is to visit the SA office on the third floor of the Student Union, or go to one of the Ski Team practices and talk to the members and coaches of the team.
So as the UB Ski Team looks forward to this weekend’s regional meet and thinks about all of the accomplishments they have made this season, they can also look back and be proud that in just five years they have pulled their team from a bleak showing of members and talent, into one of the finest and most talented male and female teams in the Mid-East Conference.
“The team is full of people who love to ski and are willing to work so they can,” said Rhoads. And that is the strongest backbone any team needs to stay alive.
