Photo contributed by Tyler Meyer

At 6 a.m. on a sub-32 degree February morning most Fairfield students were likely bundled up, sleeping in bed. But 28 students had been up for an hour en route to Hunter Mountain, N.Y., adrenaline stirring in their waking bodies.

During the weekend of Feb. 8, members of the Fairfield University Ski and Snowboard team competed in their final regular season competitions in the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA) N.J. Conference.

In freestyle snowboarding, the Temple brothers, Taylor ’14 and Chase ’17 finished first and second respectively, and Julian Focareta ’14 placed fourth.  Alpine Skiers Ali Rayfield ’14 and Nevin Zais ’14 finished among the top ten for female and male racers, respectively.  Rayfield, Zais and Taylor Temple qualified for Regionals.

But it’s not all about the trophies. “Ski team is a great way to get involved on campus; you make lifelong friends,” four-year team member and senior snowboarding captain Temple said.

“I see people walking around on campus in ski stuff and I just want to go up to them and say, ‘Hey, we have a ski team – join it!’” Temple said. He spoke invitingly and encouraged those interested to “give it a go and give it your all; we welcome you with open arms. It’s not like we have try outs,” Temple laughed.

No physical tryouts, that is.

“If we could, we would want ski team to be open to everyone, but we don’t have enough funding,” Temple said. Due to an overwhelming 70 students that attended an initial Ski and Snowboard team meeting last Fall, captains formulated a questionnaire to narrow the member list.

“We had a number of different questions to gauge how good [an applicant] might be but more importantly how committed they would be,” Temple said.

After deliberating, it was time to hit the slopes.

Every season, team bonding starts during the last week of winter break with an annual training trip to Mont-Tremblant in Quebec, Canada.

“There’s no official training schedule but it’s a good start to the season because of the challenging terrain; we get to warm up,” Temple said. The ten-hour car ride and five days on the mountain with team members builds a lasting foundation of energy and friendship.

“We’re like a family,” Temple said. And they sure do act like one, too.

The student-run team relies on their captains, whose responsibilities oscillate between managing and coaching. Simply put, the captains are responsible for harnessing their inner soccer moms.  Arranging drivers, scheduling hotel reservations and managing racing bibs and lift tickets all factor into the success of a weekend.

“They are always on point with everything,” Chase Temple said. He recalled one morning he overslept, certain that he missed the trip pick up, only to find that his captains did not leave him behind. “They could have just left me, but I ended up being able to go; they always took care of us,” he said.

Once the bindings are clipped and goggles are on, captains are in their element, supporting and advising their teammates on the mountain. “If we see a teammate trying something new, we’re there to talk them through it and to push them to their limits,” Temple said.

This winter was especially memorable for the Temple brothers who, after three seasons apart, were finally able to train with and compete against each other as fellow Stags.

“When Taylor went to college, we never got the chance to ride together, so it was cool dueling against each other and having fun at the same time,” Chase said.

Unfortunately, Chase’s snowboarding season ended with a broken hand on Saturday, Feb. 8, just one day before the final competition.

He still placed second to his older sibling, vividly remembering, “being on the podium with my brother and having the medal put around my neck.”  He’s looking forward to progressing next year and “pushing it to the next level and trying to get that first place spot.”

The ski team had injuries, too, resulting in not placing as well as they had in previous years. This season, “we lost a couple good skiers and had two racers out for injuries, so that was a hard hit,” senior ski team captain Rayfield explained.

But with fresh coaching input from Bart Kallgren, program coordinator for the office of conference and event management, the ski team’s overall tactics progressed. Kallgren, who was a varsity ski racer at Castleton State College in Vermont.

“Since graduating I’ve been trying to find my way back into the ski racing community and I’ve been lucky enough to be able to coach the Fairfield team this season.” Kallgren said.

“He was able to get one skier to take off six seconds and everyone’s technique was massively improved,” Rayfield said of the impromptu ski coach. In thinking about next season, she confidently spoke for the team, “We’d love to have him back.”

Junior Captain George Kostakis wants Kallgren as a permanent coaching figure on the team. In addition to providing numerous racing pointers, “Bart served as a middleman between the university and the students on the team, which in my opinion was much needed,” Kostakis said.

Kallgren plans on returning to “get the team on snow for some preseason training as well as continuing training days during the season so we can continue to stay competitive with the other schools in our conference,” he said.

Student leadership received recognition as well.

Captains Rayfield and Temple applauded the diligence of junior captains Kostakis and Kealy Gorman.

“We’ve always had junior officers, shadowing the captains to pick up where we left off” Rayfield said. “It’s a training process, but they had a huge role this year, much more than I did last year.”

According to Temple, having worked with juniors as captains this year will make the transition into next season even smoother for the team.

“I feel honored that I was thought of as a suitable candidate to run the team after the captains have graduated,” Kostakis said.

He learned a lot about managing a team and fixing the “day-to-day mishaps that come with running a university-affiliated team of 30 people.”

Next year, Kostakis plans on maintaining the intimate group dynamic he’s grown accustomed to over the past three years.

He has personal goals, too. “I’d love to make the podium next year… and I feel like with a bit of hard work and luck that is very possible,” he said.

Following tradition, graduating seniors will be checking in with the ski team next February.  “Even when you graduate, there’s still a nice bond between all generations of the ski team,” Temple said.

Rayfield said she wishes for her teammates to welcome new members next year and make them feel comfortable, and hopes returning members carry on the legacy of being a “friendly, fun, competitive team.”

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