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  1. #1

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    Blazer parent meeting 1/9?

    Any Blazer parents out there attend the meeting this past Saturday? What was discussed? Was it TOP SECRET?! I have 2 kids in Blazers and knew nothing of this meeting...........

  2. #2

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    4:15PM Friday

    The meeting invite went out late Friday afternoon, which for most people who travel Friday evenings is a waste of time unless you're like me and wired in until the badlands of NH and VT without 3G coverage... then it takes that extra couple seconds to download email....

    I'm curious about what people thought of the meeting as well. I got my info second hand on Sunday, but from what I can remember it was all about no more hot chocolate for the kids... oh and Egan is the brand.

    I suspect there might be more.

    For the record, we're very pleased with my daughters Blazer coach this year. Solid instructor.

  3. #3
    Attended, with no axe. New to the program. Have two kids in mini-Blazers who are enjoying it and getting better every day. Win started off and spoke a few times in the meeting. He's clearly committed to the programs and to making sure customers are happy. Runs the program at a loss, but knows how important it is to the whole puzzle. Many of the staff were there. In fact, more folks from Sugarbush than parents, if that says anything.

    Bill and Mickey talked about the different personnel and programs. Challenge is to combine the Egan-esque experience of old with a PSIA certified program on-piste. Q&A seemed to reveal frustration from some of the parents about communication, some of the curriculum, group sizes or mixing. Some valid concerns, most of which could be addressed using better organizing and communication. Some parental helicoptering, but that's today's world unfortunately.

    My take: Win is committed to addressing concerns. Until better lines of communications are established, people should talk to Bill or the kids' coaches / coordinators and reflect concerns / issues. Everyone seems to get that the key is to make sure the kids are having fun.

  4. #4
    Thanks for the information about the meeting. I don't think many parents were aware of the meeting based upon the late time that the invitation was sent on Friday.

  5. #5
    I was there for most of it. I got an e-mail about it without the meeting time although I learned later in the day when it was going to be.
    there were complaints about communication which has been admittedly weak.
    There was a question about the adventure blazers and how it was different than snow blazers. It was my understanding, and that of the questioner, that adventure blazers was for kids who wanted to do more off piste skiing. Evidently, Mickey views adventure blazers as the next step for the more advanced skiers. while I find that troubling, my son's coach this season has been having them ski the woods most of the time, and they have been doing so more than last year.

    I think a major problem is that Mickey is filling the very large shoes of general atkinson. That's a tough challenge. No offense to Mickey, who I don't know, but he doesn't seem to have the personality for it.

    There was also a suggestion for the creation of a parents group. that would be great because there should be more blazer events outside of ski time, which SB can facilitate but parents should run.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by HowieT2
    I was there for most of it. I got an e-mail about it without the meeting time although I learned later in the day when it was going to be.
    there were complaints about communication which has been admittedly weak.
    There was a question about the adventure blazers and how it was different than snow blazers. It was my understanding, and that of the questioner, that adventure blazers was for kids who wanted to do more off piste skiing. Evidently, Mickey views adventure blazers as the next step for the more advanced skiers. while I find that troubling, my son's coach this season has been having them ski the woods most of the time, and they have been doing so more than last year.

    I think a major problem is that Mickey is filling the very large shoes of general atkinson. That's a tough challenge. No offense to Mickey, who I don't know, but he doesn't seem to have the personality for it.

    There was also a suggestion for the creation of a parents group. that would be great because there should be more blazer events outside of ski time, which SB can facilitate but parents should run.
    Atkinson's "shoes", knowledge, passion, and skill set are quite unique in the ski industry, and you hit the nail on the head (no offense Mickey) that those shoes are best fitted to the rightful owner.
    A Blazer Parent group with regular feedback and open discussion with management is an excellent and practical idea that should be taking place before the season begins as well as throughout; hopefully [they] listened and adopt that routine interaction between parents and management.
    The Blazer Coaches at Sugarbush are also HIGHLY skilled, trained extremely well, and are rather unique themselves in the ski industry; their programs are poised to become a significant shift in skier enhancement as well as advanced mountain travel training.
    From what I hear it definitely sounds like Win has a much clearer picture of all this; and it's just a matter of time before the organic growth takes off to be something really noteworthy throughout the country and maybe the world.


  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Mt St Pipier
    ......... Win started off and spoke a few times .....Runs the program at a loss, but......
    ROFLMAO! I have no copies of the corporate spreadheets, but...... I do know how rates have exploded over the past four years.......I also know that the benefits for the coaches have gone the other way....

    I can't recall a mid season parents meeting like this in the four years my kids were in the program....Something is rotten in Denmark!

  8. #8

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    Organic growth has it's limit

    [quote="007"]
    Quote Originally Posted by HowieT2

    From what I hear it definitely sounds like Win has a much clearer picture of all this; and it's just a matter of time before the organic growth takes off to be something really noteworthy throughout the country and maybe the world.
    The blazer team size that my daughter is on seems right and the coach (E.G.) is excellent. But part of the draw into the program was, for lack of a one word sound bit, genuine/authentic, no-frills, back to simpler times for your kid. That whole Vermont thing (real or otherwise) which we all migrate to the Bush and to the valley for every weekend for.

    The helicopter parents are itching to get their fingers into the program and stalk their coaches to make sure Johnnie or Susie is working hardest. As soon as they start parents groups and coach help programs.....that will take the spirit right out of the mix and will be the end of my funding of the program. I come to Sugarbush to give my kids some freedom and let her explore being a skier with a coach who is interested in seeing her improve her skills. I don't need some Boston suburb mom quoting some BS health and safety regulation, designing blazer polo shirts, or asking for splenda in the hot chocolate.

    Keep it simple, keep it edgy, keep the parents out of the program.

  9. #9
    Hawk's Avatar
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    What's a "helicopter parent"?
    Trouble with you is the trouble with me,
    Got two good eyes but we still don’t see!

  10. #10

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    Helicopter Parents

    Quote Originally Posted by Hawk
    What's a "helicopter parent"?
    In my experience it's a parent who hover around their kids and every program they're part. Never being happy with the program and always out to save the program for their kid and all the others, whether needed or not!

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter_Parents

    Parent groups and coach help programs....... what's next, bake sales and selling pencils?


    Keep it simple, keep it edgy, keep the parents out

  11. #11
    Parents + management mixing together is good (for the moment), but micromanaging heli-parent + coach mixing would never work. Coaches need independence for an adventure learning program to be successful.

  12. #12
    Hawk's Avatar
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    Ahhh. I know the very beast you speak of. Only in my experience they were from NYC.
    Trouble with you is the trouble with me,
    Got two good eyes but we still don’t see!

  13. #13
    Hawk's Avatar
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    I have an observation for you guys to consider. Keep in mind that you can't make everybody happy all the time. This whole issue is a huge balancing act for the Ski School. I have many friends that work for the Ski School and listening to them is a whole different perspective. I have heard the term "to many cooks" lately. You have the opinions of the senior management, the ski school director, the old guard, the avid woods parents (new school), the PSIA parents (old School) and various others. Something has to give. A little understanding will go a long way. In the end I think the individual groups sort themselves out as the relationship between the individual instructors and the kids develops. I think hard and fast rules just make alot of people unhappy. Flexibility is what made the program in the past. They shouldn't lose sight of this.
    Trouble with you is the trouble with me,
    Got two good eyes but we still don’t see!

  14. #14
    MH, with all due respect I think you are going off a deep end here...

    By the same logic, win and his team should blow off this board and neither communicate nor listen to customers on the hill. After all we are all here for VT experience and they know better.

  15. #15

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    Please don't tell me that the reason the kids do't get Hot Cocoa any more is because of the sugar?! Or maybe because little susuie and Johnny spill it all over their impeccable outfits?! As a mom, I am very familiar with the "heli- parent" , and try my hardest to have nothing to do with that style of parenting. I would have liked to be present at the meeting to stand up for the coaches that my kids have had over the past 4 years in the Blazer program because I think they are definitely not appreciated by the new regime. (Win not included) If the program is at a record level , why are they trying so hard to steer it in a new direction? We enroll our kids in the program not because we don't want to ski with them but because we know that their coach will provide them with a completely unique experience that will hopefully feed their love for the mountains and Vermont that my husband and I have. The stuff that my kids skied last year and so far this year is nothing that other kids at other mountains are skiing as far as I know and their coach always practices more safety than I as a parent does. As a direct effect of the skills and confidence they have learned thru skiing with their coach I am now following them thru the woods not because I have to but because they are killing it!!!! AND loving every minute of it! And Mickey is definitely not Jon Atkinson, but he seems to be a nice guy so let's all give him the benefit of the doubt. (That's the mom in me coming through

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