What if Freeskiing Could be a College Sport

Johngreenacre

Johngreenacre

Member
What if freeskiing was a college sport? We could get scholarships, ski against kids from other schools, and give our sport a bigger name.

To do it I'm pretty sure there only need to be 50 teams in the country for the NCAA to consider it. (don't quote me on that)

Im sure someone will have some reason why this is the worst fucking idea ever, NS has been wack as fuck lately. Lets just have a nice convo

**This thread was edited on Mar 23rd 2018 at 9:52:29am
 
You're right - there is quite a lot of negativity regarding the direction/progression of the sport.

I support this. I'm sure it would enable a lot of folks the opportunity to try out the sport. I do know that some colleges offer 'entry level' ski courses for credits, so it would only seem reasonable to get it in the NCAA with enough folks on board.

with innovations like:
https://www.ski-simulator.com/professional-ski-simulator-en
https://www.circa.com/story/2018/02...or-winter-olympics-thanks-to-vr-ski-simulator

the learning curve is really accelerated, and even helps folks get into skiing in their later years. I tend to find that a lot of people forgo skiing altogether since they never had a chance to hone their skills as a youth, and so they're nervous at the prospect of skiing which can be a sad thought.

I see this potentially happening with rock climbing as well, albeit it would be difficult to implement.

There is another thread going regarding the 'state of the industry' where one guy makes a good point - its logistically hard to ski; it makes skiing much more exclusive, and with that, we might just not have enough collegiate skiers to warrant having it as an NCAA sport. but I'm all for it. I believe more people are skiing now than ever before, and that upsets the 'og' skiers for whatever reason - I would figure they would be delighted to see more folks enjoying what they enjoy, but what do I know. I'll probably get roasted too for my lack of posts/NS experience... lol.
 
Nah this is a sick idea. imagine it actually becoming a mainstream sport, with sponsorships/air time. Having ski "practices" would be so legit with the boys. Problem is, (was mentioned in another thread recently) that the bar to entry is fairly high, kids in africa cant just strap on some boards. You don't quite have the huge field of competitors like in soccer etc
 
13907582:WorkingFTWeekend said:
You're right - there is quite a lot of negativity regarding the direction/progression of the sport.

I support this. I'm sure it would enable a lot of folks the opportunity to try out the sport. I do know that some colleges offer 'entry level' ski courses for credits, so it would only seem reasonable to get it in the NCAA with enough folks on board.

with innovations like:
https://www.ski-simulator.com/professional-ski-simulator-en
https://www.circa.com/story/2018/02...or-winter-olympics-thanks-to-vr-ski-simulator

the learning curve is really accelerated, and even helps folks get into skiing in their later years. I tend to find that a lot of people forgo skiing altogether since they never had a chance to hone their skills as a youth, and so they're nervous at the prospect of skiing which can be a sad thought.

I see this potentially happening with rock climbing as well, albeit it would be difficult to implement.

There is another thread going regarding the 'state of the industry' where one guy makes a good point - its logistically hard to ski; it makes skiing much more exclusive, and with that, we might just not have enough collegiate skiers to warrant having it as an NCAA sport. but I'm all for it. I believe more people are skiing now than ever before, and that upsets the 'og' skiers for whatever reason - I would figure they would be delighted to see more folks enjoying what they enjoy, but what do I know. I'll probably get roasted too for my lack of posts/NS experience... lol.
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13907587:HiDef said:
Nah this is a sick idea. imagine it actually becoming a mainstream sport, with sponsorships/air time. Having ski "practices" would be so legit with the boys. Problem is, (was mentioned in another thread recently) that the bar to entry is fairly high, kids in africa cant just strap on some boards. You don't quite have the huge field of competitors like in soccer etc
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Thanks for the nice responses guys, seems stupid I should have to thank for this haha. Both of you bring up the fact of skiing's inaccessibility which is certainly an issue, but its not exclusive to freeskiing. Racing is just as expensive, hockey is expensive, golf is expensive, lacrosse is expensive etc. We are blessed with the opportunity to partake in this sport, and making it a college sport would probably make it a more viable sport for everyone with the opportunities for scholarships and such.

Again, thanks for the positive and constructive replies.
 
13907589:Johngreenacre said:
Thanks for the nice responses guys, seems stupid I should have to thank for this haha. Both of you bring up the fact of skiing's inaccessibility which is certainly an issue, but its not exclusive to freeskiing. Racing is just as expensive, hockey is expensive, golf is expensive, lacrosse is expensive etc. We are blessed with the opportunity to partake in this sport, and making it a college sport would probably make it a more viable sport for everyone with the opportunities for scholarships and such.

Again, thanks for the positive and constructive replies.
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No doubt boss man, keep the fire alive and the innovation coming. It certainly is possible (standard formats, quantifiable, etc), just keep believing in it and maybe one day these types of ideas will come to fruition. Take the X-Games and free skiing as a whole for instance, during its inception there was a lot of doubt surrounding it as a sport. Its huge today.

And don't feel silly about not realizing this or that; this is why we have these conversations so we better understand how to approach the situation.
 
13907587:HiDef said:
Nah this is a sick idea. imagine it actually becoming a mainstream sport, with sponsorships/air time. Having ski "practices" would be so legit with the boys. Problem is, (was mentioned in another thread recently) that the bar to entry is fairly high, kids in africa cant just strap on some boards. You don't quite have the huge field of competitors like in soccer etc
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but at the same time, the same could be said for a sport like hockey.
 
Fuck the NCAA though.

Otherwise I feel you. It's hard to make it a nirmal college sport because it isnt really a normal sport.

If you play basketball, soccer, etc there are venues on campus to practice and play. Skiing is outside of that even if you had teams.

Also I think that even if you got it to be some sort of legitimate college sport, it's not big enough you're going to see crazy scholarships imo. Skiing isn't exactly as big as football.
 
If freeskiing became a big college sport there would be a ton of colleges importing scando kids and whatnot for the scholarships and it would only reinforce comp jock culture. As soon as you attach such a big potential financial gain to skiing, kids are going to train or be pushed to train to get the scholarships. That might be where skiing is headed already but this would surely accelerate it.
 
If this was a thing imagine the guy at the admissions office who has to deal with 13 year old's shit sponsor-me tapes
 
I think a relevant issue is that there seems to be a divide between two facets of skiers and the uncertainty of the future of the sport. It is surely a unique, and challenging question to try and answer as skiing itself is much more dynamic than say football, and as such, there exists a ton of different ways in being able to participate in skiing (free style, slope style, back country, racing, etc).

People should just be cognizant that skiing is more than one dimensional. If a part of skiing becomes driven by pure athletic achievement and competition results then so be it. That does not deter from other facets of skiing like big mountain. If the sport grows, more people will be able to participate in skiing in any way they desire.

I guess my point is that, the thought of 'traditional" skiing (whatever that might be considered these days) isn't dying or going away, and that people should not be upset by the introduction of new ideas and ways of skiing.
 
13907689:AndrewGravesSV said:
If freeskiing became a big college sport there would be a ton of colleges importing scando kids and whatnot for the scholarships and it would only reinforce comp jock culture. As soon as you attach such a big potential financial gain to skiing, kids are going to train or be pushed to train to get the scholarships. That might be where skiing is headed already but this would surely accelerate it.
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stop hating on progression and money. lets just keep the sport poor as fuck and all get worse. great!
 
13907587:HiDef said:
Nah this is a sick idea. imagine it actually becoming a mainstream sport, with sponsorships/air time. Having ski "practices" would be so legit with the boys. Problem is, (was mentioned in another thread recently) that the bar to entry is fairly high, kids in africa cant just strap on some boards. You don't quite have the huge field of competitors like in soccer etc
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He said college r tard not the world
 
13907719:Cade2 said:
He said college r tard not the world
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Ok salt lord, so only Americans can go to college? I made a generalization including global children to make a point. Put away your nitpicking glasses
 
There is Collegiate Freeskiing through IFSA like freeride world tour comps. CU and Western State have pretty well known teams for this and here up at CSU we just started a team. It's not NCAA or anything but to me it's better than nothing
 
It is a thing at Sierra Nevada College.

I was in a funded program for 4 years competing for my school- USCSA. Which is basically a beer league on the freestyle side but I had a scholarship to ski so no complaints. We used to be under NCAA rules and regulations, but that dropped off my second year. Unfortunately funding has also dropped off significantly and it is basically a club "school team" now coached by a student athlete. Still a blast.
 
Honestly it sounds perfect. I think sometimes on here people act like expanding or exposing the sport to a wider audience will erase the creative aspect of the sport. But it’s obvious at this point, especially with the “new wave”, that skiers new and old recognize skiing as an art form also. I mean, the spin jocks in the olympics compose such a small part of the sport, and it’s just easy to make it seem like their the biggest part of the sport.

TL:DR I think the art will grow with the sport and this is a good way to grow the sport
 
Im may be one of those guys that thinks this is the worst fucking idea ever.

The direction id like to see skiing go is the direction of skateboarding, not it turning it into a jock sport.

I already dislike the word sport and athlete surrounding freeskiing. In my mind and you may disagree, part of the reasons i love park skiing particularly was because it is cool. Why do people love the old OG edits and that era? Because it was regarded as some dope shit. Id rather not sportify skiing, instead create a street resurgence, something that could bring back the "coolness" of skiing.

I can imagine that if we were to create NCAA ski teams, new comers to skiing will develop to understand tricks to be important if they are objectively difficult, if it gets you on a podium. That is not what we need. We dont need more competitiveness in skiing. There are already enough stuck up pricks who always brag about what tricks they landed to you, lets not validate them with a collegiate rewards.

I think the fact that this idea is being well received speaks to the wackness of the freeskiing community in general. Imagine collegiate skateboarding, that would be a laughing matter for any core skater. Newschoolers is supposed to be the center of freeskiing, and if this idea is the core of skiing right now, that is really sad to me. But maybe i shouldnt be comparing skating to skiing, oh well.
 
13907740:nxtyrsfulltilts said:
Collegiate skiing already exists. Google it.
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USCSA. I won slope this year at nationals. look at my skiing, I should not be winning any slope comps of that caliber. Its not legit
 
I actually tried exploring the idea and seeing if there was something I could do up here at MSU to get a team going and see if there was a way the NCAA would ever consider it as a legit sport. The biggest problem to the NCAA is that being an individual action sport, sponsorships are a huge problem. Under current terms, in any sport no player can be considered ‘professional’ and still have eligibility. Well many kids who would be candidates to be athletes already are making money using their sport, which by definition is professional. In the jist, it’s a huge headache to overcome because they would essentially have to break the rules and are concerned that it opens the door for other sports wanting the same treatment. I think it would be cool to see young kids who maybe give up because they aren’t quite good enough to go pro and maybe want to pursue an education while the improve. But until someone comes in from up high who has a passion to make freeskiing happen, no progress is gonna be made.

**This post was edited on Mar 24th 2018 at 2:50:27am
 
13907856:auzzie0211 said:
I actually tried exploring the idea and seeing if there was something I could do up here at MSU to get a team going and see if there was a way the NCAA would ever consider it as a legit sport. The biggest problem to the NCAA is that being an individual action sport, sponsorships are a huge problem. Under current terms, in any sport no player can be considered ‘professional’ and still have eligibility. Well many kids who would be candidates to be athletes already are making money using their sport, which by definition is professional. In the jist, it’s a huge headache to overcome because they would essentially have to break the rules and are concerned that it opens the door for other sports wanting the same treatment. I think it would be cool to see young kids who maybe give up because they aren’t quite good enough to go pro and maybe want to pursue an education while the improve. But until someone comes in from up high who has a passion to make freeskiing happen, no profess is gonna be made.
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Yeah, fuck the NCAA. Look at all the money they're making off march madness right now. It's great that they're giving some of it to the players, oh wait.

I love how their are all these "scandals" regarding some horrible players that actually take money from people while they're playing! NCAA can bank off the games live and on tv, the players likenesses in video games, the jerseys, etc, and give the players nothing because it's all about the love for the sport or whatever.

Also they make you do a year of college before you can sign with the NBA so they can bank on you. I mean so you can get an "education". Because one year of college for somebody that's completely focused on sports, going to the NBA, etc is really providing them with an epic education. I mean I bet it has nothing to do with the money made from having the best people in the game playing for at least a year, without having to pay them anything, and making piles of $$$ off them. Nah, it's def about education.

Shits so fucking corrupt. Fuck the NCAA

/rant
 
13907702:Johngreenacre said:
stop hating on progression and money. lets just keep the sport poor as fuck and all get worse. great!
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Skiing is already a pretty privileged sport and the introduction of scholarships for college would reinforce the current trend of having a coach and special facilities to get good. All that shit costs money and distances the sport from most people even more. With the initial hurdle to start skiing already being so high, I don't like the idea of it becoming more unobtainable.

On the other hand more money in skiing could be cool and help grow the divide between comp and film skiers while making the sport as a whole more popular.
 
13907864:theabortionator said:
Yeah, fuck the NCAA. Look at all the money they're making off march madness right now. It's great that they're giving some of it to the players, oh wait.

I love how their are all these "scandals" regarding some horrible players that actually take money from people while they're playing! NCAA can bank off the games live and on tv, the players likenesses in video games, the jerseys, etc, and give the players nothing because it's all about the love for the sport or whatever.

Also they make you do a year of college before you can sign with the NBA so they can bank on you. I mean so you can get an "education". Because one year of college for somebody that's completely focused on sports, going to the NBA, etc is really providing them with an epic education. I mean I bet it has nothing to do with the money made from having the best people in the game playing for at least a year, without having to pay them anything, and making piles of $$$ off them. Nah, it's def about education.

Shits so fucking corrupt. Fuck the NCAA

/rant
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Im with u. The ncaa makes billions off male college bball and football players and gives them a shitty lib arts degree as the only payment.

Its fucked up that theres a cutoff. Like if your a top 4 percent college ball player you go to the nba and make millions. But if your top 5 percent you get nothing except for a shitty degree. Dont quote me on the percentages; im not sure where the cutoff is
 
This will never happen. Why? Title IX. There's freeskiing clubs, but not going to be varsity sports anytime soon. Why do you think there's so many club lacrosse teams but no varsity teams at schools? Title IX. It took The University of Michigan decades to go from club to varsity. Even if you made a men's and a women's freeskiing team at the same time, the men's would never be anything other than club. No to mention there's really no business incentive for schools to make freeskiing teams.

Example: I started a men's lax team at my university freshman year which is DII for all other sports. We were an unofficial club until I managed to get a club sports program instituted. Wohoo we became at least recognized and got a little bit of funding, but we still had to pay for a lot. We had multiple conversations and sit downs and made proposals with the president, athletic department, and student affairs. They basically said we have too many men's sports and not enough women's sports. You will never have a varsity program because we are too afraid to lose federal funding due to title IX violations. Really I just wanted the full funding for games and equipment and ability to recruit new players each year (something only possible if you're considered an actual varsity sport). So year 5 of our existence comes around (no I'm not an academic failure. My program was 6 years), and the school just up and decides they're starting a girl's varsity team out of thin air, no players, barely a coach, and no field to play on. Even girls I knew said it was bullshit. Still even with adding a women's team, they said we will always remain club due to the fact of Title IX. The football team's numbers heavily weigh against female sports competitors. They want equal numbers. It's funny because that law is supposed to prevent discrimination of all but rather it focuses solely on male vs female interactions and ends up discriminating against males every time.

Sorry to get off track, but if I had to bet money on this..... The snow will melt from global warming before this happens.
 
13907926:AndrewGravesSV said:
Skiing is already a pretty privileged sport and the introduction of scholarships for college would reinforce the current trend of having a coach and special facilities to get good. All that shit costs money and distances the sport from most people even more. With the initial hurdle to start skiing already being so high, I don't like the idea of it becoming more unobtainable.

On the other hand more money in skiing could be cool and help grow the divide between comp and film skiers while making the sport as a whole more popular.
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Just the opposite would happen. All the fancy coaches and facilities and gear would be provided to athletes. It doesn’t make sense to think that skiing would become more unobtainable
 
13907750:.otto. said:
Im may be one of those guys that thinks this is the worst fucking idea ever.

The direction id like to see skiing go is the direction of skateboarding, not it turning it into a jock sport.

I already dislike the word sport and athlete surrounding freeskiing. In my mind and you may disagree, part of the reasons i love park skiing particularly was because it is cool. Why do people love the old OG edits and that era? Because it was regarded as some dope shit. Id rather not sportify skiing, instead create a street resurgence, something that could bring back the "coolness" of skiing.

I can imagine that if we were to create NCAA ski teams, new comers to skiing will develop to understand tricks to be important if they are objectively difficult, if it gets you on a podium. That is not what we need. We dont need more competitiveness in skiing. There are already enough stuck up pricks who always brag about what tricks they landed to you, lets not validate them with a collegiate rewards.

I think the fact that this idea is being well received speaks to the wackness of the freeskiing community in general. Imagine collegiate skateboarding, that would be a laughing matter for any core skater. Newschoolers is supposed to be the center of freeskiing, and if this idea is the core of skiing right now, that is really sad to me. But maybe i shouldnt be comparing skating to skiing, oh well.
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Just more hate. It’s becoming comical. To think that if skiing was included in collegiate sports it would derail skiing altogether? Dude I need the shit ur smoking. Let me make this abundantly clear to you - there is no correlation to street edits and shit. There are just different skiers. Don’t be such a fucking wack ass hater cause some people want to expand the sport. Instead, do something productive and try and promote more of what you want to see out of the ski industry. Some closed minded ass people on here, either that or just stupid. You can’t help stupid.
 
13907988:WorkingFTWeekend said:
Just more hate. It’s becoming comical. To think that if skiing was included in collegiate sports it would derail skiing altogether? Dude I need the shit ur smoking. Let me make this abundantly clear to you - there is no correlation to street edits and shit. There are just different skiers. Don’t be such a fucking wack ass hater cause some people want to expand the sport. Instead, do something productive and try and promote more of what you want to see out of the ski industry. Some closed minded ass people on here, either that or just stupid. You can’t help stupid.
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So true. Please don't bring the skateboarder mindset to skiing, our community is generally open and friendly to anyone who can rip down a mountain, or even those who can't really. Meanwhile some skateboarders can't even accept downhill longboarders or even FREESTYLE longboarders into their community. Plus there's all that bullshit about whether or not someone is a "poser" or preppy or whatever. Don't get me wrong, I like skateboarding, but their community and vibe is kinda wack especially as of recent years. Just let skiing grow.

So many mountains have youth freeski teams, why can't Colorado/Vermont/Washington schools have them?
 
13907611:Johngreenacre said:
Nope. There is USCSA nationals but its effectively an intercollegiate club competition (its basically like USASA with college kids). Its not a varsity sport.
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yeah and that’s all it needs to be
 
13907841:Johngreenacre said:
USCSA. I won slope this year at nationals. look at my skiing, I should not be winning any slope comps of that caliber. Its not legit
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That’s cause conditions sucked this year and most teams didn’t bother going from what I heard. Last year the top 20 was pretty competitive and there was a superunknown finalist there (masi)
 
13908066:a_burger said:
That’s cause conditions sucked this year and most teams didn’t bother going from what I heard. Last year the top 20 was pretty competitive and there was a superunknown finalist there (masi)
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Not really bro. I go to UVM and Masi is on my team. Nick Murphy last years winner was there too so was rals white and joris grinaltis and all the other SNC guys who are arguably the best team rn. Point is, there are never that many that compete in USCSA.
 
13908067:Johngreenacre said:
Not really bro. I go to UVM and Masi is on my team. Nick Murphy last years winner was there too so was rals white and joris grinaltis and all the other SNC guys who are arguably the best team rn. Point is, there are never that many that compete in USCSA.
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So why do you think adding more rules and bullshit that just drives good skiers away from uscsa teams would change that?
 
13908068:a_burger said:
So why do you think adding more rules and bullshit that just drives good skiers away from uscsa teams would change that?
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Not sure if I missed something here... making skiing varsity would add more rules? Don't see how this is true. Slope is slope, pipe is pipe etc usasa comps are the same as ussa and uscsa the xgames the world cups and presumably the ncaa. Sorry if there are drug tests. Don't do it then. Nobody will be forcing you.
 
13908071:Johngreenacre said:
Not sure if I missed something here... making skiing varsity would add more rules? Don't see how this is true. Slope is slope, pipe is pipe etc usasa comps are the same as ussa and uscsa the xgames the world cups and presumably the ncaa. Sorry if there are drug tests. Don't do it then. Nobody will be forcing you.
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What I’m saying is there would be no benefit to making freeskiing NCAA or an equivalent. The demand is so small for people trying to compete at that level that any real benefits wouldn’t materialize. All you’d be doing is making a slightly more exclusive uscsa with probably even lower attendance. Anyone skiing at a competive level beyond uscsa probably isn’t taking full time college courses anyways
 
13907611:Johngreenacre said:
Nope. There is USCSA nationals but its effectively an intercollegiate club competition (its basically like USASA with college kids). Its not a varsity sport.
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Ok, Rugby is the same way for many schools but taken very seriously and widely accepted...

Little nitpicky bro hahaha
 
well the free skiing scene in Australia is pretty small but I know my uni has a freestyle team. So it is most definitely possible in the US
 
13908452:quesadilla said:
Ok, Rugby is the same way for many schools but taken very seriously and widely accepted...

Little nitpicky bro hahaha
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you just hit the difference there yourself. Its taken seriously.
 
13908471:Johngreenacre said:
you just hit the difference there yourself. Its taken seriously.
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Bro they have uniforms, they go to nationals, they travel to other states to compete, they get these things called trophies.....

You don't actually know what you're talking about... Dumbest thread.
 
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