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Freestyle Ski and Snowboard Team

This year marks the Camelback Mountain School's (CMS) sixth season offering snowboard/free-ski competition instruction.

The program offerings are the only one of its kind in Pennsylvania and consist of weekend, mid-week, and traveling competition instruction. This innovative discipline (freestyle and/or alpine) specific conditioning and instruction program includes a wide variety of training. Our off-snow preparation will include team and take home instruction, including aerobic and anaerobic workouts combined with a unique blend of snowboard/free-ski specific agility and plyometric movements. Our daily on-snow training will take place on Camelback Mountain's slopes, Progression terrain parks, and our Competition Certified Pipe. These features at Camelback Mountain are leading the region in park and pipe development, adding to the program's ability to introduce the most progressive snowboard/free-ski competition training program.

We are proud to offer two separate programs for either snowboarding or free-skiing within the Camelback Mountain School. "Team Meadows" is considered our "stay at the mountain" program. This program will focus on the younger athletes instructing them in all disciplines of competitive snowboarding or free-skiing. "Team Rhodo" is our elite program that will be traveling on a regular basis to regional competitions. This program will help individual athletes focus on their strengths and weaknesses to improve their competitive ability. Together, "Team Meadows"; will be the perfect training ground for "Team Rhodo" in creating talented riders to excel in the elite program and in competitions in years to come representing Camelback. In our 5th season, at the 2011 Nationals, we had 12 athletes in the top tens, 13 athletes on the podium and most of our competitors were also ranked in their top 20 categories nationally.

This is a great team for kids looking for a positive environment as well as a fun and competitive team! Check us out on Facebook! Follow the CMS team digest, click here.

2010-2011 Team Picture

Team Meadows $599 per athlete (season pass not included)

Saturday and Sunday training only
Complete overview of all disciplines of snowboarding or free-skiing (park, pipe, boarder/skier cross, alpine, and freestyle)
Basic video movement analysis
Snowboard/Ski tuning and maintenance techniques explained
8:1 athlete to coach ratio (approx.)
Feeder program for Team Rhodo
Athlete must be an advanced beginner to join and be able to ride a chairlift by themselves.
Click here, to Register and pay for the program online

Use username: cms and password: cms11, please use this when you click on the link below to purchase your Freestyle Team packages. Sign in and purchase your package online

Team Rhodo $799 per athlete (season pass not included)

Training Thursday and Friday nights, Saturday and Sunday days
Competitive instruction at predetermined regional events
Advanced snowboard/ski tuning and maintenance techniques explained
Athlete-specific training and direction as per discipline
5:1 athlete to coach ratio (approx.)
USASA membership required (possibly USSA/FIS)
In-depth advanced snowboard/free-ski specific workouts throughout the season
Detailed training and competition video movement analysis
Competitive mental preparation and awareness coaching
Individual rider feedback – one-on-one coach/athlete interaction
Athlete must be an intermediate rider/skier to join & able to ride the whole mountain.
Team does involve selection process before allowing athletes to join
Click here, to Register and pay for the program online

Use username: cms and password: cms11, please use this when you click on the link below to purchase your Freestyle Team packages. Sign in and purchase your package online

CMS Athlete Donation $159 per athlete (mandatory both programs)

Athlete Donation begins to build the CMS Foundation Fund for both programs
CMS Foundation Fund Benefits all CMS Athletes, Staff, & Coaches

Funds will be used for tuning equipment and waxes, video gear, lockers, coaches’ travel, outside education and training. Fundraisers throughout the year will be planned and implemented to increase the balance of this account.

CMS Team Director Sean Naughton

Sean Naughton

Sean Naughton is the Team Director at Camelback Mountain School. He has been coaching competition snowboarding since 1998. Before leading CMS, he was the head snowboard coach at Jack Frost/Big Boulder ski areas. Long before coaching snowboarding, he coached ski racing, and he has taught skiing since his teenage days as a PSIA-certified Level II instructor. He is Level II certified with the American Association of Snowboard Instruction (AASI) and is a certified Level 300 National Coach/Trainer with USASA. Sean is also a certified Level III judge with USASA.

Sean is no stranger to competitions, as he has judged for the USASA Mid-Atlantic Series for more than six years, but his true passion is working with young athletes to help them achieve their goals. Favorite quotes: "Go big or go home!" and "Speed is your friend!"

CMS Program Manager Bill Van Gilder aka "BVG"

BVG began snowboarding over 20 years ago and has not stopped since. He started competing as a young athlete in the Green Mountain Snowboard Series in 1988. Bill moved to Vermont to follow the competitions and attend Green Mountain College, where he was the founder and president of the college's first snowboard club. His competitive run ended with the 1998 Olympic trials in Nagano, Japan. A few years after graduating with a degree in business, Bill moved home from Vermont to manage his family's restaurant, the Jubilee. That same season, Bill took over the reins of the USASA Mid-Atlantic Series. It's now 2011 and he & his wife Rebecca are in their 12th season of the Mid-Atlantic Snowboard & Free-Ski Series.Bill has been the president of the USASA for the past four years and also works closely with the USSA (United States Snowboard Association) as a technical delegate, technical adviser, and chief of competitions at events including the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, FIS Nokia World Cup, U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix, and the Revolution Tour. As the program manager of the Camelback Mountain School, BVG adds a wealth of competitive and organizational snowboard knowledge to the program.

Sean and Bill both started up the Camelback Mountain School in 2006 with 12 athletes and in the 2010-11 season, the team included 50 athletes!

Head Coach Jason Fermier

Jason is a professional Snowboard Coach currently employed as the Head Coach for CMS. He achieved USASA / USSA Level 300 National Level Freestyle Coach certifications. Born and raised in Bucks County, PA, he subsequently moved to Jackson Hole, WY, West Dover, VT, and Salt Lake City, UT. His professional career includes 11 years of freestyle and boardercross coaching and 13 years as a snowboard instructor. He has coached four different teams: Blue Mountain Freeride Team, Pa, Anomaly Team Jackson, Wy, Team Utah Snowboarding Brighton Chapter, UT, Camelback Mountain School (CMS), PA.

After a couple years of personally competing in PA, I decided to move to Jackson Hole, WY to expand my professional horizons and expertise. The following season I was awarded Head Coach of The Anomaly Team in Jackson Hole. After assuming the role of Head Coach with only 4 athletes, I grew the program to include over 30 athletes with a side team of skiers. In the fall of 2009 I attained the role of Team Manager / Head Coach for Team Utah’s Brighton Chapter. Given Team Utah’s mission of establishing teams in every resort in Utah, this was a valuable strategic move for me, as my goal for coaching is to be a national team coach. Last year was my first year coaching for CMS, working with Sean Naughton, Jarrod Barto, Peter Dubois, and Marion Dziak. The team trained 3 to 4 days a week. We had a great season sending a team record of 22 athletes to the USASA Nationals out in Copper Mountain, Colorado. We also had a team record of 13 total medals. With a great first year coaching completed, I am looking forward to an even better season this year as the Head Coach of CMS.

CMS Freestyle Coach Jarrod Barto

Jarrod has been riding for 9 years and started instructing beginners at Bear Creek. He soon caught the freestyle fever and has since dedicated all his time on the mountain to understanding the physics behind flatland and aerial maneuvers. This led to working park crew for Bear Creek and Camelback Mountain, which proved a great asset in understanding key concepts to freestyle riding. Since then, he has been competing with the Mid-Atlantic division of USASA and local competitions for 6 years. At the 2009 USASA Nationals, Jarod placed 2nd in the Slopestyle Competition for the Senior Men division! Jarodis also a level 200 USASA certified coach and plans to further his coaching career in the coming years.

CMS Alpine Coach Marian Dziak

Marian Dziak Marian has been coaching snowboarding for 15 years. He began his snowboarding career in his home country of Slovakia in 1987 when (to his mother's dismay) he dismantled his brand new closet in order to use the wood to craft his very own snowboard. As the saying goes, "practice makes perfect." Marian, one of the very first snowboarders in Slovakia, was crowned National Champion in 1992 (the first year of official snowboard competition in the Slovak Republic). He went on to enter the West Continental Open and then opened one of the first snowboard clubs in Slovakia in 1994. There he began by training 5 students, which quickly grew to 25. Two of his students went on to the World Cup. He continued his coaching career in the States as an alpine coach at Blue Mountain for 5 years. He has also competed with the USASA (and medaled at the 2004 USASA Nationals in the slalom and alpine combined). Marian is also a Level II certified coach with the USASA and is looking forward to his 4th year with Camelback Mountain School. "Ride like hell - Go to heaven!"

CMS Freestyle Ski Coach Peter DuBois

Peter DuBois Peter has been skiing as long as he can remember, and he has been freestyle skiing since they started allowing skiers into the terrain park at Camelback. He started competing in local events including USASA as soon as they allowed skiers into the competitions and has been competing ever since. He enjoys halfpipe most of all, but loves hitting big jumps as well (however he has been known to shred a rail or two here and there). He has been an instructor at Camelback for the past 7 years, and is the Rhodo ski coach in the CMS program.