May 16, 2008 (Park City, Utah) – With only around 300 feet of vertical drop, tiny Buck Hill alongside I-35 south of Minneapolis hardly looks like a world-class ski racing center. But the Buck Hill Ski Racing Club run by Erich Sailer, the original home of World Cup champion Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO), was honored May 16 as the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association’s Club of the Year.

“I’m proud for the club and its accomplishment, considering that we’re in the flat land and that we only have a tiny little hill and that we’re not sponsored by anyone – it’s all parents and the president and the board. It’s hard work, motivation,” Sailer said. “I’m proud of the club and of course that with my leadership I was able to accomplish what I set out to accomplish. To get the award, it meant they recognize that we did well.”

Sailer, a former Austrian ski racer, started the Buck Hill program nearly 37 years ago. In his time he has coached over 15,000 young racers, including the likes of Vonn, Kristina Koznick and others who have gone on to achieve Olympic, World Cup and national success in their racing careers.

The only inductee to U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame for his work in junior athlete development, Sailer has combined his own personal passion and drive along, with identifying talented staff coaches, to achieve over three and a half decades of success in helping young ski racers achieve their goals.

Sailer also received the Tom Reynolds Lifetime Coaching Achievement Award for his dedication to the success of his athletes. Buck Hill was also named USSA Alpine Club of the Year, a silver level award given to clubs of each sport.

“It’s really amazing what Erich is able to do at Buck Hill. It’s a small hill and he is able to produce so many Olympians and U.S. Ski Team athletes. It just proves how great a coach he is,” Vonn said. “I remember when I was growing up I had a really unique style and a lot of people told me that it was not a great style, but Erich always told me to continue that because it was going to make me fast.

“He always believed in me and that’s something that is rare to find. He believed in his athletes 100 percent and everyone respects him.”

Silver level awards were also awarded to cross country, freestyle, ski jumping/nordic combined and snowboarding clubs from across the nation.

APU Nordic Ski Center Honored as Cross Country Club
The Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center, under the leadership of the USSA’s Domestic Coach of the Year Erik Flora (Anchorage) was recognized as the USSA Cross Country Club of the Year. APU, which has operated a training center for cross country skiers for ten years, has worked on training and developing some of the nations most talented nordic skiers. The first female World Cup winner in U.S. history Kikkan Randall (Anchorage, AK) is among the Olympians, national champions, Europa Cup winners and U23 medalists to call APU their club.

Freestyle Honors Sugarloaf/CVA
The USSA Freestyle Club of the Year award was presented to Sugarloaf/Carrabassett Valley Academy Freestyle. Its athletes had 12 top 10 finishes during the eight-stop NorAm tour this season. CVA, known for it’s state of the art antigravity training complex, has produced a number of U.S. Freestyle Ski Team athletes including World Cup winner Emily Cook (Belmont, MA) and Dave DiGravio (Farmington, ME).

Nordic Honors to Park City Nordic Ski Club
Park City Nordic Ski Club, a leader in national nordic sport development, was named the USSA Jumping/Nordic Combined Club of the Year. The club is home to athletes consistently progressing towards athletic success, which is illustrated by the fact that all six women on the U.S. Women’s Ski Jumping Team and one U.S. Cross Country Ski Team athlete hailed from the program. This season, the club also hosted the backcountry.com U.S. Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Championships, which included the first nordic combined national championship event for women. Former U.S. Ski Team athletes Alan Alborn and Clint Jones (both Park City, UT) headed the coaching staff under the club leadership of Greg Poirier (Park City, UT).

Park City Snowboard Team Honored
The honor of USSA Snowboard Club of the Year went to Park City Snowboard Team, which hosted two major events – the Revolution Tour and Race to the Cup – and achieved outstanding results from its athletes this year. The Team, under the leadership of Mike Bell (Park City, UT) achieved two invites to the Lake Placid World Cup, two Junior World Championships invites, a number of Revolution Tour podiums, and in alpine, multiple podiums at NorAm events.