April 20, 2006 – Team Rossignol Director Jim Fredericks recently announced that he is leaving Rossignol Ski Company effective 1 June 2006. Fredericks has worked for Rossignol Ski Company out of Williston, VT for the past 20 years. In his tenure, he supported over 50 US or Canadian Olympic athletes as well as several hundred junior and collegiate champions. It was the impending Company move to Park City, Utah this summer that forced Fredericks to decide between his job and his life in Vermont .The born and bred Green Mountain Boy opted for the life style that he embraces in his native Vermont over the move to Utah and a switch in Company ownership. Quicksilver purchased Rossignol last summer.

It was a bitter-sweet decision for Fredericks. The major goal of Team Rossignol is to provide post-collegiate ski racers an opportunity to achieve a higher level of competitiveness in cross-country skiing by providing travel and training costs. In his role as director of Nordic sports marketing and promotions, he was able traise money to support these athletes andto help them achieve their goals.


Jon Engen, a three- time Olympian and long-standing member of Team Rossignol summed up Frederick’s tenure with the Team. “Jim took Rossignol Ski Company’s racing support to a different level, and in many ways defined the standard to aim for within commercially sponsored ski teams in North America and beyond. Team Rossignol, under Jim’s leadership, became an athletic organization as much as a Company PR machine. The Team served as a sponsorship mechanism for top level athletes as much as an incubator for talent that otherwise may not have become more than local aspiring skiers. The Team has fostered a number of Olympians and International Competitors and Champions across the fabric of North American Nordic skiing, and the group is comprised of an incredible network of people within our sport and industry. We will miss Jim, but are also confident that he will continue to express his passion for skiing and racing with the rest of us in years to come.”

For many athletes Fredericks gave them a chance and encouragement to achieve their competitive goals in the sport. Brooke Hovey described her experience with Fredericks; “Without Jim’s support, direction and encouragement I would never been a cross country ski racer. I joined team Rossignol with very little skiing technique and racing experience, only the fitness and motivation to race fast. Jim was a supportive
and highly entertaining team director during my years on the marathon and supertour circuit. He always made sure we felt like a family and took our job as racers seriously. He will be missed immensely!”

Owen Hanley had a similar experience as a sponsored athlete; “Jim has been a staple in the ski world for a long time. His approach to sponsorship, has given many skiers, both past and present, Olympic and non, the opportunity to ski past college. So many of the great skiers around the country started out on Rossignol and while not all of them have remained with Jim and the company, they all owe him a lot for making their beginnings possible.”
For many athletes, Team Ris more than a competitiveteam; it is a family of skiers thatinclusive of age and ability. Many Team members share the sentiof Will Hovey, “Team Rossignola team of great skiers, but more importantly great people. It hasbeen a huge pleasure to be a partand to be around this team. The quality of the people Jim has attracted to the team is a far grtribute to him than the number of podiums Rossignol amassed on his watch”.