In order to ski you need two things. Ski’s and snow.

The Grand Haven girls and boys ski teams are having trouble skiing right now because they are missing one of those necessities: snow. Trying to figure out ways to turn practices into something meaningful without the wintery weather has made it challenging for coach Ben Stone. He has found ways to improvise all the while improving his team’s stamina and skills.

“We need snow so bad right now,” Stone said. “But, it has given us time as a team to train hard with a strong weight program, and gain agility from aggressive agility workouts. They will be in great shape when the snow falls which in turn will make for easy skiing and a fun season.”

Putting the lack of snow behind them, the ski team is looking to improve throughout the year and showcase some strong talent out on the slopes. Senior Lauren Klassen has been on the team for three years now and believes their new coach will help them grow as a team.

“I think our new coach will help us a lot and be able to teach us new skills,” Klaasen said. “He helps push us in training which makes us become better. Being apart of the team for three years has made me a better skier, and having great teammates allows our team to work harder.”

Coach Stone is confident that his team will improve this season and believes he has a great freshman class of skiers.

“Our strongest skiers really consist of our whole team,” Stone said. “The boys and girls teams will improve greatly throughout the season and we have some strong freshman coming into or program. We are a team and will compete as one this year.”

Stone realizes that there will be hard races and rough points this season, but is determined to have his team battle until the end in every competition no matter the outcome.

“As a team there will always be strong and weak points during the season,” Bathke said. “But we will be focusing on having each other’s backs, and on racing fast and strong. I want my team knowing that when we walk off the snow that we gave everything we had for that race.”

From past experience, Stone knows what it takes to be a competitive skier and program. He has worked with many professional ski companies and has skied nearly his entire life.

“I coached for three years in both Colorado and Montana, Bathke said. “After that I went and worked for the U.S. ski team and traveled with them to the world cup. I also worked for Phar North, Icelantic, Bomb Snow and Trew. I lived my dream and skied some of the best mountains in the world. I am excited to use every element of skiing and racing that I have learned to help improve and guide this team.”

Junior Ellery Luckey agrees that the lack of snow has bruised their team, but is optimistic that her experience will carry to success this season.

“Our first two races were cancelled, but we got a practice in over break which was good,” Luckey said. “I have been skiing for three years and I have experience in both park skiing and racing. I have learned to love racing now.”

Luckey, Klaasen, and coach Stone are all hopeful for a good outcome this season. They are all just waiting for the one thing that makes skiing possible to show up: Snow.