Team America 2016-17 Initiatives Announced

TA Foundation has announced the 2016/17 initiatives. Leading the initiatives will be the reestablishment of Team America by SYNC. For the current season, the team’s sole athlete will be Hig Roberts, world cup skier from Steamboat Springs, CO.

Hig Roberts

“I am honored and blessed to be supported by the Team America foundation again. It is important to have the necessary support and infrastructure to be successful in the sport of ski racing and Team America has proven time and time again to provide that. I spent a very successful year under Team America two years ago, and I think the resources, environment, and mindset of its supporters are very aligned with mine. I cannot thank those involved with Team America and its efforts enough and I look to have a very successful year competing at the highest level in Europa Cup, World Cup, and hopefully the World Championships,” said Hig.

Hig was a Team America athlete before moving to the US Ski Team last season. Supporting Hig and managing Team America will be Eric Dasko, formerly with USST women’s speed team.

In addition to the senior team, TA Foundation will continue to fund Junior Team America by SYNC, an initiative in cooperation with Ski and Snowboard Club Vail to provide and fund additional training opportunities for recognized athletes. The Junior Team America roster for 2016/17 includes Allie Resnick, Cleo Braun, Jacob Dilling, Bridger Gile, Kaitlyn Harsch, Axel Bailey, Colby Lange, Kellen Kinsella, Zane Worrell, Nicola Roundtree-Williams, and Tegan Wold, and Jack Keane.

“We are pleased to support these outstanding athletes. We believe in Hig and strongly feel that top 100 World Ranked athletes need a program that supports them. Through Junior Team America, we look further down the pipeline to provide the same high-quality training opportunities for these National Class junior athletes as they advance to World Class performance. We extensively studied success in ski racing globally (see study here)(see study at www.tafski.org). One of the takeaways was the critical importance of local initiatives. We believe local micro cultures can propel ski racing in the USA to the next level. These initiatives are intended to do just that, ” said Dan Leever, TA Foundation Founder and Chairman.

Eric Resnick, TA Foundation board member and supporter said, “We all know ski racing is an expensive sport, especially as athletes are striving to compete at the national and international level. TA Foundation is excited to help provide unique, highly subsidized training opportunities for the Team America and Junior Team America athletes.”

​Kirk Dwyer, Executive Director of Ski and Snowboard Club Vail said, “Hig is a talented and highly motivated athlete deserving of this support. The Junior Team America programming and support identifies SSCV athletes on track toward international success and provides the incremental differentiated training critical to progress. Furthermore there is support for involvement by the next group of athletes with accessibility that is critical to development. This is only possible through the generous support of programs like TA.”

SYNC Performance is a Vail, Colorado based mountain apparel brand with a focus on developing ski-racing products specifically to meet the needs of alpine ski racers.

Phil Shettig President of SYNC said, “We could not be more thrilled with our ongoing partnership with the TA Foundation and their athletes. They are vital to our product development and are instrumental in design and testing of new products for SYNC. It is through these relationships that we put into practice our commitment to focus on the athlete bringing to market innovative performance products based on their needs.” 

Follow these athletes all season long on the SYNC and Team America Instagram and Facebook pages.
For more information and to support TA Foundation: http://www.tafski.org/