News
Sports
ENLARGE
DENVER – It's odd that a back injury earned from a college baseball career could lead to possibly the most dynamic teaching tool in youth skiing.
And it comes at a time when the snow sports industry is learning all too well about the “butterfly effect,” the phenomena where minor acts can set major events in motion.
What Snowsports Industries America research is revealing is that timing is everything.
According to SIA, follow the dollars:
• Every skier or snowboarder who starts riding at the age of 10 will spend an average of $72,758 at retail stores and resorts over a lifetime enjoying the sport.
• If they start at age 25, they spend on average $19,772 over the course of their snow-sliding life.
Obviously, teaching more kids at a younger age leads to greater revenues and longevity for the industry.
A happy ending for all parties involved.
But two years ago, Launch Pad co-founder and inventor Scott Coleman, was just focused on dialing his family into the sport he loved so they could play together.
But the pain in his torso made him physically unable to help his daughter control her skis.
“Here I was in my mid-20's, but had the back of a 65-year-old miner as a result of spending so many innings behind the plate catching, from childhood through college,” said Coleman, while standing in the middle of his trade-show booth at the Colorado Convention Center, home of SIA Snow Sports annual gathering, which concludes Sunday.
“I was trying to help my daughter, Oakly, but I just couldn't handle being hunched over. I was always in a bad position; it hurt. I was weak. But I had this idea. So when we got home, I went to the garage and stayed there most of the night and came up with the HookEase and WedgEase system,” Coleman explained.
Coleman's 2-piece HookEase system, combined with the WedgEase single strap, allows an instructor maximum control skiing behind the child and using their normal ski poles to guide the child from behind, allowing a beginner the freedom of seemingly being in full control, but in reality, the parents standing behind them controlling the speed and edge with a feathery touch, literally a flick of the wrist.
(For more information, go to: www.LaunchPadGear.com)
“I was shocked to learn nobody had thought of this before. We used a patent attorney who confirmed this had never been devised, then some designers … and we went to China and learned about product manufacturing. A year-and-a-half later, here you go!”
And like any smart catcher, Coleman knew the value of a wicked pitcher.
So he and LaunchPad co-founder Brock Winzeler signed the most high-energy stay-at-home mother of four in the history of skiing, Olympic Gold Medal winner Picabo Street, to endorse, advocate and propel the brand.
In baseball jargon, it's the perfect battery!
As a product spokesperson, nobody in the ski industry can bring it like Picabo Street!
Here's Picabo at her best: “The Easy Hook system has this super-cool crimp-on component that connects to the tip of your regular ski pole without any tools, or manpower, meaning moms can easily put this on and twist it tight.
“And this whole process happens quicker than I can explain. Your ski pole slides in this cylinder that clamps down; you tighten it. Then, you attach the HookEase plate component to the ski; it clamps on just behind your release point of the child's binding and is easy to hand-tighten. You don't have crank on it, which is good for moms!
“Then you hook in with your ski poles and you follow your kid … you subtly control your child's speed and edge, while explaining what to do and experiencing the actions together.
“It's so much fun to do it together! But your child thinks they're doing it alone! And that's really cool – rewarding! What I love is that the child really is alone for the most part and learns the feel of the skis and the speed and the noise.
“Getting a feel for the balance and proper position over their skis is just critical as soon as you learn. This allows that without jerking the kid around, which is scary and alarming. And that's what other training tools on bungie cords do … This is so beautifully simple. It's so cool!
“What the WedgEase piece does is attach to the tips of the skis to control and counter any dominant action, not allowing the tips to fully cross, and it doesn't allow the tips to separate, to go their separate ways, forcing the skier to do the splits.
“Come on! How cool is this!”
She explains the full aspect of the product, staring you in the eye with great intensity and passion. Heck, if you don't have kids, you still feel compelled to purchase the product!
She's one of skiing's most robust and positive personalities, yet Picabo Street lives almost in anonymity near Birmingham, Alabama, with her husband, John, and four sons, Eli (age 8), Trey(7), the blonde bombshell Dax (2), and Rowen (1).
If anybody can juggle four ‘Bama boys and a Pappa Bear, it's Picabo Street!
“Oh yeah, they're my life. It's my greatest reward. And I get to enjoy them with my parents,” she said.
“I miss being in the industry and in the West, but – hey! Look what I have! We have land, hills, water, and we just play!” says Street, showing this reporter her family photos on her iPhone with sheer zest for life.
If you don't know her story, Picabo Street didn't just metal twice in the Olympics.
Wedged in between those two achievements she more importantly mastered courage and resilience, overcoming a brutal knee injury that required total reconstruction after a wreck in a Colorado training run in late 1996 that's probably more well-known in the world of racing than her remarkable Gold-medal victory in the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.
Street, who had won silver in the downhill in the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, was considered to have no shot at a podium going into the 1998 games in Japan. Most experts questioned her decision to race because of the depth of her injury.
“We couldn't imagine a brighter soul telling the world about or products. Picabo Street's all about courage and commitment; overcoming odds. We're pretty lucky she's on our team.”
Launch Pad's products are aptly named, because the products, just like Picabo Street, operate with great ease.
And it comes at a time when the snow sports industry is learning all too well about the “butterfly effect,” the phenomena where minor acts can set major events in motion.
What Snowsports Industries America research is revealing is that timing is everything.
According to SIA, follow the dollars:
• Every skier or snowboarder who starts riding at the age of 10 will spend an average of $72,758 at retail stores and resorts over a lifetime enjoying the sport.
• If they start at age 25, they spend on average $19,772 over the course of their snow-sliding life.
Obviously, teaching more kids at a younger age leads to greater revenues and longevity for the industry.
A happy ending for all parties involved.
But two years ago, Launch Pad co-founder and inventor Scott Coleman, was just focused on dialing his family into the sport he loved so they could play together.
But the pain in his torso made him physically unable to help his daughter control her skis.
“Here I was in my mid-20's, but had the back of a 65-year-old miner as a result of spending so many innings behind the plate catching, from childhood through college,” said Coleman, while standing in the middle of his trade-show booth at the Colorado Convention Center, home of SIA Snow Sports annual gathering, which concludes Sunday.
“I was trying to help my daughter, Oakly, but I just couldn't handle being hunched over. I was always in a bad position; it hurt. I was weak. But I had this idea. So when we got home, I went to the garage and stayed there most of the night and came up with the HookEase and WedgEase system,” Coleman explained.
Coleman's 2-piece HookEase system, combined with the WedgEase single strap, allows an instructor maximum control skiing behind the child and using their normal ski poles to guide the child from behind, allowing a beginner the freedom of seemingly being in full control, but in reality, the parents standing behind them controlling the speed and edge with a feathery touch, literally a flick of the wrist.
(For more information, go to: www.LaunchPadGear.com)
“I was shocked to learn nobody had thought of this before. We used a patent attorney who confirmed this had never been devised, then some designers … and we went to China and learned about product manufacturing. A year-and-a-half later, here you go!”
And like any smart catcher, Coleman knew the value of a wicked pitcher.
So he and LaunchPad co-founder Brock Winzeler signed the most high-energy stay-at-home mother of four in the history of skiing, Olympic Gold Medal winner Picabo Street, to endorse, advocate and propel the brand.
In baseball jargon, it's the perfect battery!
As a product spokesperson, nobody in the ski industry can bring it like Picabo Street!
Here's Picabo at her best: “The Easy Hook system has this super-cool crimp-on component that connects to the tip of your regular ski pole without any tools, or manpower, meaning moms can easily put this on and twist it tight.
“And this whole process happens quicker than I can explain. Your ski pole slides in this cylinder that clamps down; you tighten it. Then, you attach the HookEase plate component to the ski; it clamps on just behind your release point of the child's binding and is easy to hand-tighten. You don't have crank on it, which is good for moms!
“Then you hook in with your ski poles and you follow your kid … you subtly control your child's speed and edge, while explaining what to do and experiencing the actions together.
“It's so much fun to do it together! But your child thinks they're doing it alone! And that's really cool – rewarding! What I love is that the child really is alone for the most part and learns the feel of the skis and the speed and the noise.
“Getting a feel for the balance and proper position over their skis is just critical as soon as you learn. This allows that without jerking the kid around, which is scary and alarming. And that's what other training tools on bungie cords do … This is so beautifully simple. It's so cool!
“What the WedgEase piece does is attach to the tips of the skis to control and counter any dominant action, not allowing the tips to fully cross, and it doesn't allow the tips to separate, to go their separate ways, forcing the skier to do the splits.
“Come on! How cool is this!”
She explains the full aspect of the product, staring you in the eye with great intensity and passion. Heck, if you don't have kids, you still feel compelled to purchase the product!
She's one of skiing's most robust and positive personalities, yet Picabo Street lives almost in anonymity near Birmingham, Alabama, with her husband, John, and four sons, Eli (age 8), Trey(7), the blonde bombshell Dax (2), and Rowen (1).
If anybody can juggle four ‘Bama boys and a Pappa Bear, it's Picabo Street!
“Oh yeah, they're my life. It's my greatest reward. And I get to enjoy them with my parents,” she said.
“I miss being in the industry and in the West, but – hey! Look what I have! We have land, hills, water, and we just play!” says Street, showing this reporter her family photos on her iPhone with sheer zest for life.
If you don't know her story, Picabo Street didn't just metal twice in the Olympics.
Wedged in between those two achievements she more importantly mastered courage and resilience, overcoming a brutal knee injury that required total reconstruction after a wreck in a Colorado training run in late 1996 that's probably more well-known in the world of racing than her remarkable Gold-medal victory in the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.
Street, who had won silver in the downhill in the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, was considered to have no shot at a podium going into the 1998 games in Japan. Most experts questioned her decision to race because of the depth of her injury.
“We couldn't imagine a brighter soul telling the world about or products. Picabo Street's all about courage and commitment; overcoming odds. We're pretty lucky she's on our team.”
Launch Pad's products are aptly named, because the products, just like Picabo Street, operate with great ease.
