GreenLight Collaboration and Rocky Mountain Masters announce the winners of the 2010/2011, J2/J3 athlete development fund.

 December 1st, 2011

GreenLight Collaboration and Rocky Mountain Masters announce the winners of the 2010/2011, J2/J3 athlete development fund.

First of all, I want to thank all of the athletes that applied to the Rocky Mountain Masters J2/J3 athlete development scholarship fund. I know that was a lot of time and effort on your part. Thank you very much for applying.

“We are proud to announce, after much consideration and deliberation that Julia Mueller-Ristine, Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club; Rachel DesRochers, Ski and Snowboard Club Vail; Mackenzie Gansmann, Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club; and Grant Gipson, Cloud City Ski Club are the recipients of our fund”, said Kevin Ward, Chairman of the fund and President & CEO of GreenLight Collaboration.

I want to thank all the Rocky Mountain Masters for your help. I want to thank our sponsors for this year’s fund; Phil McNichol’s of PointZeroOne, Jesse True at Copper Mountain, Russ Rowan at Spyder, Megan Burch at Blizzard Skis, Ben Drummond at Head Skis, Chip Ford FK Tools, Michael Jackson of Zeal Optics, Curt Geiger of GEIGERRIG hydration packs, Jamie Norwood of Under Armour and last but certainly not least our lovable FUXI!!!!

The J2 & J3 Athlete Fund is a program founded and operated by volunteers from Rocky Mountain Masters to support junior alpine ski racers from Colorado in the Rocky Mountain Division of USSA. The athlete must be a resident of Colorado.

We provide resources for alpine racers, for training and development of young athletes from Colorado in the Rocky Mountain Division of USSA.

Local athletes are frequently without resources to travel to the best competitions, participate in year-round training and experience the best coaching. Winter sports competition is not a sport of elite, wealthy, athletes. These are the sports of our home town kids and they need our support.

Fund Chairman, Kevin Ward, also President & CEO of GreenLight Collaboration, will be presenting to each recipient a check for $500. These monies will be going towards, training, competitions and other related expenses.

I wish that we could fund all the athletes that applied, but that isn’t possible. To the J2 & J3 athletes that applied and weren’t selected, remember this famous quote, "It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

Kevin S. Ward GreenLight Collaboration President & CEO

Rocky Mountain Division of USSA Board Member