Program at Lake Placid High School helps groom athletes
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LAKE PLACID — Many have heard that 12 is a special number. This region sent 12 athletes from the area to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. But while local Olympians gave it their all 3,067 miles away in Vancouver, another group of 14 athletes were here in Lake Placid strolling through the halls of the middle/high school — many with Olympic dreams of their own.
The Lake Placid Middle/High School is home to eight figure skaters, three ski jumpers, a luger, an alpine skier, a speedskater, a hockey player and a snowboarder who regularly train and compete in events that do not coincide with the Mountain Valley Athletic Conference (MVAC). This causes them to miss days, sometimes weeks of school for training and competition. To address the issue and provide support for student athletes, the middle/high school has designed the Student Leave Program, unique to Lake Placid.
“The issue came up in the summer of 2006,” said Amy Spicer, an English teacher who coordinates the program and was instrumental in its development. “We had so many athletes who were routinely out of school that there was a real need for us to step in and help.”
Spicer’s main purpose in the program is to act as a liaison between student athletes and teachers. In the event that a student must travel, they have a protocol to follow, first filling out a form with details of the trip, and then meeting with Spicer to go over all of their scholastic obligations while away, followed by a conversation with all of their teachers.
“It really helps to teach them incredible time management and communication skills,” Spicer said. “The success of the program relies heavily on the student’s motivation.”
While students are on leave, Spicer routinely checks with emails, giving students new assignments from teachers or making sure they have all of they work in on time.
“I’m kind of a nag,” Spicer said with a smile. “It comes in handy for this job.”
Senior Danielle Lussi, 17, a member of the New York Ski Education Foundation (NYSEF) ski jumping team, has been training and competing since she was in sixth grade and began taking athletic related leaves long before the student program was fully realized.
“Before the program I was entirely responsible for keeping track of my school work,” Lussi said. “I got really used to talking with all of my teachers about the trips, but with the new program things are much, much easier.”
Lussi recently competed in the New York Empire State Winter games, held in Lake Placid, and won second place in the women’s division 90-meter jump. (She was beaten only by her sister Nina, 16, who also uses the Athletic Leave Program when competing.)
Danielle also placed in both jumping events at the Junior Olympics in 2008 and hopes to go to the 2014 Winter Olympics. She said she’s glad to have the help from Mr. Spicer.
“We already have so much going on, between training, competitions and school work on top of that,” Lussi said. “The program really helps keep a good balance.”
Whether these high school athletes are soaring through the air on a set of skies, executing a perfect triple toe-loop or sliding down the bobsled/luge/skeleton track at Mount Van Hoevenberg, they are still responsible for the regular obligations as students of the school. That means gym class.
“It’s a little ironic, I know,” Spicer said. “But it’s one of their responsibilities.”
Students often provide athletic directors with a daily log of their training schedules, competition results or in some cases DVDs of their training sessions.
Because these individual athletes are involved in solo sports they often fall through the cracks and aren’t given the same attention and support as team sports athletes who are more closely linked to the school.
“These students are just as important as those in our team sports,” Spicer said. “And we want to give them the support they need.”
The program also opens up communication between administrators and students, with Spicer again acting as liaison. Before students leave for a trip involving competition or training they must get permission from the school’s principal, Dave Messner.
“I think what we have here has opened up a lot of opportunities for students,” Messner said. “It’s a great program.”
Messner also noted the importance of Spicer’s role in the program.
“She has a great sensitivity for the needs of the students, as well as the parents and teachers involved,” Messner said. “She was a natural and the program has been a real success.”
Experiental learning
Although the student-leave program is primarily set up for athletes, a similar protocol — with the same application process and Spicer acting as the coordinator — has been used for other projects and opportunities involving children leaving school.
Last year, substitute teacher Tricia Garrett decided to go on a road trip across the U.S. with her husband and three children in a 26-foot RV. They approached the trip from a naturalist’s point of view and had incredible out-of-doors experiences throughout, including a rafting trip in Yosemite, witnessing the migration of sandhill cranes in the Platte River Basin in Colo. and spending several days in Mesa Verde National Park. And the Lake Placid Middle High School OK’d the entire trip.
“I can’t tell you enough about what an incredibly educational experience it was for our children,” Garrett said. “It was a huge gift for our family.”
Because a portion of the trip took place during school, Garrett wrote a letter and filled out an application — going though the same process as the athletic-leave program — and her children were responsible for all of the work they would miss. Amy Spicer facilitated the trip and met with each of the children to go over what they were responsible for.
“The school was incredibly helpful in making it a stress- free and fun experience,” Garrett said.
According to Dave Messner, the school is open to the idea of outside projects and experiential learning.
“Education should not be confined to the classroom,” Messner said.
The athletes
Lake Placid Middle/High School independent athletes are: Brandon Amaral, grade 6, figure skating; Ethan Amaral, grade 9, figure skating; Tucker Angelopoulos, grade 7, hockey; Annmary Bouchard, grade 8, figure skating; Jimmy Connors, grade 9, alpine skiing; Elena Gonzalez, grade 6, figure skating; Danielle Lussi, grade 12, ski jumping; Miles Lussi, grade 7, ski jumping; Nina Lussi, grade 10, ski jumping; Jamie Moschetto, grade 8, figure skating; Alyssa Mahatme, grade 9, figure skating; Esther Munoz, grade 6, speed skating; Briana Munoz, grade 10, luge; Matt Nardiello, grade 11, snowboarding; Alli Shultes, grade 11, figure skating; and Kenall Wyckoff, grade 12, figure skating.
Contact Eric Voorhis at
523-4401 or
evoorhis@lakeplacidnew.com
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