While Keene State College offers student-athletes a wide variety of winter sports to participate in, skiing is absent from the school’s athletic catalog.
The college used to have a ski team which has since become defunct, making KSC the only school under the University System of New Hampshire (USNH) to not have a competing team at the varsity level.
Plymouth State University and the University of New Hampshire (UNH), which are the two other schools under the USNH umbrella, both have ski teams.
UNH alum ‘95 and head coach of UNH’s alpine ski team Brian Blank said the ski team is a valuable part of the Wildcat student athletic community.
“The ski team produces amazing student-athletes, and I think that has a lot to do with the nature of skiing, where high school kids are traveling across the country racing and learning to take care of their stuff and then come to college pretty well prepared,” said Blank.
“It’s producing outstanding citizens, really, in the way we recruit and the team culture I try to build. It’s really important to have cooperative, smart and responsible individuals, and I’d like to think I’m sending them out into the world with that,” added Blank.
According to Blank, New Hampshire’s skiing culture makes collegiate ski teams a no-brainer.
“Skiing is the state sport of New Hampshire so it makes sense that we have a ski team at the state institutions for sure,” said Blank.
“We’re a Division I sport so all the student-athletes who come to me have been recruited, and they are looking at UNH because we have a ski team,” added Blank.
While KSC does not have a team, the lack of a competitive ski team has not stifled KSC’s own ski culture.
The KSC Outing Club offers a variety of skiing excursions to members, after absorbing the now-defunct skiing club.
Senior and KSC Outing Club Treasurer Zachary Irving said he believes Keene State skiers are more interested in the recreational aspects of the sport.
“I think that there’s several different kinds of skiers, and the kind of skier that goes to Keene State is more focused on finding backcountry snow and exploring on their skis rather than racing on their skis,” said Irving.
“That’s why it’s so awesome that the outing club exists, because it’s recreational and we focus on personal growth rather than competition,” added Irving.
Director of Athletics Marty Testo said that he would be open to reviving the ski team if interest was ever shown.
“I don’t know why we no longer have a competitive ski team at the varsity level, and I know we have skiing at the club level and have had people ask would we be interested, and I would entertain any student interested in trying to start it, but to hop in at the NCAA level would be a long process,” said Testo.
“I don’t think there’s any rhyme or reason as to why we don’t have one, other than it hasn’t come across our table,” added Testo.
Ryan Pacheco can be contacted at
rpacheco@kscequinox.com
