This week-long program is designed to enhance the skiers' performance in competition, to teach techniques to help avoid injury in this challenging sport, and to help injured athletes regain strength and agility for the upcoming ski season. Skiers graduate from The Stone Clinic's camp with the mental and physical edge it takes to tackle the upcoming season and perform in competition. The camp utilizes several facilities and natural settings in San Francisco, including The Stone Clinic, The San Francisco Bay Club, The Presidio, Marina Green, and the arduous Marin Headlands. Competitive alpine ski racing is a sport that exerts intense and constant forces on the body due to the difficult terrain and high speeds of competition. The sport calls for expert strength, balance, agility, flexibility and muscle control.
Mental conditioning is also crucial in helping skiers manage their often grueling race schedules.
In his years as an orthopaedic surgeon for the U.S. Ski Team and U.S. Pro Ski Tour, the camp's founder, Kevin R. Stone, M.D., has stressed the importance of athletes' mental and physical condition before the ski season. The camp has attracted top skiers, including six-time speed skiing world champion Franz Weber and U.S. Women's Pro Tour skiers Heather Flood, Camilla Lundback, Magdalena Jonsson, Ann Oscarsson, Claudia Stern and Amy Livran. Three of last year's participants, Flood, Lundback and Oscarsson, went on to place in the top five on last season's U.S. Women's Pro Ski Tour. Two of this year's skiers, Oscarsson and Stern, recently underwent knee surgery and rehabilitation by Dr. Stone. As part of their rehabilitation process and to prepare for the upcoming season, they are participating in the 1995 Training Camp.