Exciting changes are happening to the Durango Winter Sports Club. Nate Greason was named the club’s executive director.
Greason was in Massachusetts before coming to Durango for this job. But he has some West Coast roots. Hiring an executive director was important to professionalize the club, according to Greason.
“This club has been sustained forever in Durango by incredible volunteers and largely parents but folks on the board of directors,” Greason said. “They have managed all of the operational responsibilities and programmatic responsibilities of the club so that our coaches can coach and provide a great on-snow experience.”
As the club’s grown, it’s been harder for a group of volunteers to stay on top of things like insurance, budgeting, accounting, event planning and fundraising with about 300 athletes. Hiring Greason allows the club to have some more consistency with these duties and not count on the unpaid labor and generosity of the board members.
Another change for the Durango Winter Sports Club was being named a bronze-level certified ski club by the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association. This recognizes the Durango Winter Sports Club offers athletes a lot of resources and opportunities to excel, according to Greason.
“They look at our competitive success in the regional and national level competitions that we always attend,” Greason said about the criteria for being bronze certified. “They look at how many types of programs, how many age groups we offer and how many athletes we have. Then they look at the training and standards that we expect of our coaches.”
The DWSC Alpine Team Director Tyler Hoyt had a huge role in making sure DWSC had everything completed to get the bronze certification, according to Greason.
Greason said he looks at Durango Devo as a model program with how it’s churned out Olympians and some of the best mountain biking talent in America.
Registration for DWSC launches on Oct. 1. Greason and DWSC believe it could be the largest enrollment this year. DWSC members will be ages 8-18.
“We're going to be even more consistent through September of getting our name out in the school districts,” Greason said. “We're attending back-to-school fairs and have a little welcome event at 11th Street. It’s mostly just for returning families to come and say hi to one another and get excited for ski season. But we're also going to invite prospective families.”
DWSC will also be participating in the first Colorado Youth Sports Giving Day on Sept. 4. Greason said starting on Sept. 4, the first $500,000 of donations to youth sports groups across the state will be matched.
Greason said donating to DWSC is a great way to forward the club’s mission of growing everyone’s enjoyment of sports. DWSC also has a scholarship fund. The more money raised can go to larger awards for people that apply for the scholarship.
For more information on donating to DWSC click here.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
