As teams settle into winter tryouts, Fieldston\u2019s courts, tracks and gyms become enlivened with a new season\u2019s energy. One team, headed by Lucia Mastroianni (V), takes the arena of winter sports to a new level. Or elevation, rather. The nascent varsity ski team begins its very first season this year. The group is a product of Mastroianni’s longstanding dedication to the art of ski-racing and steadfast desire to extend her commitment to Fieldston peers. A regular on the slopes, Mastroianni aims to use the team as a vessel for camaraderie and competition in an otherwise individualistic sport. Recently, I sat down with Mastroianni to get a glimpse into the upcoming season:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saskia Sommer: Tell me a little where the idea for the ski team came from and the process of bringing it into fruition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lucia Mastroianni: I\u2019ve been skiing since I was two-years-old and racing since I was eight-years-old, so I have basically been skiing all my life. I was trying to find ways freshman and sophomore year to ski during the week so I can be competitive in my races and continue performing well. My freshman year, I went to New Jersey twice a week to night ski with my team, and then my sophomore year, I skied with the Horace Mann ski team, but I really wanted something at Fieldston, and I really wanted to create a team here because I saw that Horace Mann was doing it. Originally, me and Gus [Ornstein] talked about creating a club or having something where we could go to a mountain and foster the love for skiing here. We eventually came to the decision that having a ski team would be an option and went from there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SS: Amazing! I\u2019ve heard so much excitement about the team both from friends that have joined and also throughout the school. My understanding is you\u2019re in the preseason portion of the year- I\u2019m curious to hear about what those first practices have been like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LM: There\u2019s no snow right now, so we started two weeks ago and have been introducing people to ski racing. A lot of the athletes who joined have skied many times before but don\u2019t know what racing is, so we\u2019ve been watching videos of ski races, looking at the top skiers in the world \u2013 how they race \u2013 and also we\u2019ve been doing some workouts since we\u2019re not able to be on the mountain. We\u2019ve been in the weight and yoga rooms and doing some running outside to get used to the cold. We are going skiing on Wednesday for the first time! You may think, \u2018how are we skiing; there\u2019s no snow?\u2019 We\u2019re going to be at Big Snow at the American Dream Mall and ski there once a week, every Wednesday until the end of December when there\u2019s actual snow on the mountain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SS: So exciting! And I\u2019m excited to watch as the season progresses. What does it look like securing that practice space and, as captain, figuring out the logistics of the year?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LM: There has been a lot of meetings back and forth between the coaches and I. Gus Ornstein, our Athletic Director, has been a huge part of making this happen. I\u2019ve been meeting with him for the past year to talk about logistics, and we have two coaches right now. One is Simon MacLean, who is in the Admissions Office at Fieldston. He has been skiing his whole life. He was a FIS [Federal International de Ski] racer and has also coached racing in the past, so he is a great coach and also knows about racing which is amazing. Our other coach is Dylan Gray, who is in the nurses office, so a lot of people may already know him. He is a huge skier and has never raced before, but he has coached skiing, and we\u2019re excited to have him as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SS: I appreciate how the team pulls from so many different aspects of the Fieldston community and that people have been so willing to help out. What was the process of reaching out to coaches? Tell me a bit about their enthusiasm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LM: When trying to find coaches, we searched for people already at the school because trying to hire outside coaches can be difficult. Surprisingly, they reached out to us and offered to become a coach which was really exciting since we did not have to look that much. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
SS: Yeah, that\u2019s super great. What has the turnout been? How many people are on the team? What is the energy like at practice? All that jazz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LM: Right now, we have a roster of twenty-two people, which is a lot more than I was expecting. I expected under ten because this is such a new sport, and I wasn\u2019t [anticipating] so many people to enjoy the idea of ski racing. I know that a lot of people at Fieldston ski, but racing is different, so I was a little bit nervous to see the turnout. A roster of twenty-two people is a lot, so I\u2019m excited to have that. I\u2019ve been helping create the practices, and there has been a couple of challenges like the weight room also being used by the hockey team, track team and people working out. We\u2019re trying to figure out where best to use space and playing it by ear, and it\u2019s very experimental right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SS: It seems like a very adaptable environment. What would your messages be to those that are curious to join this year or in future? I know you mentioned a lot of people ski but don\u2019t have racing experience, so any words specifically for that crowd?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LM: Ski racing is an incredible sport. I\u2019ve been doing it my whole life. When you\u2019re racing, you feel like you\u2019re flying through the course because it\u2019s just you, the mountain and the gates. You have to get down as fast as you can, and there\u2019s nobody talking to you in that moment; you\u2019re in your own world, essentially. It\u2019s very abstract but so much fun. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
SS: I can imagine the adrenaline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LM: It\u2019s definitely an adrenaline rush. When you\u2019re in the start gate, you have to try and go as fast as you can, and nobody is really helping you. It\u2019s an individual sport, but it\u2019s also a team sport because you\u2019re with your whole team at the top and the bottom of the mountain discussing the race. When you\u2019re actually running the course, it\u2019s just you, and it\u2019s a kind of magical feeling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
SS: For sure. That leads into my next question about the individual versus team dynamic. I\u2019m curious about your goals for the season, whether it be on a technical individual ski level or creating bonds within the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LM: I\u2019m hoping to show what ski racing is and hopefully spark an enjoyment for it because it is a sport that not many people know about, and I want to share that experience and show people how amazing it is. We will do that through improving people\u2019s ability and racing ability. We will start by assessing team members\u2019 skiing abilities and improving that before going into the race course. That\u2019s another thing I\u2019m excited about. I really want to see people improve both in skiing and racing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
SS: Totally. On a semi-final note, do you have any words of wisdom for people that are either looking to start something at Fieldston that might seem unconventional – considering we\u2019re not a school situated directly next to mountains, but you\u2019re found a way to begin ski racing – or people wanting to start their own teams? Or even just captains that are leading their teams and want to embed as much enthusiasm as you have into their seasons?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LM: Everyone should just try, because taking that initial step to talk to the Athletic Director and see if it\u2019s a possibility to create something at Fieldston is a huge step. Personally, I was not expecting much from my initial outreach. It\u2019s grown to become so incredible, and the fact that we\u2019re [already] able to ski is incredible. Taking that step made everything possible. To anyone looking to create something, just take that initial step, and everything will fall into place from there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SS: I love that, and congratulations in advance on the season! I\u2019m excited to follow along and be a Fieldston ski racing fan. Are there any final things you\u2019d like to mention?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LM: A little about the logistics – we\u2019ll be working out and going to Big Snow until there\u2019s snow, and then we\u2019ll be taking a bus two days a week to Thunder Ridge Mountain, which is about an hour away from school. We\u2019ll have races throughout the year. There are two types of races: slalom and [Giant slalom (GS)]. Slalom is quicker turns, and GS is larger turns on the mountain, and it\u2019s different kinds of courses. We\u2019ll be doing both events. We\u2019ll race slalom at Thunder Ridge Mountain where we train and GS at Holiday Mountain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
SS: Very cool. When can we look forward to the first meet? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
LM: The first meet is January 20 at Thunder Ridge, so everyone be on the lookout! Race days are all confirmed, and we will race seven meets this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From now until January 20 and beyond, we wish the Fieldston ski team the best of luck with its inaugural season!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As teams settle into winter tryouts, Fieldston\u2019s courts, tracks and gyms become enlivened with a new season\u2019s energy. One team, headed by Lucia Mastroianni (V), takes the arena of winter sports to a new level. Or elevation, rather. The nascent varsity ski team begins its very first season this year. The group is a product of Mastroianni’s longstanding dedication to the art of ski-racing and steadfast desire to extend her commitment to Fieldston peers. A<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341,"featured_media":12507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[347,644,318,317],"tags":[],"coauthors":[494],"class_list":["post-12506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-features","category-news","category-sports"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Screenshot-2025-11-21-at-11.14.55-AM-e1763741905279.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12506"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12508,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12506\/revisions\/12508"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12506"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fieldstonnews.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=12506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}