Four decades of families, athletes, and a mountain that brings us together.
Born on the Mountain. Built by Families.
In 1984, a group of Kirkwood families looked up at the mountain they loved and saw something bigger than great skiing. They saw an opportunity to bring their community together, to give their young people a place to grow, compete, and belong. That vision became the Kirkwood Ski Education Foundation.
What started as a small, grassroots racing program has grown into one of the Sierra's most respected alpine race organizations. But even after four decades, the heart of KSEF remains exactly where it began: with the families of Kirkwood.
We are a California 501(c)(3) nonprofit woven into the history and fabric of Kirkwood Mountain. Our purpose has never wavered: to develop young people and adult athletes through the discipline, joy, and challenge of alpine ski racing. From our earliest days, we have believed that this mountain teaches lessons nothing else can, about perseverance, courage, humility, and the power of showing up for the people beside you.
Today, KSEF serves athletes from age 6 through adult across eight programs: Jr. Devo, U10, U12, U14, U16, Masters, Full-Time Elite, and Holiday Training Camp, with Night Training sessions available to all registered athletes during the season. Our athletes represent KSEF at U.S. Ski and Snowboard-sanctioned events, Far West races, and Tahoe Race Series competitions across the region. But the moments that define us happen just as often off the race course: in the lodge, on the chairlift, and wherever our families come together.
Our Coaching Staff
These are not instructors. They are coaches. Every one of them is invested in your athlete's development as a racer and as a person.
Our Head Coaches, Alisa, Patrick, Kendall, Justeen, Jim, and Tomasz, set the standard on the mountain. They lead their programs with intention and passion, develop athletes across all age groups and disciplines, and build the coaching culture that makes KSEF what it is. Behind them is a dedicated staff of coaches who bring experience, commitment, and a genuine love for this sport and this community to every training day and every race weekend.
Our Leadership
Kylese Markt, our Athletic Director, and Dana Keith, our Program Administrator, provide the organizational leadership and operational backbone that keeps KSEF moving forward. From program development and athlete communication to registration, scheduling, and the daily details that make a race team run, Kylese and Dana ensure that every family's experience with KSEF reflects the standard this organization has set for over four decades. We are fortunate to have them.
Our Community
KSEF is its families. Full stop. The parents who drive SR88 before dawn. The volunteers who show up for early loads, course setup, course breakdown, and parking lot BBQs. The families who travel together to Far West venues across the region and stand together at the finish, cheering for every athlete on the team, not just their own. The community that rallies behind events like the American Century Golf tournament, the Head2Head Gala, the MLK Raffle, the Legendary Banked Slalom, the Knight Monsters, and the Myers Community Markets.
This community does not just support KSEF. It is KSEF. And every family who joins this team becomes part of something that has been built over four decades by people who love this mountain and believe in its young people.
At KSEF, every family belongs.
Mission
We develop young people and adult athletes through competitive alpine ski racing, building the whole athlete: technical skill on the mountain, confidence and resilience off it, and the kind of character that lasts a lifetime. We do this inside a community where every family is known, valued, and supported.
Vision
A place where competitive excellence and genuine human connection grow side by side. Where the pursuit of being a great racer never comes at the expense of becoming a great person.
Deep Roots. Strong Community. Bright Futures.
One Team. One Dream.
KSEF Family,
On Sunday, the last chairs load, the bull wheels stop turning, and the Sierra starts its long, slow melt back to summer. If you have been doing this long enough, you know the feeling. It is not sadness. It is gratitude with an edge. The season gave what it gave, we took every bit of it, and now we sit with what it taught us.
This season did not give us the snow we ordered. You already know that. But here is what I know: the mountains do not owe us anything. They never have. They show up as they are, and they ask us to do the same. And this community did exactly that.
Our athletes showed up. Every condition, every training day, every race weekend. From Jr. Devo all the way through Masters, they trained, competed, adapted, and grew. A Jr. Devo athlete stood at the top of a course, took one breath, and dropped in like she had done it a thousand times. A U16 racer blew a gate on his first run, walked back to the start, said nothing, and put down the run of his season on the second. Master’s athletes in their 50s and 60s pushed through gates with the same fire they had at 20. Nobody told them to do that. The mountain told them to do that. And they listened.
Our families showed up. The SR88 drives in the dark, the race travel, the equipment investments, the patience when the snow was thin, the schedule was hard, and the mountain demanded more than seemed fair. You did not flinch. Some of you have been part of this for a decade. Some of you just started. It does not matter. You showed up. And at KSEF, that is everything.
Our volunteers showed up. From the American Century Golf event to the Knight Monsters. From the Myers Community Markets to the Tahoe Games. From the Head2Head Gala and the MLK Raffle to the Legendary Banked Slalom. From the families who set courses before sunrise and broke them down after sunset. From the parents who fired up parking lot BBQs and turned race days into something that felt like home. You powered every one of those moments. There are so many names I could call out, and you know who you are. I thank you. The coaches thank you. And the Board, Mike, Steve, Scott, and I, thank you all.
Our coaches showed up. These are not instructors. They are coaches. Alisa, Patrick, Kendall, Justeen, Jim, Tomasz, and every member of the coaching staff gave everything to our athletes this season. They set the standard on the mountain and built the culture that holds this organization together. Without them, none of this happens. And behind it all, Kylese and Dana kept the engine running when nobody was looking. This organization does not move forward without them.
This community does not just support KSEF. It is KSEF.
That is culture. Not the stuff we put on a website. The stuff that happens when nobody is watching, and the conditions are not ideal, and the scoreboard does not matter. Culture is the only thing that holds when everything else gets tested. And ours held this season.
The Dalai Lama once said, "The planet does not need more successful people. It needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every kind." That is what I see when I watch this community. Our athletes are not out here chasing trophies. They are learning how to show up when it is hard, how to cheer for the person next to them, and how to get back in the start gate after a bad run. That is not ski racing. That is life. And this mountain is the best classroom any of us has ever seen.
I have been on this mountain since 1992. Came out of the Coast Guard as a Rescue Swimmer, RS number 69, one of the first 100. The service taught me that you train so hard that when it gets real, you default to your preparation, and you never leave anyone behind. When I landed at Kirkwood, the mountain team taught me the rest. Walters. Myers. Plaugher. Ricky Bobby. The lifers who kept the bull wheels turning and the mountain safe long before anyone was paying attention. They taught me that Kirkwood is not a resort. It is a commitment. I married into a family whose roots here run deeper than mine. And thirty-four years later, the standard has not changed: show up, do the work, take care of the people beside you.
That is the standard I bring to this Board, and it is the standard this community sets for itself every single day.
Now the bull wheels are quiet, the snow melts, and the work begins.
We have a big summer in front of us. Race facility build-out. Program reviews. Policy work. Planning for FY26/27. Every decision gets measured against one question: Does it make KSEF stronger, more stable, and more deeply rooted? Not louder. Not bigger for the sake of bigger. Stronger. That is the commitment, and it has not changed.
And since the weather guy in me cannot help it, I am already watching the long-range models. The Pacific is setting up in a way that has my attention. While I am not making any promises for December in April, the Sierra always comes back. Always. And when those first storms start stacking up in the Gulf of Alaska this fall, the horseshoe canyon at Kirkwood is going to do exactly what it has always done. Collect every inch of it. First chair is roughly 245 days away. Not that anyone is counting.
FY26/27 Earlybird registration is now open at kirkwoodskiteam.com. Our pricing is the same as last season through May 31st, then increases in phases. The earlier you commit, the more you save. Once a window closes, it does not reopen. Lock it in.
If you are new to KSEF and reading this for the first time, we are a ski race team. We have been training racers at Kirkwood Mountain since 1984. We run programs for athletes ages 6 through adult, and every one of them is built on great coaching, real mountain terrain, and a community that shows up for each other. If that sounds like your family, reach out. We will help you find the right program.
If you are a KSEF alum and this stirred something up for you, we would love to hear from you. Once KSEF, always KSEF.
My father-in-law, Dick Reuter, used to say, "It is just a challenge. We must overcome and adapt to succeed." Dick knew this mountain better than most people know their own backyard. He knew that the Sierra does not negotiate. You adapt, or you do not. That is the spirit of this place, and it is the spirit of this organization.
The bull wheels stop. The snow melts. The mountain remains. And so does what we are building here.
If you are on the lake or around Camp Richardson this summer, drop by the marina and the dock and say hello. And if you ever have questions about KSEF, your athlete, the programs, or anything at all, never hesitate to reach out to me, Dana, or Kylese. Our door is always open.
See you out there.
Coop
President | Kirkwood Ski Education Foundation
E: Board@kirkwoodskiteam.com | C: (530) 307-9264
