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Local Johnny Teller won his first career World Cup ski cross event on Friday, Jan. 7 in St. Johann, Austria. Teller is now in the lead in the overall World Cup Ski Cross standings by 170 points.

Teller has come a long way in the last year after being placed last January on the non-injured reserve list for the 2010 Olympics, and working his way up in the World Cup events. In December, Teller won third in a World Cup event making him the first Mammoth local to make the podium at an event of this type.

Teller spends his summers turning wrenches at local Alpine Garage on Center Street.

Teller promotional poster.

We live in an age of specialization.

Athletes practice their craft year-round. Not just the professional ones. I have a buddy from L.A. whose 8-year old daughter plays soccer 52 weeks a year. League games. Tournament games. All-star games. It’s endless.

Or think of all the local amateur skiers and snowboarders who spend part of their “offseason” in places like Chile or Australia. Some are sponsored in part by ski or apparel companies. Mostly, the sponsors are Mom and Dad.

The assumption, however, is that if one is good enough and fortunate enough to reach the top of his/her sport, that the financial stuff takes care of itself.

Try telling that to Mammoth’s Johnny Teller.

Teller is currently the #1 U.S. Skiercross racer. He just missed out on an Olympic berth last year, and the two men ranked ahead of him, Daron Rahlves and Casey Puckett, have since retired.

So his star is on the rise, right? Well …  the sport of skiercross hasn’t exactly penetrated the national consciousness yet. Though Teller says it’s a popular sport in Europe, it’s just starting to catch on here.

Which means that during the offseason, Johnny Teller is not training in Australia. Nor is he doing promotional gigs for K2. Nope. Instead, you’ll find Teller turning wrenches at Alpine Garage on Center Street.

And today, you’ll also find him in these pages asking for some financial assistance as he prepares for the 2010-2011 World Cup campaign.

Money

Teller is seeking to raise $25,000 in order to help pay travel, food and related expenses. This to cover three trips to Europe, a trip to Canada, the X Games in Aspen and the World Championships to be held this year in Deer Valley.

The first event is the Red Bull Hutten Rally in St. Anton, Austria on Dec, 20. Teller was one of 16 racers who was pre-qualified by race organizers.

The winner of the event takes home a Suzuki-made automobile.

Sheet: What make?

Teller: Cheap, probably.

Sheet: Well, at least you’ll be able to fix it.

Teller: Fix it? I’d sell it.

Sheet: What’s the typical purse for a skiercross event?”

Teller: The actual purses are miniscule. Except for the X Games, That’s $25,000. The top guys have sponsors with incentive-based contracts that reward them based upon how they finish.

Sheet: Do the other guys have off-season jobs? Or do they make enough on tour to support themselves.”

Teller: The top guy last year was Swiss. Off-season, I think he works road construction.

Sheet: How many skiers are on the tour?

Teller: 80 or 90.

Sheet: Will there be any other Americans?

Teller: Pat Duran [coached by Puckett] will be traveling with me.

Sheet: So how much have you raised so far?

Teller: 250 … from you (laughs). I’ve had some small donations from others. And I worked a lot of side jobs for my Dad (Mammoth Chevron’s Karl Teller) this summer.

There are indications, however, that the Mountain, as well as Kittredge Sports and Footloose Sports, are working on some type of sponsorship arrangement.

That may support basic lodging and travel needs, but additional support is still necessary to pay coaches, technicians, et. al.

Teller, 27, is engaged to Angela Dessert, whom he has dated for four years. Dessert works at Union Bank. They plan to be married in July 2011.

Who could have predicted such domesticity, based upon Johnny’s wilder days.

“I did have a rough time for a few years from when I was 18 to about 22. I did get in some trouble and had to go to jail. That pretty much cured me,” says Johnny. “I cleaned my life up and stared dating Angela when I was 24. She’s definitely played a big part in getting my life together in many ways.”

And Teller is certaintly cognizant of the many people (especially his folks) who have helped him out along the way and plans to return the favor for the rest of his life.

“I will be helping coach with the junior ski team on some weekends this winter and plan on having a great time skiing with the next generations of rippers,” he said.

Prospects

Based upon his finish to last year’s season, it appears Teller, who turned to skiercross after narrowly missing out on making the 2006 U.S. Alpine team, is primed to improve on his top-32 world ranking.

Skiercross is a perfect fit for him, Teller says. “I can’t wait to get back on courses made for speed, big air and contact. I feel I am on the cusp of something big!”

Last year, Teller followed up a 6th place finish at X Games with a 2nd place finish in a NorAm race at Sugar Bowl which featured a field of Vancouver-bound Olympic invitees.

Post-Olympics, he closed the World Cup season strongly with 11th, 13th and 21st place finishes.

If you’d like to support John Teller, you can reach him via email at jdteller@gmail.com or call 760.914.3071. His website, www.johnteller.com, will be live within a few days.

Alpine Garage’s Johnny Teller (right) was left out of the Olympics, but his American counterparts may not have been up for the job. (Photo: Wolf)

Teller stays on bench as U.S. Olympic Skier Cross athletes flop Vancouver

Skier Cross made its debut in the Winter Olympics on Sunday, Feb. 21, and Switzerland’s Michael Schmid went into the history books, taking home the sport’s first gold medal as part of the 2010 Games in Vancouver. Meanwhile, U.S. athletes Casey Puckett and Daron Rahlves were nowhere near the top 10, finishing 23rd and 28th, respectively. (Silver went to Andreas Matt of Austria, Bronze to Audun Groenvold from Norway. Canada, which was expected to do at least reasonably well, managed to put  Chris DelBosco in fourth, and France’s Enak Gavaggio rounded out the top five.)

Earlier this month, Puckett was nursing a separated left shoulder and Daron Rahlves was recovering from a dislocated right hip. With both injured, many in the sports community pondered the rationale being used by both United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSSA) CEO Bill Marlot and skier cross coach Tyler Shepherd who insisted that Puckett and Rahlves would be 100 percent by the time racing commenced.

Maybe they were both able to ski, but being able to bring it full on was arguably another matter. Previously, Shepherd was quoted as having said Rahlves and Puckett need to be 100 percent if the team hopes to bring home a medal, especially a gold. “The gold medal is not going to be won by going 80 percent,” he stated. Shepherd was right on that point at least. In light of the poor results, it’s questionable as to whether Puckett and Rahlves were up to the task, as Marlot and Shepherd maintained.

The skier who was 100 percent, Johnny Teller, sat at home, skied the local Village Championship race series, and watched the Olympics from afar. Teller, who finished sixth at the recent X Games, was considered by many — Puckett included — as a logical choice to replace the injured team members.

After the race, the media spin attempting to take the edge off what may have been a poor decision by the U.S. coaching staff seemed to be taking effect. “Rahlves’ spill off the second-to-last jump during the first round was particularly exciting. The alpine master, who was sitting second in his heat at the time, went down on his back only to get back on his feet and make a photo finish of the race, of which he was unfortunately on the wrong end,” read part of story on www.utahskier.net.

The skiers themselves were apparently spinning out of control, too.

“I never have regrets. I’m out there having fun. I still had fun today,” Rahlves said in the story. “The ultimate is just to love what you do and go out there and give it a shot.” Rahlves, however, insisted he was ready for Sunday’s race. “I felt ready to roll. Today was the outcome I didn’t really expect it. I thought I was going to be moving through to the finals,” Rahlves said. “I felt great. I’ve been skiing hard and as of yesterday I had zero pain in the hip. I was still doing physical therapy every morning. To be back this way three weeks after dislocating my hip was a pretty outstanding recovery.”

Outstanding, it turns out, may not have been good enough.

Meanwhile, Puckett, who made little or no mention of his shoulder injury, was unable to generate enough speed, which he said probably cost him on Sunday. “The start is really important and I wasn’t able to get out of the start really well,” Puckett told www.utahskier.net. “There’s a little bit of apprehension when I’m going down a course like that — huge air coming down from pretty high heights. There’s nothing else I could have done. I did everything I could. I’m proud I was able to make it here, and I laid it out there.”

Of course, one can only speculate how the U.S. team would have done had they brought Teller up in one of the slots, but in any case it’s at least a curiosity that Rahlves and Puckett were kept on the team and fared so poorly.

Locally, Teller finds himself currently in the top spot in the Mens A category of the local Village Chamionships race series.

Is Alpine Garage’s Johnny Teller (right) going to the Olympics? (Photo: Wolf)

In political parlance, one could say that local Mammoth skier cross athlete Johnny Teller’s shot at an Olympic team berth is the victim of a vast, hero-worship conspiracy. Teller, who finished sixth at the recent X Games, is a logical choice to replace injured team members Casey Puckett, nursing a separated left shoulder, and Daron Rahlves, recovering from a dislocated his right hip.
At the moment, however, Teller still sits on the non-injured reserve bench. Puckett has said Teller should be placed on the team if either he or Rahlves aren’t up to the task, but so far neither has thrown in the towel. Far from it, it seems.
Latest reports in the New York Times indicated the two are still planning to race. United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSSA) CEO Bill Marlot earlier this week even went so far as to declare to the Associated Press that both were recovering at home and “will be fully ready to go” for the Vancouver Games. The Skier Cross competition takes place on Feb. 21. (Training camp starts Feb. 14.)
Meanwhile, Tyler Shepherd, the United States skier cross coach, appears to be suffering from a bout of denial, seemingly unwilling to consider what would happen if Rahlves, Puckett or both would be unable to compete.
“We’re fully expecting them to be set to go for Vancouver,” Shepherd told the NY Times. “They’re both very tough guys.”
Tough guys or not, U.S. skiers will have to bring their A-game if they’re to fend off a major challenge shaping up from a strong Canadian team that would like nothing better than to clean up on its home turf.
Shepherd’s reaction has also met criticism by some in the media, given a recent statement he made acknowledging that Rahlves and Puckett need to be 100 percent if the team hopes to bring home a medal, especially a gold. “The gold medal is not going to be won by going 80 percent,” Shepherd was quoted as saying.
Asked about the situation, Teller is trying to stay grounded. “Daron [Rahlves] is a stud. He’s had this injury before and after the latest recurrence, just walked out of the hospital that night [Sunday, Jan. 24.],” Teller said. “Basically I’m just back in reality waiting for the phone to ring.”

In the meantime, Teller said you can catch him at the Village Championships competing for his father Karl’s “Fossil Fuel” team sponsored by Mammoth Chevron.
So, while both Puckett and Rahlves may be currently at that 80 percent level, a 100 percent Johnny Teller sits in Mammoth toiling away at Alpine Garage, waiting for the phone to ring. -Sheet Staff