Burke Mountain Academy Inaugurates Shelley Glover Tech Center

Shelley Glover ‘04 was a gregarious Burkie who embodied a passion for excellence and an exemplary love of life. To the great sadness of her family and all of those who loved her, she passed away in 2004 from injuries sustained while training as a member of the US Ski Team.

On October 15, 2017, the BMA community gathered as part of the annual Parents’ Weekend to celebrate Shelley’s legacy through the inauguration of the Glover Tech Center (GTC) – a cutting-edge facility dedicated exclusively to ski racing equipment preparation.

“The GTC represents all that we stand for at BMA, namely a relentless commitment to making sure our student-athletes have access to the best resources to attain their fullest potential,” said Willy Booker ‘96, Head of School. “Our high performance model makes it clear that in addition to striving for being at their fittest, having the most resilient minds, being guided by the best coaches and training on top hills, making sure our student-athletes have the best possible equipment is another of the essential pieces of the puzzle that supports their journey to excellence. It’s a true honor to be able to associate this exciting project with Shelley’s strong and positive legacy at BMA.”

Thanks to a major investment of approximately $250,000 and following the successful recent opening of the Ronnie Berlack Center (RBC) – BMA’s best-in-class indoor training – the academy was in a position to completely redesign its former athletic training space to create a new infrastructure dedicated exclusively to ski racing equipment preparation.

In addition to featuring individual ski lockers for each athlete as well an increased number of tuning benches equipped with safe, timer-operated electrical outlets thoughtfully hanging from the ceiling, one of the key highlights of the GTC is the Montana Saphir B Robot.

The Montana Saphir B is a dual feed automated stone grinder designed specifically for race services. With it, we’re able to fully customize our grinds and structure patterns to best meet the needs of BMA athletes. The quality and consistency of the Montana stones produce consistently clean grinds, allowing bases to better take wax and get up to speed quicker than standard recreational shop machines. The Saphir allows us to control all equipment variables, bringing consistency and precision to BMA athletes resulting in better performance.

“In a sport with so many variables, it’s important to control the few that we can.  The resources in the new Glover Tech Center bring world-class ski tuning in-house to BMA athletes.  We’re able to provide world-class tunes and new ski preps to our athletes to assure the highest level of quality and consistency,” said Steph Darling, GTC Director of Equipment and Tuning at BMA.  “It’s exciting to carry on Shelley’s legacy, growing up racing with Shelley, I look forward to carrying on the traits I remember most about her, her positive energy, work ethic and taking care of the little details.  It’s an honor to launch the BMA High Performance Equipment Initiative in the newly renovated GTC and I look forward to witnessing the growing success of our BMA athletes.  What an exciting time to be a Burkie!” added the experienced technician who has more than 20 years in the ski racing industry including a few seasons on the FIS Ski Cross World Cup and Jeep Tours, and current owner and operator of her own elite ski tuning business, RTuning.

REMEMBERING SHELLEY 

Shelley was born in Madison, Wisconsin. She raced at Tyrol Basin Ski Area before attending BMA from 1999 to 2003. In 2002, she joined the U.S. Ski Team’s development team. That year, she was the Eastern Junior Olympics giant slalom champion in addition to achieving several top-five finishes in international-level (FIS) races.

She passed away from injuries sustained in a ski training accident in 2004. Her legacy lives on through the Shelley Glover Foundation which seeks to increase access to athletic opportunities and competition, advocate for improved safety and injury prevention, improve the quality of life for children through participation in sports, and assist children in strengthening their physical and emotional health.

“One of my favorite photos of Shelley at Burke is her class picture,” told Rich Glover, Shelley’s father, to the BMA community members in attendance for the inauguration. “It’s a black and white photo.  She is standing dead center in the standing row, head up, looking ahead, with a big, joyous smile, with her arms out around the two women flanking her, embracing them, really embracing the whole class. Very happy. Very content.”

“When I see that photo I also see her embracing the idea of BMA and all of those who came before her.  Students, teachers, coaches.  All who have embraced, committed fully and made a contribution to this idea. I see her embracing all of you who are here now, and all who will come here in the future to follow your dreams here. I think she would be comfortable knowing that is what you all see and feel when you walk into this beautiful building,” concluded the rightfully proud dad.