RUMFORD — Black Mountain of Maine will be significantly expanding its junior alpine skiing program for the 2011-12 ski season, officials said.

Three nationally and internationally distinguished members, Mark Thibodeau, Julie Parisien and Tim LaVallee, are being added to the program, Tanya Nichols of Black Mountain said.

“The addition of these three alpine ski luminaries will provide an unbelievable opportunity for Black Mountain, our youth programs, and all the people who ski at Black Mountain,” Roger Arsenault, chairman of the Black Mountain board of directors, said.

Thibodeau will serve as alpine program director. He is a USSA Level One coach and a USSA official, Nichols said.

Thibodeau served the past nine years as race program director at Mt. Abram Ski Resort. Before that, he coached Leavitt Area High School alpine ski team in Turner for 12 years. During that time, his team won four state championships and he was named Maine Ski Coach of the Year in 2002.

One of Thibodeau’s greatest achievements was introducing a unique and very successful five-event high school race series, which typically drew 150 competitors on any given Friday night, Nichols said.

Parisien will be joining the program as a coach. She grew up in Auburn and began skiing at Lost Valley Ski Area at the age of 2. From an early age she aspired to be a world class skier and moved to the famed alpine skiers training school, Vermont’s Burke Academy, during her high school years to accelerate her skiing development.

In 1989, during her second year at Burke, Parisien finished fourth in the Super G at the National alpine Championship. One year later, she had victories in the NorAms and a gold medal in combined at the U.S. Nationals.

Her greatest breakthrough win as a 19-year-old alpine skier was at the World Cup in Waterville Valley, N.H., where she won the grand slalom, winning the first World Cup for the U.S. in more than four years.

Parisien’s successes earned her a spot on the 1992 Olympic alpine Ski Team, and she was considered to be the favorite to win the U.S. a medal in those games. Sadly, ski training injuries hampered her performance in the Olympics, yet she still finished fourth in the Slalom and fifth in the Grand Slalom.

She rebounded from her injuries the next year by winning the World Cup Final Slalom and earning her the World’s Number 1 ranking.

Further successes, of Parisien included winning the World Cup Slalom in the 1993-1994 ski season, a silver medal in the World Championships and a second Combined national title.

From  1994 to 1997,  Parisien entered and dominated the U.S. Pro Ski Tour. She took a break from her pro-tour skiing in 1998  to compete in the 1998 Winter Olympics on the U.S. Ski Team. She finished 13th in the Giant Slalom in the 1998 Olympics.

Since retiring from the U.S. team, she finished school and nurse training, began a family and has continued  to stay involved in skiing as a coach at Lost Valley and being involved with Maine’s Winter Kids program.

LaVallee joins the Black Mountain alpine ski program with a long and distinguished history as a skier and coach. A native of Winthrop, he led Telstar Regional High School in Bethel to four state championships and one New England championship, as well as Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School to one state championship. While in college, LaVallee was a four-year alpine skiing standout and captain for two years.

LaVallee’s coaching experience includes successful stints at the high school level at Gould Academy in Bethel and at Oxford Hills in Paris, and at Bates College in Lewiston and the University of Colorado.

He has also served as a coach with the U.S. Ski Team in Park City, Utah, and as an executive director of the U.S. Ski Coaches Association.

“A more perfect program could not have been pulled together that will bring high level coaching, sportsmanship, work ethic and an affordable program to Black Mountain,” Arsenault said.

“This program has all the elements of making an already successful program even greater,” he said. “This has been a dream of Black Mountain for as long as I can remember.”

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