About Team Gilboa
A club, a hill, a family.
For more than 40 years, Team Gilboa has developed alpine ski racers in an environment that values high character, hard work, accountability, perseverance and leadership.
Our vision
Excellence and innovation in youth development.
Through alpine ski racing, we develop and inspire a community of young athletes who strive for excellence, compete with integrity, and pursue a lifelong love of skiing.
- Passion for skiing. The love of the sport brings out determination, perseverance and courage.
- Constant improvement. The drive to get better keeps athletes motivated, year after year.
- Strong community. Teammates who become lifelong friends.
Our history
Twelve kids, one hill, since 1978.
- 1978
Twelve athletes, one hill
Brad Giswold and Bob Smith start the Hyland Hills Alpine Racing Team in the fall of 1978, owned and managed by Hyland Hills Ski Area and the Hennepin County Park District.
- 1984
One hundred racers
Sixty athletes by the 1981-82 season, and 100 two years later. Results follow, in USSA Midwest and Central Division competition.
- 1985
Independent, and renamed
After the 1985 season, Hennepin Parks proposes that the team run itself. The board and coaches agree, and the newly independent 501(c)(3) takes the name of its hill: the Mt. Gilboa Alpine Racing Team, or Team Gilboa.
- 1990s
The Competition Center
A lease with Three Rivers brings the club its own building at the bottom of the hill, built and maintained by Team Gilboa. It is still where athletes, coaches, parents and grandparents gather to watch.
- 2006
An Olympian from Hyland
Alumna Kaylin Richardson races in the Olympic Games in 2006 and again in 2010.
- 2015
Top 30 in the nation
USSA certifies Team Gilboa as one of the top 30 ski clubs in the country. An elite FIS program follows in 2016.
- 2020
A High Performance Center
Gold certified by U.S. Ski and Snowboard, one of only 22 Gold clubs in the nation as of the 2019-20 season, and designated a High Performance Center in 2020.
- 2022
A record at U18 Nationals
Six athletes reach U18 Nationals, the most in club history. Only Vail and Steamboat qualified more from the Rocky/Central region.
- Today
450 athletes
175+ in US Ski programs and 250+ in Jr. Race, three managing directors, full-time professional coaches and a volunteer board.
The name
Why Gilboa.
When the team became independent, the board and coaches needed a new name. They looked no further than the hill served by the south chairlift.
That hill is the highest natural point of land in Hennepin County. Some time ago it was given the name Mt. Gilboa, after a mountain in Israel that appears in the Old Testament. The new name was rooted in both geography and history.
The builders
Coaches who raised the bar.
The founders
Brad Giswold and Bob Smith started the team in 1978. Through the 1980s, Coach Giswold, Mark Conway and others raised the funds for new technology and a growing travel schedule.
Niel Atkinson
A Bloomington athlete who raced and then coached with an intense, driven style. He took the program to a new level: international races, national successes, regional wins and state high school titles.
Those who followed
Many strong leaders followed Niel's example, including Andrew and Polly Robar, Dave Samuels and George Balch, building the premier program families know today.
We are not only developing great skiers but raising great people.
Beyond the club
Good for skiing in Minnesota.
Our athletes race US Ski, junior and high school events, bringing national-level competition into Minnesota schools and communities.
200 + new racers a year
Jr. Race introduces more than 200 aspiring racers ages 6 to 13 to the sport each year.
Most at the state high school meet
Team Gilboa sends more athletes to the Minnesota State High School Championships than any other program in the state, per the 2021-22 annual report.
94 fourth and fifth graders on skis
Of 95 Bancroft Elementary students, 94 came to Hyland to try downhill skiing at the club's 2021-22 school ski day.
Alumna
Kaylin Richardson started here.
A former US Ski Team and Olympic competitor, Kaylin began her career in Team Gilboa's Jr. Race program.
A former US Ski Team and Olympic competitor, Kaylin began her career in Team Gilboa's Jr. Race program.
- 2006, 2010: Olympic Games, 17th in the combined both times
- 2007-09: "A" Team, US Alpine Ski Team, 2007-08 and 2008-09
- 2009: US National Downhill Champion
- 2007: US National Downhill and Combined Champion
- 2007: World Championships team member: team event slalom, 2nd place; super combined, 12th
- 2006: US National Slalom Champion; US National Downhill bronze medal
- 2005: Nor-Am Slalom Co-Champion
- 2004: Europa Cup Giant Slalom Champion; Nor-Am Slalom Champion; Swiss Junior National Slalom Champion
- 2003: Nor-Am Slalom Champion
Diversity, equity and inclusion
A club where everyone belongs.
Developing youth into responsible, hard working and caring members of the community is at the heart of Team Gilboa's mission. Through our core values of passion for skiing, strong community and constant improvement, we inspire our athletes, coaches and parents to evaluate our role in being a socially responsible organization. Just as passion for skiing requires tireless effort, self-reflection and partnership with others, we recognize the same is necessary to be an organization that prioritizes diversity, equity and inclusion.
Our emphasis on strong community acknowledges that a community thrives when its members feel included and are treated with dignity and respect. Constant improvement guides our understanding that we will evolve and grow if we are always open to learning. Team Gilboa aspires to be a club that embraces and advances the importance of all these values within the sport of ski racing.
Be part of it
The next chapter is yours.
Support the club at the Swap: Friday, October 23, 2026, Hyland Hills