Gentlemen's Club Quarterly, December 1999
Daily Local News

Join the CLUB

By JULIE T. GLANVILLE

Members of the Brandywine Valley Ski Association meet under the guise of a shared interest in Winter's most popular outdoor sport.

However, club members admit that an inordinate number of their meetings take place during happy hour get-togethers at the Bar & Restaurant in West Chester, or at backyard clambakes during the summer months.

According to its members, the friendships that have been established in this 20 something-year-old club have simply outgrown the confines of winter ski trips.

"It's a very social group - people with similar interests tend to enjoy each other's company", said Walt Meuser, vice president of the Brandywine Valley Ski Association. "There are a number of people involved in the club who don't even ski."

The ski club membership, which draws from Exton, West Chester, Coatesville, and down to Kennett, now reaches approximately 150 people, two-thirds of whom actually ski, said Meuser.

As one club of many making up the Eastern Pennsylvania Ski Council, the Brandywine Valley Ski Association offers its members discounted package deals for weekend and week-long ski trips every season.

The club's activity committee generally organizes two week-long trips to western ski resorts, one or two weekend or week-long bus trips to New England, and several weekend trips to nearby resorts in the Poconos. This year club members are going to Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Stowe Vermont among other resorts.

According to Meuser, one club member acts as the sponsor for each trip, attending free if a certain number of members buy tickets for the trip. The group packages mean price discounts for each member attending.

But don't be fooled. Discounts on plane and lift tickets is only one benefit to members. The Brandywine Valley Ski Association is definitely a social organization, and its members seem proud of that fact.

"This is a fairly small group compared to some of the others like the King of Prussia club," said Meuser, who has been involved with the club for 10 years now. "We're known as a fun, informal club."

Club members meet throughout the year for biking trips, sailing trips on the Chesapeake Bay, white-water rafting trips, and teams of members even compete in triathlon events.

And then some events are purely social. The activities committee coordinates "TGIF" happy hours, clambakes, Halloween and Christmas parties, Winery tours, and group excursions to Phillies games.

And each summer club members rent a 150 foot double-decker party yacht to participate in a "Nights of Venice" competition in Ocean City, NJ, in which about 300 some yachts compete in categories like size, theme, and decoration.

Jerry Cox enjoys a joke told by Marge Davies.

Even the ski trips are often predominantly social.

For example, Meuser pointed out that the bus rides to and from ski destinations are often as much fun as the resort stays themselves. Members serve wine and cheese, bring coolers of beer, and video tape members' antics.

In fact, it was on one such bus trip that married club members Jim and Joan Sorce first met.

According to Jim, it occurred 12 years ago on his first trip with the ski club.

"(Joan) said, 'Hey buddy, can you give me a hand with this cooler of beer?'" Jim said of their first meeting. "And I said to myself, 'Now, that's my kind of lady. You can sit right here next to me."

Jim had just moved to the Philadelphia area, he said, and had joined the ski club both to meet new people and to improve his skills on the slope. But he never imagined that the club would end up playing such a large part in his life. In 1992, he and his wife were married on a ski trip to Park City, Utah. And the club continues to feature largely in the couple's social life.

According to Joan Sorce, who serves on the club's activities committee, some 15 to 20 couples have gotten together after meeting through club events.

"It's hard to find people who have the same interests," she said. "'This is a real outlet for people. We all like to play - it's a very playful group."