Summer Fun! 

So far this summer has had a ton of great practices with a ton of athletes showing their commitment to attending training throughout the summer.  Our attendance has been outstanding for most of our athletes this summer and it means that we have a lot of kids making big steps and getting good work in!   Our focus this summer has been on making practices as fun as possible and that has meant dodgeball warmups to strength, soccer juggling skills at Snow King, Bring Your Dog to Practice Day, swimming after a long double pole in the Snake River, rollerski basketball, and many other activities that bring us out of our normal routine.  For the rest of the summer we will continue to add fun activities like SUPing, playing golf, and running up in the beautiful mountains.  However, doing our normal routine is inherently fun as well.  Getting better at running, rollerskiing, and lifting in the gym is super fun and motivating, and to be challenging yourself with a team around supporting you is what it is all about.  Our long Friday workouts have been awesome so far with hikes up to the top of the Tram and a long double pole to Grand Teton National Park, with many more fun adventures on the way.

Another aspect of training that is fun is seeing your progress as you train and having the results of your hard work pay off.  A few weeks ago we held our first Test Week of the season where we have the athletes go through a standard sequence of tests that solve for specific skills that are important to nordic skiing.  We have athletes run a 3000m and uphill trail running time trials, they do a classic rollerski double pole time trial up Teton Pass to the Trail Creek Cabin, and they also do a strength test.  This year we saw tons of personal records set by athletes across all ages.  We also had some athletes do the tests for the first time ever - which is a great learning experience for next time.  This first test week is all about setting a baseline against which you can compare later in the training season.  Great job athletes!

Upcoming Events

In the next few weeks we will have a few summer camp opportunities for kids. Our middle school-aged athletes will head to Bozeman for the annual BSF Pro Team camp, which included tons of fun activities for kids including swimming in Hyalite Reservoir, scavenger hunts, games, and lots of nordic training. The team had a fantastic time there last summer and we are looking forward to another year there.  This year there will be over 30 athletes from all over the Intermountain Region and the kids are going to have an awesome opportunity to meet other kids who also participate in nordic.  

The Prep/Comp Team is planning on heading to Italy and Austria this Fall for a training camp with the Mals Sports School!  We are going to rollerski in the valleys, go running in the dolomites, experience some European culture, train with the locals, and potentially ski up on the Stelvio Glacier if conditions permit.  We are going to do some fundraising to help offset some of the costs to the athletes - we will keep you posted with ways that you can support our athletes! 

This Thursday (7/9) we are going to pitch in to help reduce the invasive weeds on Snow King!  This will help the Habitat Heroes program that the US Forest Service runs to help maintain habitat integrity in the Tetons.  The US Forest Service helps us train all over the mountains all year long including dryland practices, early season skiing on Togwotee Pass, and our trails that we groom on USFS land near the Old Pass Road at Trail Creek.  We will be pulling weeds from 8:30-10 AM at the base of Snow King - please bring some long sleeves and gloves and be ready to nip the weeds in the bud while they are not spreading seeds.