Junior & Development Teams Start Training!
While the older JHSC Nordic athletes have been training all summer, we start dryland training with the younger athletes through the Fall. This is to encourage participation in other sports through the schools in the Fall and also to allow for some rest and time to be kids! However, once we start back with practice we have a lot going on! This year we have a massive crew of middle school-aged Juniors who are tearing it up! The group spans the range from first time skiers to experienced athletes who have been in the program for a long time! We have had a big group of athletes join the Junior Team from the Ositos program this year, and we have been working with Coombs Outdoors to support continued participation in nordic for everyone. A huge highlight for all the athletes and the coaches is the rollerski practices that we do with the group. We start out with simple exercises and continue with agility practices and distance skiing. JHSC provides rollerskis for all athletes on the team at no cost to families so that they can start working on their ski skills earlier in the season. All the new athletes have picked up the sport really fast and are on their way to being a great part of the team! In addition to the many new participants in nordic this year, we also have a big group of older Junior skiers who have been in the program for many years who are lighting up the trails! Junior Hybrid practices are an opportunity for athletes to join the older athletes on the Prep/Comp team and work on their skills. These older Juniors have been doing great at rollerski technique and distance practices throughout the Fall and are a great contribution to the team! Maestro George was also very proud of all the athlete's performances on the annual High School Butte running time trial, where multiple athletes broke the all time Junior Team record!
The Development Team also just had their first week of practice starting on October 28th! These are our 4th and 5th grade athletes who are getting their introduction to Dryland Training, which consists of running, games, fun activities, scavenger hunts, and some simple body weight strength exercises. Dryland is a great opportunity for the team to bond and get on the same page before the snow falls and they are out at Trail Creek! It is fantastic to see all three teams (Devos, Juniors, Prep/Comp) out at the Middle School training on Mondays and Wednesdays in the Fall!
Schutzenski Festival & NTG Camp
October is typically the last big month of training for most nordic athletes before the ski season starts in November and the training volume tapers off. As part of our last big training block of the summer we support a trip to Park City, UT to attend the Schutzenski Rollerski Festival! The US Ski Team holds an annual camp for the entire national team as well as all the pro athletes in the USA to train together in the first two weeks of October and it is one of the only times where the entire pro ski community is together in one place. The National Training Group is composed of the best junior skiers in the country, and there is also a simultaneous camp where the NTG trains together with the US Ski Team in Park City. JHSC athlete Lena Poduska was invited to the NTG camp and put in lots of hours under the watchful eye of US Ski Team coaches, along with alumni Lucas Wilmot and Elijah Weenig!
JHSC piggybacks off all this big nordic energy by going to the Schutzenski Festival every year, which is a series of rollerski races at Soldier Hollow where all of the athletes in these many training groups all race against each other. As an added bonus JHSC got to participate in a skate rollerski agility session with the entire men's national team! This year JHSC brought a great group of six athletes and had some fantastic performances! It was the first rollerski races for some of the skiers, while others had rollerskied at Soldier Hollow many times before. As an added bonus JHSC got to participate in a skate rollerski agility session with the entire men's national team, which was an extra special experience for all of the Jackson Hole athletes! Everybody had fantastic races and much fun was had, but some standout results included Sam Hutchinson's 3rd place U18 result in the Classic 10k distance race and Nate Streubel's 2nd place in the Junior Skate Sprint! While rollerski results should always be taken with a grain of salt, being in the mix is a fantastic sign for the winter ahead!
USST Coach Whitcomb comes to JHSC
Also happening in October, we had a great guest appearance at nordic training! Matt Whitcomb is the Head Coach of the US Cross Country Ski Team and just happened to be on a fishing trip in Jackson Hole the week after he wrapped up Park City USST camp! Matt was gracious enough to help out with our Prep/Comp practice and teach a classic technique session for Jackson Hole athletes that was super valuable! Both athletes and coaches learned a lot from Whitcomb, one of the big forces behind the resurgence of US Skiing in the last decade. Thanks so much Matt!
Looking Ahead to November...
...in the coming month we are focusing on finding snow! The month of November is all about getting back in the swing of things and finding early snow! We have already started to get some snow at Trail Creek and we are crossing our fingers and hoping for more! Coming up at the end of the month we have our annual Turpin Meadows Ranch Thanksgiving on-snow camp, where TMR opens up the lodge for our exclusive use and we groom the trails and roads all around the area! Camp is scheduled for November 22-30, and we are hoping for a big dump so we can ski right out the door! After a snowy Halloween pumpkin carving practice we are all stoked up for the white stuff!
After Thanksgiving Camp we have a short break before our big home races of the year, the IMD Opener / Betty Woolsey Classic on December 13-15! This will be a huge event that will combine high-level junior racing with Wyoming High School and Citizens events! Mark it on your calendars and make sure to be there...
