U14/U16 Bozeman Camp
A few weeks ago we offered our first ever summer camp for our Junior age group - rising 6th-9th graders. Building on the successful summer training group that we have grown over the last few years we brought a large group of 12 JHSC junior athletes to Bozeman, MT for a week of ski training with the BSF Pro Team! Coached by Maestro Jorge, Andy Newell, and the whole BSF Pro team, these athletes got incredible individualized instruction and had a ton of fun doing it! These kids did a variety of activities including rollerskiing technique and speed work, runs in the mountains, swimming in the lake, and strength and agility on foot. There were daily talks, fun activities, and team building exercises with the whole group. JHSC skiers made up the bulk of the crew but there were skiers from all over Intermountain in attendance, which was a great opportunity to make new friends. It is always good to be coached by other people and get to know other skiers from outside Jackson, and this camp was a huge success! The training was good but the quality of the dining hall food at MSU made all the athletes stoked and we will definitely be returning next summer!
4 JHSC Skiers at National U16 Camp
Every year the best 25 male and female nordic skiers of U16 age are invited to a training camp somewhere throughout the country as the first opportunity to interact with the US Ski Team. Last year the camp was hosted right here in Jackson Hole but this year the camp is in Cable, Wisconsin where Junior National Championships will be held next year. We had FOUR JHSC athletes qualify for the camp this year, the most we have ever sent. Walker Dunn, Jackson Mayer, Matthew Finkel, and Karsten Bessonette all traveled to the Midwest to take part and learn from coaches from the US Ski Team and throughout the country! Although smoke from Canada led to slightly less intense work than normal, they still worked on tons of technique on the rollerski track at the Birkie Trailhead. Most importantly they HAD TONS OF FUN and made friends from all over the USA. Making U16 Camp is a huge honor and we are stoked to be represented by so many JHSC skiers. NICE WORK!
Summer Training Keeps Rolling
Believe it or not...summer is almost at an end! We have been enjoying an unbelievable summer of training with lots of activity (and no smoke!). The Junior, Prep, and Comp Teams have all been hard at work developing their skills on rollerskis, their aerobic capacity on long workouts, their strength in the weight room, and moving fast on foot and rollerskis. Some of the highlights of the summer, as always, are the long runs in the mountains. We did the classic run/hike from Phillips up Mt. Glory to Ski Lake and back, and also added a new point to point on the valley trail from Granite to Jenny Lake! These kids are tough and they have been getting so much more efficient and strong throughout the summer. In July we had the fan favorite workout of the summer - Bring Your Dog to Practice Day! Although not the most rigorous session of the summer, it is definitely one of the most fun and the athletes absolutely love it. It is great to meet the great dogs that stand behind the great skiers, and to see the dogs meet each other!
These kids have been doing so many cool workouts including biking on the Elk Refuge Road, double poling up the road to Grand Targhee, running in the Park, bounding around Snow King, and rollerskiing all around the bike paths in town. Jackson Hole is truly a paradise for summer nordic training, we are all extremely lucky to live here and have the ability to spend so much time outside moving in so many different ways. In fact, this past week we have had visits from multiple other nordic club teams who are seeking the same amazing training that we get to have all the time! Both Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation and Tahoe Endurance traveled to Jackson Hole for training camps and we were able to collaborate with them. It is always great to hear different ideas, get coached by different people, and be inspired by a bigger group of athletes. We did some long double pole workouts together but the main highlight was a sprint simulation where we teamed up with both groups and had a ~40 person sprint race right here in Jackson Hole. We ran a royal court format where everyone raced a qualifier then got to ski three or four heats head-to-head and were always reshuffling to race against similarly paced competition. It was a super fun group of athletes that got to work together, thanks to our friends from Idaho and California for making the trip up here!
Devin Delaney Nutrition Presentation
We were also lucky enough to have Devin Delaney, a nutritionist who specializes in gut health and performance nutrition for athletes, to come speak to JHSC Nordic about proper nutrition and fueling for athletes. Devin is a fantastic resource as a former ski racer and nutrition expert, and she gave the nordic team specialized advice for our particular training schedule in the summer and fall! She taught us about power plates, the different macronutrients to consume before and after practice, and proper timing for nutrition and fueling. We are definitely going to get her involved again to speak about nutrition, which is such an important part of being adequately powered up to grow and train! Thanks Devin!
