Summer Training in Full Swing!
The JHSC Nordic summer programs are back and as big as ever! We have seen huge participation from both our Prep Team (9-10th Grade) and Junior Team (6th-8th Grade) athletes this year, and we have a really strong group of kids coming up through the teams. With 12 middle school athletes signed up so far and many attending regularly, our summer Junior practices have had awesome energy. For many kids it has been their first time on rollerskis, and in some cases we have had kids who are new to skiing altogether! Seeing the rate of progress at the younger ages has been inspiring, it is unbelievable how quickly kids learn at that age. We have been working on glide, balance, and fundamental body position in both V1 and V2 and we have been seeing great improvements. We even did their first set of intervals today at the Fish Hatchery, and everyone crushed it! Hopefully this is a great foundation that these kids will build on in the months and years to come.
Our Prep and Comp Teams have also been hard at work training and getting in shape this summer. Since the end of school we have already completed one Test Week where the athletes have established their baselines and laid down benchmarks against which they can see their growth throughout the season. Test week consists of a 300m running time trial on the track, a double pole time trial from the Stagecoach to Trail Creek, a bodyweight strength test, and an uphill trail running TT on the Hagen trail. We saw many personal bests and tons of improvement from returning athletes, which is great to see. We saw tons of grit, determination, and effort from all participants which is our main goal. As long as people show effort and commitment we are very happy coaches!
The Prep and Comp teams have been having a ton of fun outside of the hard time trial efforts as our summer training has ramped up. We have been lifting weights, playing lots of Ultimate Frisbee, going on long adventure runs in the Tetons, rollerskiing all over the pathway network around town, and pushing ourselves bounding on Snow King. Last Friday the Prep/Comp Team went on our annual excursion up to the top of the Tram at Teton Village, always a favorite with the reward of waffles at the top and a chill ride down the lifts to finish it out. These kids seem to be getting faster and stronger every year - the hike took way shorter than years past and everyone was cruising. Stoked for the rest of the summer and some strong training ahead!
Bozeman Junior Camp
This summer we are running our first ever summer camp for the middle school-aged Junior Team! We are taking advantage of a U14/U16 camp that the Bridger Ski Foundation's Pro Team is running in Bozeman the third week of July. This will be an awesome camp for the Junior Team and younger Prep Team athletes where they will learn about training, nutrition, technique, and have tons of fun! For our skiers who are starting to be more interested in summer training and the nordic lifestyle, this is a great stepping stone to getting more confident and stoked on the training offered at the older level. George Cartwright, the Junior Team Head Coach, will drive a van up to Bozeman and assist with coaching along with the professional skiers on the BSF Pro Team, which will also provide a professional development opportunity for our coaching staff as well. We can't wait to hear back from these athletes about how the camp goes and what kind of new things they learn from new coaches in a new environment!
