One of the handicaps of taking part in a winter sport is the fact that it takes place in Winter! During winter, particularly around High Schools there always seems to be various sicknesses going around. This article goes through a number of things that you should consider if you want to stay healthy this nordic ski season.
We need everyone to stay healthy to keep the team competitive.
There is some chance that the start time of the Sugar Bowl Race on Friday 15 Jan may be pushed back one hour. We still plan to leave NU at 7:30 am so be at the Box by 7:15 am. We have limited ski transport space so you will just take your skate skis and poles (with the exception of a couple of athletes). When you get to the Box take care of this by pulling your ski bag getting out your skate gear (rubber banded of course) and put your bag back in the box.
Unless you have already handed in a waiver you must bring a signed waiver tomorrow. As of this morning only Claire, McKenna, Tynan, Garrett, Wyatt, Delphine, Jen, Katie, Savanna, Grace and Erika had handed in waivers. At waxing this afternoon I handed out blank forms. Bring them tomorrow. There are PDFs of the form under the “Event” menu on this web page. No waiver – No race.
It is way to late in the season for me to remind you about signing up on Doodle. I know of a couple of people who think they are going tomorrow who are not signed up. I am tired of nagging. Anyone who is not signed up is at the bottom of the priority list regardless of how many practices they have been to or how many times their parents have driven. This is taking too much of my time! If you sign up you must press the SAVE button on the Desktop interface or the UPDATE button on the smart phone interface. It is your responsibility to check the Doodle listings to make sure you registered – I will no longer mention this. I assume that Doodle list is accurate.
We will be based in the Village Hall at Sugar Bowl. Absolutely no skis in the building. Leave your skis on the racks outside. Park in the lower lot off the Mt Judah access road just above the Sugar Bowl Academy.
Very few people have signed up for practice Sunday. There is a Biathlon Race at ASC on Sunday morning so we will have limited access to the close trails. We will probably go one hour earlier (depart NU at 8am) so that we can get out of the stadium before the race starts at 10am. The Crater Lake Trail is now open as well as more km in the Black Hole. We will have an easy days practice and hopefully be back before 2pm. On Monday (school holiday) there is a Junior National Qualifier Race at Tahoe Donner Cross Country. For any of you who want to make up a race this is a good opportunity. There are various distances available. For Juniors the registration fee is $20 (by Sunday) which includes lunch and a raffle entry. The JNQ distances are 5Km for U16, 10 Km for U18 and U20. Talk to the coach if you are interested. If you are not trying to qualify there is a 5Km Novice distance available.
Derek
On-Snow Practice for Wednesday 6 Jan has been cancelled. If you have any equipment issues come to B-3 after school. Waxing in B-3 Thursday as planned. Athletes using no-wax skis should be there promptly after school. Those using grip wax should be there at 4 pm.
I have been encouraging team members to watch videos of good skiers. There are lots of videos of full length race videos from Eurosport on Youtube. Go to youtube.com and search for “skiing vinnie”. The order that comes up is a bit random so I have collected the links for this season in the order that the races were run. Watch them and learn about ski racing.