The Week of Camps
Every once in a while, we CXC skiers step out of our position of athletes and assume the role of coach. This week has been filled almost entirely with coaching, and I’m gaining a new respect for the hard work that coaches put in on a day-to-day basis!
I started the week with a clinic for the Northland College & St Cloud State University “Endurance Camp” in Delta, Wisconsin. The camp has over 20 high school Nordic skiers and cross country runners training all week: running, rollerskiing, swimming, biking, & doing high ropes course adventures. I was only able to join the group for a morning, but we had a blast running ladders, holding jumping contests, playing balance games, and rollerskiing on the perfect asphalt on the Delta-Drummond Road. After a brief (albeit big) lunch, I bid adieu to the Northland Endurance Camp (thanks to Dave Beeksma for all his hard work organizing the camp!) & made the short trip down to Telemark for the CXC Birkie Junior Technique Camp.
This is the the 10th annual running of the camp and my fourth year being involved. It’s a great chance for middle school & high school skiers of all abilities to get out and get in some great summer technique work. We’re out on rollerskis twice a day for four days, but as difficult and boring as that may sound, it’s been a blast. It’s cool to watch as skiers get more comfortable on rollerskis & really push their limits and make big improvements. This afternoon we skied on Lake Owen Drive and ended the ski with a barbecue and some tubing on Lake Owen. Sweet.
Tomorrow is the last morning of the junior camp and on Friday the Masters Camp starts. I’m looking forward to that as well, but I don’t know how it’s going to be even half as much fun as the junior camp!
Tougher than Packer training camp!
