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In November we decided to take a small team to US Nationals in Craftsbury, Vermont. This is the race where skiers qualify for World Cup, World Junior, and other teams. It's a big deal!
We only had 4 athletes ready for this event so we asked our high school associates if they knew someone who would benefit and be excited to join us. Thus Nathan became part of our team for this exciting adventure! The racing at this level on these trails is adventure enough but we had additional challenges as we were laid over in Chicago for 24 hours and didn't arrive at our rental house until 2:30am on the day of the first race! This is NOT a recipe for fast racing but our team went all jungle tiger and not only did we get everyone on the trails, on skis, but they actually RACED! It was awesome! In our push to get registered, bibs, feed, glide & kick wax on the skis, and the hundreds of other details that are necessary to get racers to the start line we didn't have time to baby our junior skier. In fact, other than getting his bib, skis, and feed we didn't really talk to him much. Nothing like being in a huge race, in a completely foreign environment, with athletes you don't really know to cause high levels of stress. If Nathan felt this huge stress we sure couldn't tell. He went through the process of his very first 15km, his very first feed, his very first chip timing, at his very first National Competition without even a slight waver. He skied and skied all week without showing any stress or weakness in any way. Three races with 100's of athletes later he was still standing and still smiling. Nathan never complained, whined, nor cried and I am here to say that this alone was a MAJOR accomplishment! Through it all Nathan skied his heart out, giving everything he had to every race! We all hope this young man will come to Laramie after his graduation and join the UW Team because he has got GRIT and he is a good skier! For being such an incredible Jungle Tiger and skiing fast in adverse conditions we want to award Nathan the Skier of the Week! You ROCK OUR WORLD!!!!
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The first race of the year is interesting. Most people are not quite firing and struggle with just getting through the race. Every once in awhile someone comes out firing and ready to race. That is what happened in the first two races in on December 15 &16.
Trevor had his best year of training ever and was super jazzed to get into the race season. Just the week before Trevor had trained HUGE hours over Thanksgiving Break and dominated the team time-trial. Now it was time to see where he was for the season. This first race isn't important for qualifying for Nationals nor anything else but it is a good place to get the motor running and see where you are in your training. Trevor had a fantastic weekend which started with a BANG! He skied well in the sprint qualifier placing 11th and getting into the rounds. After a great performance in the Quarterfinals he made it all the way to the 'B' final where he finally ran out of steam but finished strong and happy! Trevor crushed the USCSA racers in the field and set himself up as the man to beat for the season. The entire team was there to cheer him on through the entire process! After such a long and demanding round of sprints we thought Trevor would be super tired for the 5km the next morning but he came out ready to fight again. Although not quite as snappy as the previous race Trevor skied very well, taking the top place in the USCSA again and posting USSA points that would have been his 2nd best from all the previous season! Not a bad place to start your senior season. We also want to give Trevor this award for his incredible leadership of the team. As Team President of UW Nordic Trevor puts in extra time, energy, and emotion to make sure everyone has what they need, when they need it, and that they have a great time doing it! Trevor has lead the extremely young men's team forward and is teaching them what it means to be a UW Skier in ALL the ways! We are super proud of the way Trevor has stepped up his training but especially how he has stepped up his leadership of the UW Nordic Club. He is giving his best to all his passions and it shows! That is why Trevor is the first Skier of the Week! YOU ROCK OUR WORLD!!!! What a great weekend of racing! The first D-1 race for many of our young skiers and a great weekend for our women! Unfortunately we were waxing during the men's race for the women so didn't get any pics of them but they skied extremely well!
This is the training for this week. We will be switching things up a bit as we will start doing on-snow strength to try to transfer our upper body power to something super useful! We will be spending this week working on wellness, recovery, and technique!
 Showing off the US Nationals gifts and our fancy equipment vehicle. Welcome back to many of our college athletes and congrats to those who went to US Nationals!
This is the training for this week. We will be switching things up a bit as we will start doing on-snow strength to try to transfer our upper body power to something super useful! Week of 12/24
The Ripple Effect award is given to athletes whose actions have a positive effect on their coaches, teammates, perception of the team by the public or the University of Wyoming community Trevor for Ripple because he really set a precedent for Silas and I about how to approach our races, including warmup, cool down, changing base layers. Thanks for a great weekend! My ripple effect is ol Trev for drivin my skis around for me all the time! I’d like you give ripple effect to Ry, Trev, Ella, and Kat because they were fast to volunteer to drive people to the race when we didn’t have Clifford. I’d like to nominate Ella, Ben, and Bryan for the ripple effect for keeping cool heads and keeping each other warm when our stuff was stolen. * Coach will add to this group Kailee for using her smarts to find her phone and track down the car! I appreciated everyone staying for the last two rounds of the sprint! They could have driven their own cars back to Leadville, but instead they stood in the cold for another hour to watch.
 Beautiful day for a ski race! Just a few more finals and we're ready for a brain break!
Since most of our skiers are college and/or high school we will be backing off on the active practice over the Holiday Break. We will post a general training schedule soon. Be sure to check the race schedule at: http://uwnordic.weebly.com/calendar.htm The Elite Team races are in Red and the Competitive Team Races are in Green. It's going to be a fun season but it will move fast! Here are the team practices for the week:
We'll be posting the training for the rest of break soon! The Ripple Effect award is given to athletes whose actions have a positive effect on their coaches, teammates, perception of the team by the public or the University of Wyoming community I’d like to give Emily and Em Ripple effect points, because on Saturday even though they didn’t do the team sprints they still came up and found a spot on the course to cheer everyone on. I am nominating Kailee for a Ripple award this week for her incredible patience and artistic skills when they were most needed. I would like to nominate Sloan for the Ripple Effect Award this week. Usually Mama Watson spends most of her evening washing dishes but Sloan was helping through the entire stack of dishes! All with a smile! Maddy & Kailee stepped up on Saturday when someone wanted to deliver a coach to the storage units. We needed someone to run out there in a hurry and they both jumped in! This is wonderful outreach to the UW Community because the person is in administration. Thank you!
 Happy Holidays! ARE YOU READY TO ROCK!!!!
Our first real race of the season is here!!!! This is also finals week for our college teammates so training will be a little different this week. If you are a college athlete be sure to do whatever it is that will help your brain be on FIRE for those exams! Practice is completely optional this week so do what you need. Some of you will need a break and some activity and some of you will need extra sleep. You do you! Be sure to check the race schedule at: http://uwnordic.weebly.com/calendar.htm The Elite Team races are in Red and the Competitive Team Races are in Green. It's going to be a fun season but it will move fast! Here are the team practices for the week:
DRAGON SLAYAGE IMMINENT! The Ripple Effect award is given to athletes whose actions have a positive effect on their coaches, teammates, perception of the team by the public or the University of Wyoming community I would like to nominate Ella, Maddy and Ryley for ripple effect this week. Ella was a fantastic group leader for the clinic and gave me some great pointers on my technique. Maddy and Ryley took time to work with me, and did a really good job helping me with technique and were very encouraging while doing it! I would like to nominate Sydney for the ripple award. Every time I see her at practice she makes me feel so welcome and accepts me for who I am. She also makes me laugh every time I see her. I love her sense of humor! I also have been so inspired by her dedication and hard work to get back to feeling good and skiing fast!
Wo0Hoo we have made it to the best part of the season! Racing!!!!!
Be sure to check the race schedule at: http://uwnordic.weebly.com/calendar.htm The Elite Team races are in Red and the Competitive Team Races are in Green. It's going to be a fun season but it will move fast! For our college athletes this is the last week before finals so although you are busy remember that the best way to mitigate stress is to get outside and ski! Sometimes all you need is a break from the metal stress. Here are the team practices for the week:
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AuthorSNOW Collaborators post on a variety of topics and thoughts. We also post the weekly training for the team here. Want to contribute? Let us know! Archives
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