1: General Programming update:
The ski season is approaching fast!
Our Provincial athletes are busy conditioning their bodies for the season!
Conditioning uses specific movements and activities that simulate the sport that the athlete is training for.
Alpine skiing at a high level requires conditioning to resist the power of our friend gravity. Without gravity we don’t slide down the hill, but sometimes when skiing we find we have too much of a good thing and our strength cant match the forces… and gravity wins.
We all want to be able to ski faster, ski steeper terrain, ski all snow conditions, ski all day, and get up and do it again tomorrow.
I separate conditioning into 3 simple parts:
1. Core strength. Our core is made up of the muscles all around our upper body including our back muscles. Even our glutes are part of our core! These muscles all work together to help us balance and stabilize when we encourage the gravitational forces (straightline! airtime!) and resist the forces (turning, braking). Try a 1 minute plank every day, try lying on your back and lift your legs all the way up while keeping them straight, try lying on your back and bend knees and move legs to one side then the other with your shoulders flat on the ground. Remind yourself to engage your core during your day. Washing dishes, sitting, opening the fridge.
2. Leg strength. This is where the power comes from. Squats in your full range of motion are great even without weight, wall sits for up to 5 minutes, lunge walks are my favorite! Try with hands on hips and core engaged!
3. Endurance. Each ski run can be a sprint but to repeat this all day requires cardiovascular fitness to efficiently move oxygen to your screaming muscles (anaerobic alactic anyone?) Running is a great November activity. What else can we do? A 5km run can take a half hour or less and if done a few times a week will allow you to squeeze in those December afternoon ski runs when there is no lift line because everyone else decided to “ski themselves into shape”.
2: Events:
The U14 and U16 athletes are getting excited to travel to Panorama to do a 4 day early season training camp at the end of the month. Panorama is open to teams only during November and our team will join teams from all over the world who are coming to the Kootenays for some of the worlds best training.
3. Current activities:
We are currently hiring coaches and need a few more! Are there any certified coaches in the parent group that would like to join our group of awesome coaches?
There will also be a coaching course in December to train and certify our new coaches. If you are interested in a new adventure then let me know!
4. Upcoming activities
It is meeting season! We are scheduling info session meetings for all age groups so that we are ready for the season. Provincial age group meetings will be next week and our Ski Team Open House meeting with information on the Shredders U6-U12 season will be the evening of November 24th. See you there!
5. Behind the scenes
I have been reflecting on last ski season with this Ski Team and it was a very difficult season for many reasons. Covid was only one of these challenges, there were other immense challenges that made managing everyday life in a pandemic seem like just a minor inconvenience. Last year it really became clear that this team is more about community and love and support than it is about anything else. It feels really good to be part of this team. Let’s all have a great season and celebrate the love of skiing together!
Love to you all,
Dylan