XC Junior Race Team: February Update

"Patience, Patience, Patience..."

by Head Coach Paul Smith.

A typical season for many cross country ski athletes no matter what level they may be at has many highs and lows. Periods of illness or bad results get mixed in with good results and positive moments. Weathering the tough times becomes easier when there is a step-by-step plan and each athlete is aiming for a sense of mastery before going to the next step This is to ensure that the bar is never lowered. Race results, though not diminished entirely, are not the only explanation for everything. The other important piece that helps in an undulating race season is having the support and fellowship from the team that pulls everyone together

For the junior race team, alongside the nordic combined and biathlon teams, there are many moments where everyone has been in full support of each other and it has been amazing. I can think of specific moments in the past month - Whether it was racing at 0F, Intensity training in the pouring rain, the coach screwing the wax “hey stop doing that!” - where certain individuals picked up the group.

Long-term development in a tough sport like cross country skiing of course requires patience Specific workouts require patience to get the most out of them, and even the racing itself requires absolute patience in order to be in a good place and find the right door when it opens Sophia K ' s recent podium at Eastern Cup Finals was a shining example of what it means to be patient both in the moment of racing and also long-term in the training leading up to it Daven L , our athlete of the month nomination, has been applying patience this entire season as he starts to check off the boxes and ascend the ladder very fast Leo H entered his first Eastern Cup competition this past week and showed extraordinary patience in order to take away many lessons from the experience. For the team in general the hits in the results have