Mount Washington

Yes, it’s true! Mount Washington is opening this Saturday. The word from the Mount Washington folks is that all nordic trails, except for Lake Trail, will be groomed and ready this weekend. The forecast is for rain on Wednesday, but there already seems to be a terrific snow base — and more snow in the forecast for later in the week. It’s going to be a good year for skiing!

Membership

There is still a little time remaining to cash in on Earlybird prices for Strathcona Nordic Ski Club (SNSC) programs.You can register online at Zone4. Earlybird prices are in effect until Monday, November 30.

Racing Camp

This weekend Coach Dave is holding a training camp for all Strathcona Nordics racers. Your race program fees cover the cost of the camp. Meet this Saturday, November 28th and Sunday, November 29th at Raven Lodge. Participants will need both Classic and Skate gear both days. Morning workouts start at 9:00 am and afternoon sessions will start at 1:00 pm. Please bring food and fluids for approx 3 to 3.5 hrs of skiing.  You need to be registered with SNSC for this 2009/10 season and have your Mt Washington trail pass.

Coaching

There is still time to get in on the great coaching courses that SNSC is offering! Scroll down to the flyer below.

Devo

We had a fine ski into Paradise Meadows on Sunday. Some very deep snow to climb around in and some great wipeouts! Wednesday we will be in the gym in Courtenay for our workout 4:00-5:20pm. Saturday and Sunday we will start our ski practices on the tracks with the mountain open. We will ski 10am-12 . Please be there a few minutes early so we can get organized and get out promptly. Make sure you have your ski pass all ready to go. As always please have both sets of equipment with you and we will do whichever technique will be best that day – based on snow and weather conditions. Tentatively we will plan to do Classic both days this weekend.

Club Clothing

We are putting together an order for SNSC clothing for any members who are interested. The clothes are from Louis Garneau, and the following items are available:

• Lycra Jerseys – very comfortable $68
• Neo-Pro Jackets – have wind and wet resistant front panel and breathable back panel with 3 back pockets. $78
• Lycra Tights - VERY comfortable $40

The jacket and jersey are imprinted with the colorful “sun rising” graphic .

Adult Sizes XS to XXL are available. The smallest adult sizes will work for many kids.

A sizing kit is available for you to try on.

Fitting times:

* Wednesday Nov 25 – 5-6pm - Valley View School in Courtenay

* Thursday Nov 26 – 5-6pm – Courtenay Physiotherapy Clinic – 389 12th St 

If you are unable to come at any of these times please email sueblox@live.com  to set up a time to try the items on. We should get the order out by November 27th, so we may get the clothing before Christmas. Thank you.

Members Mo’vember

Many of you in the club know Eddy Betinol and know about the time, energy, and expertise that he’s shared with our racing teams. Now Eddy is sharing time, energy, and all of his hair with Movember – Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.  He’ll be donating his long locks to charity, and the highest donation to the Cancer Society will give someone the opportunity to shave Eddy’s long locks. Check him out shaveeddyshead.

Here is an updated news flyer from our Head Hare:

Membership

With the snow piling up on Mt Washington, it looks like it will be a good year for skiing! Register now to take advantage of Earlybird pricing for Strathcona Nordics programs. Earlybird registration ends November 30. Visit Zone 4 to register.

Club Clothing 

We are putting together an order for clothing for any club members who are interested. It is from Louis Garneau and the following items are available: Jerseys $62.75 Jackets $72.45 Tights $34.58 plus tax and shipping. We have to order at least 10 -12 of each item. The printing will be the same as last time – the sun rising. We will only  get adult sizes but the smallest sizes should work for older kids. 

A sizing kit is available for you to try on. If you are interested please email sueblox@live.com to set up a time for you to come and try the stuff on. We should get the order out by the end of next week November 27th, so we can hopefully get the clothing before Christmas. Thank you. 

Rabbits

The registration deadline for Earlybird rates is fast approaching on Monday, Nov 30.  As the Rabbit Program requires a very large number of volunteers, volunteer opportunities are listed in detail on the Rabbit Volunteer Opportunity Pages.  You can view the pages through the Rabbit Icon on the club website. View and read descriptions in the sidebar about all the great and varied roles to support your child’s program before you register.  Feel free to chose more than one option. There are many positions to fill.

The Saturday program is  still looking for one more person who would be interested in coaching at the Bunny level (age 4-5) on Saturdays.  If you are interested, please contact Laura Johnston at dl_johnston@shaw.ca regarding the 10 hr coaching course on Sat. Dec 5 & Sun Dec 6.

Thank you to all the future Rabbit coaches for responding to the call for coaches this year, who will be taking two coaching courses next month, Dec 5 & 6 and Dec 18-20.   As well, a special thank you to the returning coaches whose experience is so important for our program.  Your commitment of time for both the courses and the planning and instructing of the sessions is much appreciated.  

Mark your calendars for another fantastic Coaching Refresher Course with Head Coach Dave Battison on Sunday Dec 27.  No matter what level you will be coaching, from Bunny to Level 4, you will benefit greatly from this opportunity to improve your classic and skating skill progressions.

Junior Racer Fundraisers

The Junior Racers raised over $600 last week with their Wreath Fundraiser. The money goes toward their trip to Whitehorse for the National Championships in March. Thanks to everyone who supported the team by ordering a wreath and cedar rope! The Racers are taking orders for those beautiful wreaths ($25) and 18-foot cedar ropes ($10) for another week. Contact the Junior Racer nearest you, or contact Barb 250-339-1904/kelmeck@shaw.ca to place an order.

Videos

There are some new videos on our “Ski Tips with Coach Dave” page. The videos are a 3-part series that focuses on nordic skis:

Part 1 – “About Nordic Skis”

Part 2 – “Height, Weight, & Camber”

Part 3 – “Type of Skiing & Review”

Depending on your internet speed, you may need to wait a moment for the videos to load after selecting them. We hope you enjoy them.

Rabbits
Note: The Rabbit Tournament date has been changed.  The Tourney will now be held on the very last day of Rabbits, Sunday March 21st, for all Saturday and Sunday Rabbit participants.

Earlybird registration for Rabbits ends November 30.  Final registration deadline is Dec 31.  Check out the Volunteer Opportunity Pages for the “first come-first choice” chance to select your volunteer support role for your child’s program at http://www3.telus.net/public/guimonde/RabbitProgramOpportunities.html, through the Rabbit icon link on our club website, or, when you register, through a link in Zone 4. 

We are in desperate need of new coaches this year.  We need at least 7 more people to contact Laura Johnston at dl_johnston@shaw.ca by November 23 to indicate their interest in supporting the Rabbits program this year. You can prepare for coaching by taking the Introduction to Community Coaching course on Saturday Dec 5 (7 hrs) and Sunday Dec 6 (3hrs). You can also take the Level 1 Community Coaching course (16 hrs) on the evening of Friday Dec 18, and all day Saturday Dec 19 and Sunday December 20.  Parents, please consider coaching this year.  A high level of skill is not required, only enthusiasm, as there could be opportunities to pair you with a more experienced coach for mentoring, or co-coaching with another first year coach.  
Thank you,
Laura Johnston
Rabbits SDP Coordinator

Coaching
Note: The Community Coaching Course will now take place on Dec 18-20 — instead of Jan 1 -3. 

Membership

The snow is piling up on Mount Washington! Remember to register before November 30th to take advantage of Earlybird registration prices for programs on http://www.zone4.ca/reghome.asp. 

Ski Swap

A big thank you to all the people who helped with the Strathcona Nordics ski swap. We made about $1400! Special thanks to Georgina Price for helping out AND dealing with the financial side – a big job, Rupert Wong for driving all the way up and back to Mount Washington to get the ski racks, Andrea Stapff, Emily Holmes and Sarah Vandermale for making the chilli, Kathy Letang and Ginger for doing the food, Rob Grantham for getting us the School, opening up etc. and all the people who helped with selling, tagging , advising etc. Also thanks to Juniors and Devos for bringing baking, and Ron Jackson for bringing all that gear and helping us make a profit.

Paranordic Equipment needed

 We are looking for skis and poles for the sit skis. Does any one have any good quality poles that they can’t use because one is broken but which would be long enough for sit skiing? We also need some skis – they should be a fast waxable ski between 187-192cm. Does anyone have any thing like this that they would like to donate?  We have bindings so  skis without bindings would work.

Paranordic opportunities

This year we are hoping that more people will take advantage of the sit skis that SNSC purchased last year. Please spread the word to groups or individuals that this opportunity is available. People wanting to try sit skiing for the first time can go out with VISAS until they are confident to go on thir own or with a friend or family.

Vancouver Island Society for Adaptive Snow Sports (VISAS) 

VISAS is looking for volunteer instructors to ski with people with disabilities. This involves a 1 day a week commitment during the season. Volunteering with VISAS is a rewarding experience – it can include assisting someone on a sit ski or teaching and encouraging kids from the school program who have special needs. Many people can benefit from the program. You need to be a confident skier with plenty of enthusiasm, the rest you can learn on the job. Volunteering will get you up the mountain and you will also have time to ski on your own. VISAS volunteers have volunteer status on the mountain. For more information visit www.visasweb.ca or email Sue Bloxsome sueblox@live.com THere will also be a recruitment meeting in mid November – watch the Echo or the website for more details.

Junior Racers Fundraising

The Junior Racing Team is working hard at both training and fundraising to get to the Nationals in Whitehorse. Last Saturday, they raised $481 in 4 hours with their bottle drive. Good work team! This Friday and Saturday, you can find them in the Comox Mall. They’ll be taking orders for wreaths ($25) and 18-foot cedar garlands ($10). Go team!

Weekly Update

We hope you are still enjoying your newsletter even though it’s in plain type. There will be a new set up coming soon. Keep snow dancing –  it’s working!    

Just released:

The Role of Monitoring Growth in Long-Term Athlete Development

The Role of Monitoring Growth in Long-Term Athlete Development is a guidebook that was developed for the purpose of educating the public on the implications of growth and maturation on training, competition and recovery programs for developing athletes. Hard copies are not available.

This document is now available as a PDF in English & French by clicking on the links below.

English

French

Club AGM and Ski Swap another success!

This past weekend we held our AGM and Ski Swap at Queneesh Elementary school, and thanks must go to Sue Bloxsome and to all of the others who helped organize this annual kick-off to the season.  We had a solid turnout to the AGM, which went smoothly, and we welcome to the board several new Directors:

* Laura Johnston:  Director of Skill Development Programs
* Andrea Prager:  Director of Membership
* Barb Kelly:  Director of Communications
* Andrew Pape-Salmon:  Director of Recreational Skier Development Programs
* Doug Herchmer:  Director of Coaching Coordination
* Brian “The Man” Vandermale:  Director At Large

Our many thanks and best wishes go out to Val Wootton (Communications), Don Chamberlain (Skill Development Programs) and Karin Koons (Membership), all of whom are moving on after a number of years on the board.  It is the commitment and skill of volunteers such as these who keep our club active
and viable.

We are approaching a busy time as registration begins through Zone 4, coaching courses take place and skiers are checking over their gear for the coming season.  It won’t be long until the occasional dusting turns
into real accumulation and we can get on the snow….

Thanks to everyone who helped make last weekend a real success,

Rob Grantham
Club Veep

Rabbits

The Rabbits program still needs seven more coaches to run the program. There is a lot of support available for coaches. The first coaching clinic is November 13ˆ15. Contact Laura dl_johnston@shaw.ca to register or to find out more.
 

Membership

Registration is open for membership and programs on Zone4 Register before November 30 to take advantage of Earlybird prices. Remember to select a volunteer role. Rabbit parents/guardians can go to the Volunteer Rabbit button on the website to select Rabbit volunteer roles.

Fundraisers

The Junior Race Team is holding a bottle drive on Saturday morning November 7th from 9:30 to 12:30. Dig out your returnable cans and bottles and bring them to 632 12th Street in Courtenay. Proceeds are in support of the Junior Race Team Trek to the Ski Nationals in Whitehorse in March.

You can prepare for the holidays by ordering a nice wreath and cedar rope from a Junior Racer ($25/wreath, $10/cedar rope). Get your order in by November 14, and receive your wreath & rope ready to hang on November 28.

Call Barb for more details 250-339-1904.