Although the season is just beginning, the TnT Nordic ski team is off to a strong start. Members of the team, which includes athletes from both South and Roosevelt, enjoyed a training trip to Michigan over the first weekend in December. 

Skiers on the trip spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Active Backwoods Retreat in Ironwood, Michigan. Coach Jon Furlow described it as a “pretty intensive two and a half days of skiing… [with] a lot of training, instruction and technique work and a lot of fun.” Athletes enjoyed skiing all day on open trails, as well as participating in a time trial on Sunday. 

The early-season trip was an invitational opportunity for varsity or near-varsity level skiers. South skier Liam Lamb explained that this can be helpful for the team’s more experienced members. “It’s nice,” he said, “for [the coaches] to be able to trust you to go out on your own, and be able to time yourself and know what you’re capable of doing.” Having fewer skiers on the trip means that athletes get more time with coaches and can focus on improving their skills. Lamb also described the varsity trip as “a nice goal to be able to get to.”

The trip provided a welcome break from skiing at Theodore Wirth Park, where the team typically practices. Wirth can often be crowded, especially early in the season when not all the trails are open. In contrast, Lamb said that at ABR, skiers are “really secluded into the woods, and it’s really nice to get back into skiing on [those trails]… there’s a bunch of different levels of hills and flats, and it gives you really good experience on a lot of different areas.” 

Skiers also got a chance to spend time both on and off the trails with their teammates, which Lamb said helped the team to bond. “You’re skiing with the people who you’re going to be skiing with for the rest of the year,” he said, “which is nice.” The environment also contributes to this aspect of the experience, since it’s much quieter than Wirth. “You can go out for a ski and be with the three people you’re skiing with and not see anybody,” said Lamb.

Both players and coaches see the trip as a jumping-off point for the rest of the season. The chance to do so much skiing early in the season helps skiers get a head start on developing or improving their skills; Lamb said that the trip “definitely helps as a kick-start to technique.” Athletes from South and Roosevelt have started racing and will continue after winter break, and are looking forward to a second trip for the entire team. Furlow is confident that the ABR trip, as well as the talent and dedication from skiers, will pay off, saying that “the future of the season looks very positive.”