Respectfully,
Kelsey Boyer

Many of the top skiers do participate in fall sports that last until early to late November. So even with a great summer of training, specific ski training often does not happen in the fall.

Results for Minnesota skiers peaked in the late 90′s after several years of long winters and have dropped with the lack of snow. While the numbers of skiers on the teams are pretty good, no one gets fast with the “just keep em happy” drills that often happen during snowless years. Adding a rule of “no travel” makes it a bit tougher to get in the proper training but we do have more and more artificial snow opportunities.

One thing we had in the 90′s was early snow in November that helped our new junior high skiers learn to ski. From 2001-2007 we had bad snow every year. The past two years we have had good early snow and we should see some better Junior National results this year.

As for Williams and Dehlin, they were in an Olympic Development program, training year round from age 16. Dehlin, trained very well and improved greatly as a hs senior going from a 34th ranking to 8th and making the Olympic team. She did not participate in any fall sports grades 10-12. Like Northug, she also was able to get in close to 12 hours of sleep and usually went to bet at 8:00PM.

Dispite the lack of results at the Junior level, Minnesota skiers do pretty well at NCAA’s, with several top 15 the past 10 years. Will the Minnesota skier help Midwest challenge for the Alaska Cup this year. Probably not, we have numbers but still lack the number of athletes training well enough.

In general though most High School skiers understand the amount of commitment it takes to become a top skier and have the reasonable opportunity to make it happen. There are very good club coaches who can train you year round (or at least a lot during the summer), and most skiers realize the way to higher level skiing (including college scholarships) is found by racing the JNs on the weekends. Concerning JNs, yes the Midwest region hasn’t dominated JNs like the large number of skiers in the state might suggest. But the reality is that JNs happen 3 weeks after the State Meet, where a lot of the skiers peak. But are JNs really the be-all end all of our Junior development in this country? (On a separate note, why is it called the “olympics” if they are just racing against the best in the US?) Also, a lot of Minnesota skiers do continue onto college skiing and beyond. Try and find a collegiate skiing program that doesn’t have at least one Minnesotan in its ranks? It’s tough. Finally, Why couldn’t Minnesota produce a Olympic champion? Dehlin, Williams, Kuzzy and Liebsch are all knocking on the door. What about Dubay, Diggins, Fagerstrom, or the next Freeman who we don’t even know about yet? All I’m saying is its possible. Anyone else excited about this season yet??

MN does have a great number of athletes, and many schools do have hs teams, but in reality the system is not set up for the top juniors to succeed at the highest levels. Considering how many hs skiers MN has, we consistantly do far worse than most other regions at JOs. There are a number of club programs, but they are mostly for the summer (with a few running into the fall), and then most skiers run CC and then participate on the hs team. There certainly are some skiers that can excel within the hs system (Lindsey Dehlin making the olympic team as a hs’er), but it is often a case of exceling dispite hs skiing and not because of it. It is a system that works great at producing a larger volume of skiers, many who go on the be life-long skiers (and the ski community certainly needs this), but it is not a system that will produce olympic champs.

Personally, I didn’t have the option to train separately from my high school ski program. I didn’t have any other way to get to good training venues. So I ran XC in the fall, and skied in the winter. I trained with my high school team, supplementing this training with bi-weekly club practices that took place in the evening. Weekends were devoted to travelling to race or train in Northern New England, where they have more snow and hills.

I am not so sure school and sports mix, necessarily.

I know of top level high school pupils (readying for European medical university by 17yo) who on in their spare time, training with family and team, made it to winning global sports world championships (like, oh, road cycling), senior level, while barely into univerity. Not one lesson in their sport taught in school, or the university of choice. And, not the kind of highschool where athletic results can compensate for adademic deficiencies.

School should perhaps not address sports “professionally”, as quick athletic development is actually potentially bad for a growing body. And, it’s a “profession”. Education first, school second. Let someone become an adult first, so we can trust it’s of own decision to spend so much time on a particular sport.

Where is the dividing line between 12yo (and under) girls training all day for gymnastics, barely getting educated otherwise, and a healthy, balanced and diverse high school training program? It sounds like those rules you are referencing may be attenting to draw just that line.
Now, who’s interest would these rules have in mind? Those of the national Olympic committee, the trainers, the parents, the athletes, the students, or the children?
You’ll notice there are some overlaps there, and that’s what makes this such complicated matter, I suppose.

In my country, he rules are simple : pick the high school that suits your academical talents, show up for ALL classes, better make sure you pass them all, or come back next year. If you want to do sports, fine, don’t bother your school with it, and certainly don’t use sports for preferential treatment. No sports scholarship, in ANY college or university. You want to study? Bring money, or an academic scholarship (super rare). See for yourself if you show up to college, it’s your life, your money.

Not saying my nationa’s model is better. We do kick ass in sports, for a small country. All self-motivated by athletes and their families, no school (and associated social-)pressure. I got little sports in school myself, and it would have been nice to have been recognized as big lung athlete back then, I found out late. Let alone about skiing, I had to find that on TV.

Yeah, I’ll bet you and Erin Phillips have a good perspective on the whole deal. You both were are 100% dedicated to your training and have trained more hours than would seem possible while attending high school classes.

The high schools are always having a hard time finding coaches that will dedicate 6 days a week for four months with a school district compensation that is so low that it’s almost offensive. The people that they do get are usually not as prepared as they could be, and don’t live in your world of dedication. So, the scope that they see is the mission of the high school team, and not the mission of your club.

It sounds like the lack of communication between the clubs and the schools causes a tension that landed on you. That totally sucks, especially when you’re in high school.

I think that someone that reaches your level while still in high school should probably just train with a club year ’round, and ditch the high school team. Is that possible these days? Is Holly able to schedule around high school classes and stuff to make that happen? I remember discussing this forever with Lisa Keller and Tom Bronga. They were just tired of the confusion, like you should pick a team and stick with it. But how would you know?

Personally I think that once you play sharks and minnows you should probably move on.

You gotta do what’s right for you, but as I wrote it sucks for the high school team. Considering that’s an awesome place to get fresh blood on the chopping block, I wish there was something to do about it.