Have questions about the new USSA coaches certification? Want to know what type of strength workouts USST Development Team members are doing? The challenges of internationl coaching? Here is your chance. US Ski Team Development Coach Matt Whitcomb will answer your questions. Submit your questions to info@fasterskier.com or in the comment section below, and we will get them to Matt, and publish his responses next week.
Lindsay Williams (USST) had surgery for popliteal entrapment on both her legs last month. Williams describes the condition on her blog: A very short anatomy lesson… The popliteal artery and vein run down the leg behind the knee, and thats how blood gets to and from the lower legs. Behind the knee is where the calf muscles attach. When muscles get bigger and stronger, the attachments for the muscles also become bigger and stronger. So as...
The Human Plasma doping scandal has unfolded over the past 18 months. Here is a timeline of events. November 4, 2007 WADA president Dick Pound sent a letter to Reinhold Lopatka, Austrian Secretary of State for Sport stating that there were “good reasons” to suspect that Human Plasma was involved in doping. January 8, 2008 The Austrian newspaper, Courier, published an article exposing Pound’s concerns. International uproar followed as the article claimed 31 athletes were...
The Wisconsin State Journal reports that the American Birkebeiner will be limited to 7,500 racers next year. This year 7,242 participated, up from 6,800 two years ago. The largest field in the history of the race was in 1997 when 7,882 racers competed. Ned Zuelsdorff, executive director of the Birkebeiner told the Journal, “resources are being stressed. We want to maintain the quality of the event, and we have some infrastructure limitations.” Read the full...
Apparently it is too much to hope for a doping free season. Over the past month several doping scandals have made headlines. First, the FIS released the news that the urine sample provided by Russian sprinter Natalia Matveeva following the World Cup classic sprint in Whistler on January 16th tested positive for EPO. Despite initial reports that the B-sample would be tested within a week at the WADA lab in Quebec, no additional information has been forthcoming. Matveeva is provisionally...
We have now run two live chats – one with USST Coach Chris Grover in February, and one with Andy Newell earlier this week. Both were great successes and we are planning more. Please let us know who you would like to see, and what time/day of the week works best! Use the comment section to post your requests for participants. You can read the transcripts from both chats: Live Chat With Andy Newell –...
High School Seniors and Older Juniors: Are you interested in training in Steamboat Springs, “Ski Town USA” next year? The SSWSC is one of the largest, oldest, and most successful Winter Sports Clubs in the U.S. The SSWSC X-C Post-Grad program is offering a comprehensive training and competition program commencing this summer! Target Group – We are interested in motivated athletes who have completed their high school education and want to commit full time to...
Editor’s Note: Flying Point Road Photography raised $2,000 for NENSA through the sales of race photos from the 2008-2009 season. All proceeds of photo sales went to NENSA. While the campaign is regional, it is always good to share these type of success stories as others may find the ideas useful. The following is a letter from Steve Fuller of Flying Point Road. Dear Friend of Flyingpointroad.com, If you have a chance, please take a...
Nordic skiers Martin Banerud and Laura DeWitt of Northern Michigan University have been named the NCAA Central Region Athletes of the Year. Banerud, a junior from Oslo, Norway, followed up his first team All-Central Collegiate Ski Association selection by placing 11th in the freestyle race at the 2009 NCAA Skiing Championships, missing another NCAA All-America selection by one spot and just 0.2 seconds. He was also 15th in the classic-technique event at NCAA’s. DeWitt, a...
Twin Cities-based Organization to Provide Skiers of all Levels with Coaching, Sponsorship and Support ST. PAUL, Minn. – An elite group of Minnesota skiers and coaches today announced that they have established the Sisu Nordic Ski Foundation (SNSF), a Twin-Cities-based organization dedicated to the development, support and promotion of Nordic Skiing in Minnesota. SNSF and its Sisu Skiers training group, provides skiers of all levels with the opportunity to grow and succeed through coaching, sponsorship...
Central Cross Country Ski Association is pleased to announce the opening of the application process for the CXC Junior Development Program. This year the CXC Junior Development Program will be led by Igor Badamshin. Igor (born 1966) is a former Soviet/Russia cross country ski racer who competed from 1989 to 1997. He won a bronze medal at the 1993 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun and earned his best individual finishes of 5th twice...
In parallel to the “Youth Empowerment Day”, adults took part in the “Amazing Tips Seminar” which featured gender-specific presentation by nutritionist Kelly Anne Erdman and sports psychologist Jan Derpak. The formal presentations were followed by a high-performance parent panel and a Q&A session led by Louise Crawford (mother of Chandra and Rosanna Crawford), Maureen Huntley-Kershaw (mother of Devon Kershaw), and Lorraine and Erwin Widmer (parents of Heidi and Phil Widmer). In the afternoon, adults also...
CANMORE, Alta.—Cross Country Canada solidified the final dimension to its world-leading coaching and technical support team by naming Norway’s Inge Bråten as Senior National Team Coach, the national body announced on Friday. Bråten brings more than three decades of experience in the sport to the Canadian Cross-Country Ski Team. A former high-performance athlete who competed on Norway’s national team, Bråten has helped guide some of the world’s best nordic athletes, including the legendary Bjørn Daehlie....
Spring is here whether you like it or not. Sure, there is plenty of skiing to be done in many parts of the country, but the 2008-2009 racing season is over, and it is time to take care of cleaning up and putting away. After a long and often exhausting winter of travel and racing, it is easy to throw the skis in the storage closet and start working on your bike. The winter quickly...
One of the best features of the old FasterSkier calendar was that it allowed FasterSkier readers to post their own events. The new calendar also offers this functionality, and offers some more options. You can now provide a more detailed description of your event, as well as input more criteria to help people find it. The FasterSkier calendar has been one of the most robust on the web – it is a great resource –...
FasterSkier has launched a new feature – nothing revolutionary, but hopefully something people will find useful. We have been collecting RSS feeds from cross-country skiing blogs around the web and have compiled them in one location. You can find the most recent posts listed on the home page in the left column toward the bottom of the page. You can view all entries by going to
In the run up to the Olympics, Universal Sports is doing a series of retrospectives. This week Joe Battaglia looks back at Italian Manuela DiCenta’s stormy career and great success at the Lillehammer Games. The article also includes a photo gallery of DiCenta from those games. If nothing else, the fashions of that era are worth checking out! Olympic Time Capsule: Manuela DiCenta’s Medal Haul by Joe Battaglia, Universal Sports Manuela Di Centa experienced all...
USSA has officially launched the XC Coaches Certification. The course manual and excel training plan are now available for purchase from the USSA website. The test is available at here. The 2009 clinic schedule will begin with the Regional Elite Group camps throughout the U.S. If you’ve participated in a U.S. Ski Team clinic within the past two years of applying for your Level 100 certification, this category is satisfied. To get started, complete a...
Washington D.C, – In a surprising move, President Obama has named Cross-Country Skiing the new American National Pastime, replacing baseball, which has held the spot for three-quarters of a century. “We are totally blown away,” said Bjorn McEvoy, the director of the organization US Skiing As A National Pastime or USSANP. “We knew that we would prevail eventually, but were preparing for the long haul. We really didn’t think we would see this before Mongolia...
http://www.flyingpointroad.com/Photos/427938