Good afternoon everyone, I wanted to send just a quick update.
First, I wanted to discuss where we are at in the season. We have moved through our typical first two phases of the season. We crushed dry land with great attitudes, and wonderful team building.
Then we went through the second (most challenging in my opinion) part of the season where are practice times, meets, and everything is changing constantly AND you are learning to ski again or for the first time. You also managed that part of the season extremely well. This is my most stressful part of the season as well. I am sorry for the moments that I stressed improving and getting batter at skiing as more important than relationships and improvement as a young person. I always want to take advantage of the snow when we have it and sometimes lose focus on helping build the entire athlete and young person. I will do my best to keep the focus on the important stuff moving forward.
The next part of the season carries a lot of fun, but also has its challenges. The plus side is that there are less day to day changes and more predictable schedules. Another plus is that you all have been on skis for a month or so, so you are more comfortable there too. The main challenge is staying engaged in trying to constantly improve in technique and conditioning (through workouts). The snow becomes repetitive and the workouts are challenging, but we will do everything we can to help bring you through this part of the season well. We will try to mix in games like tag, etc. to have fun. We will continue to remind you to workout in groups and build those relationships, we will remind you to get out and ski with a group of friends instead of by yourself. Building into the depth of relationships and connecting with one another is what helps make the difficulties of these next few weeks enjoyable. Encourage one another, stay positive, enjoy the hard work because that is when growth happens, compete hard when we get the chance, and just try to improve every day. Lets have a great January. Here are the reminders:
1. we will skate Monday, then switch to classic for the rest of the week including the meet Friday.
2. please sign up for transportion for the meet on Friday. I will update the post right after sending this message.
3. Try to get to practices when you can and get out to ski when you can’t. We want to keep the progress that all of you have made to maximize our end of the season.
4. Mesabi teams will be slightly adjusted. I have not been told that anyone cannot make it, so if you are on the list in the events tab, but cannot make it, please send me an email right away so we can adjust.

Let me know if I am missing anything. I have had a few people point some things out in the chat and I always appreciate it.

Giff
giffordm@district279.org