Great break everyone! I look forward to being back on schedule with all of you and seeing what can do moving forward. We are back to some after school practices and some evenings, but they are predictable. Tuesdays-Fridays are race days at Elm Creek so we will typically race once, then have evenings the other days. Here are a few reminders and things to put on your schedule.
1. Great job on Friday at the meet. Hyland is a tough course and I heard the big downhill was extra icy and dangerous and you all did a great job navigating every tough conditions (again). We are so proud of you guys and the continued effort you show on a daily basis whether we ask you to race a tough course, ski a 10k hard, or learn this really tough sport from scratch. Keep at it and keep persevering. With school starting up again, remind yourselves that if you can do hard things on the snow, you can do hard things at school and elsewhere. Apply these lessons outside of the sport.
2. We only have a little over a month left. We need to maximize our opportunities. That means we need to be on the snow when practice time starts and stay on until practice time finishes. All time on snow is beneficial, so we need to use it the best we can.
3. Saturday is Mesabi. If you are on the team, please make sure you know when you are starting and how you plan to get there since we are not bussing. If you have questions, let me know.
4. Sat. Jan 19 is the potential second ski trip date. Coach Bennett will be sending out another google form to fill out so we know who is planning to come. We need to verify if they have snow though. So we will wait to send anything out until later this week or early next week.
5. We only have a few more weeks of lifting, so try to get in there, continue to learn, and get stronger.

Happy New Year everyone. I will try to send out a message with an assignment about New Years. In the mean time, start reflecting on 2024. Think through any lessons you can take from last year and how you can apply them to this coming year.

Gifford
giffordm@district279.org