Training week of 11/2

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EVERYONE:

  • Attendance form! Please fill this out weekly to help us plan.

  • Training plan: still here.

  • Team Night: Craftsbury Ski Club members are welcome to participate in Team Night at Onion River Outdoors on Wednesday, November 4th! Additional info on that:

    • Onion River Outdoors is coordinating a Nordic team night with brand representatives from Fischer, Salomon, Rossignol and Swix. The reps will be on hand to take measurements, answer questions, and facilitate special orders for equipment like skis, poles, boots and bindings, as well as soft goods such as base layers and gloves. Additionally, the Swix representative will take orders for ski wax for the coming Nordic season.  We are excited to invite you to this fun event, and we hope you and your team can make it. We will provide light snacks throughout the evening. The details for the event are as follows: 

    • Where: Onion River Outdoors-89 Main Street, Montpelier, VT 05602

    • When: Wednesday, November 4 from 5:00-7:00

    • How: Your team and coaches should show up at the shop ready to browse the selections our brand representatives are bringing and place their special orders that night. The discounts we are offering are 25% off skis, boots, bindings, poles and soft goods like Swix gloves and baselayers. We will offer 25% off Swix wax and wax tools (irons, brushes, scrapers, etc.). 

  • Activity Center access: will be limited for the next week while the Craftsbury Energy Committee builds window inserts for local households. If you’re waiting for a family member to do practice, you may not have easy access to indoor space.

  • Winter training: starts for each group on the dates outlined on the winter programs info page.

  • Winter program registration: if you’re intending to register for winter programs but haven’t yet, please do so ASAP via your membership portal. Check out our program info here for all the details. If you have landed on a waitlist, PLEASE don’t panic.

  • Jakroo Uniform Purchase Window - has been extended to Tuesday to accommodate last-minute interest. You buy directly from Jakroo on their online storefront. We’ve set up a bulk order window that ends November 2, and should ship by November 23rd — in time to have them for Thanksgiving. We have youth (BKL) sizes this year in addition to adult sizes! The more we order as a club, the lower the per-item prices get (we’ve already hit significant discounts for both Ruka uniforms and Arendal jackets). The storefront will switch to “on-demand” after November 2nd, so it is possible to buy uniforms later in the season, but this is your chance to get in on lower bulk pricing. Their ship times are also likely to get longer later in the season.

  • Uniform rentals: the deadline for guaranteed access was 10/29. Now we’re operating on a first come, first served basis. We will not be ordering more uniforms for rentals at this point so we may not be able to accommodate everyone.

  • Rental fittings: we’ve added a few more time slots and will continue adding them but would like to wrap up the bulk of rental fittings by mid-November. Some of y’all are dragging your feet on this; know that the best gear tends to get handed out first so hop on it if you don’t want the dregs!

JUNIORS:

  • Mandatory fall team meeting: is Sunday, November 8th, at 11:15am This is when we’ll get into some of the nitty gritty details about winter. Attendance by a parent as well as athletes is typically helpful. Everyone encouraged to BYO picnic lunch for some social time afterward!

  • We’re back to 5 practices a week! Hooray.

  • Weekday practice time change: Time to bring headlamps to practice! With the end of Daylight Savings, weekday practices start at 3:30pm and it will feel pretty dark before we’re fully wrapped at 5:00pm. We know a bunch of you will struggle to leave school early enough to get here on time. Think about how you’re going to get the training in if you’re late; communicate and ask questions.

  • Equipment: we actually made a separate blog post for this. It’s here. If you haven’t yet checked in with coaches, you need to, please.

  • Rental equipment: if you are planning to rent items, putting that into our system sooner rather than later is extremely helpful for making sure we have the right inventory to support your needs.

  • OMG Eastern Cups. These are a ways off still but will come up fast. We will likely have more people wanting to do team travel than we have capacity for (we can typically take 20-22). Priority will be given to those who have shown the most commitment to training this summer and fall! More details to come, but here are our tentative lodging plans to this point for any families who want to be nearby:

    • EC #1 @ Holderness: Frontenac Lodge (where we stayed last year) in Plymouth; no space for additional people but close to other lodging options

    • EC #2 @ Quarry Rd: Best Western Waterville (usual hotel; has competitive rates and lots of rooms; plenty of room for families to stay there too)

    • EC #3 @ Lake Placid: 2 houses on Hurricane Mtn Rd in Keene (no room for additional people beyond 20ish athletes)

    • EC #4 @ Oak Hill: Pierce’s Inn (where we stayed last year) in Etna; no space for additional people.

U14s:

  • Winter practices: technically don’t start until Sunday 11/8. Summer U14s are welcome to continue coming until then.

  • Joining the junior team meeting on 11/8 @ 11:15: is optional. You're welcome to listen in to learn more about what comes along in the junior program if that’s interesting/helpful, but you certainly aren't required to attend.

  • Equipment: most of you will likely continue to rent equipment through the club as U14s, and that’s great. Looking ahead, though, it’s good to have an idea in the shifts around equipment expectations as you get into high school. We made a separate blog post about equipment, and though it largely focuses on juniors, it’s worth taking a look. Find it here.

BKL:

  • We are done with summer/fall BKL. Thanks for a great season and see you in the winter!

MASTERS/ADULTS:

  • Summer masters will continue for 2 more weeks, then there will be 2 weeks off before the winter session starts up on 12/3.

BIATHLETES:

  • Schedule notes:

    • Midweek practice day changed- see spreadsheet

    • Sunday is funky this week.

      • 11am = meeting for all Jr/U14 skiers/parents

      • 12pm = picnic lunch (bring your own) and biathlon info meeting for athletes/parents

      • 1pm = biathlon practice

  • Race Opportunities:

  • Weekly Dryfire ideas

    • 3-4 days per week if you own your own rifle at home.

    • One shots. 8x each position.

The last BKL practice of the fall featured costumes and grass skiing!

Anna Schulz