News & Stories

Anwatin Ski Team December 2015 Update

The Anwatin Narwhals (name work in progress) aka Ski Team is keeping up some strong work ethic as we approach our winter season. During November, we fine-tuned our team into the winter ski team through two weeks of tryouts. We hike, run, bound, strength train, and when we rollerski, we do so in excellent fashion with reflective vests and the occasional headlamp, which makes for an entertaining scene as we roll through the Bryn Mawr neighborhood.

We ventured to Afton State Park for a two hour pole hike, which the kids turned into a pole jog, and many of them insisted that we bound up the hills for good measure.

All in all, snow or no snow, warm or cold, the kids have been excellent sports and are driven to get better at their skiing and running. Many of them set individual goals for their fall season, and we are currently working on teamwork goals. We all agree that we want to come to lots of practices, be faster, get stronger, be better athletes, make friends in the process, work together and encourage each other, be competitive, feel confident on the trails, and of course, have fun! But don’t worry, that last part they always make sure of.

We were fortunate enough to get out on some fish scale skis last week with the smattering of snow that came. The returning skiers kindly showed our new kids how to play SkiBall and how to get up and down the hills safely. We have a lot of helpful and generous leadership this year. I was impressed how quickly the kids picked up skills and how brave they were on the downhills. Still, there are some awfully big downhills on the Eloise Butler trails, and so we also perfected our butt-slide as well.

Hoping for more snow soon, but in the meantime we’ll keep cranking away and getting better every day.