While the typical winter months would be filled with snow, like in previous years, Park is experiencing somewhat of a “snow drought.” Many sports at Park in the winter are set indoors, except for Nordic skiing, which in return has had a season. Coach Doug Petersen said the team has been anticipating more outdoor opportunities.
“We’ve been on and off snow since Dec. so our races get delayed,” said Petersen. “So now (with more snow), I’m incorporating more on-snow training.”
According to senior captain Addison Chenvert, the delay in the season has allowed for more team bonding to be implemented.
“The other night we went ice skating, thankfully, we found a place that was open,” said Chenvert. “We normally just try and ski as a whole team on the weekends, but it’s been hard when there hasn’t been a lot of snow, because then we have to go farther out and some people can’t make it.”
Junior Ailish Fitzpatrick said this season has been particularly stressful because of the lack of snow due to warm weather.
“It’s hard for us to get to practice and be prepared, especially for the girls team,” said Fitzpatrick. “We have a lot of big goals and we haven’t been able to get as much work in as we would have wanted to.”
As the team population is dominated by the senior class, Petersen said he has been taking time to reflect on coaching his eldest athletes to improve over the years.
“Seeing all the seniors, I remember them when they were younger and now I see all the young ones reminding me of them,” said Petersen. “When I’m able to see them, it’s really satisfying and gives all the work we’ve done some meaning.”
Since not a lot of time has been spent participating in racing, Chenvert said the season has been good but the team morale is relatively low.
“It’s definitely been tough on us, because normally we’ve had at least five races,” said Chenvert. “Morale has been brought down a little bit but it has also brought the team closer.”
Fitzpatrick said she has enjoyed the season a lot because of the team bonding opportunities that have risen.
“We went on a trip to Michigan and it was really fun to spend time together and ski for the first time together this season,” said Fitzpatrick. “We got to see the Northern Lights too, which was cool.”
You can catch the nordic team racing against the Metro West Conference at 3:30 p.m. Jan. 10 at Elm Creek.
