Park’s girls nordic team has been having a successful season. Their progress is not only attributed to their hard work on the hills, but is also the product of their dedication to showing up in the gym for strength training.
Head strength and conditioning coach Jessica Gust said spending time in the weight room shows the team’s dedication and overall serves as an advantage to the team.
“Them being really dedicated to showing up in the weight room and taking advantage of that opportunity certainly gives them advantages over teams,” Gust said. “We actually see huge benefits and really good tapers at the end of the season for kids that are doing lifting.”
Senior Jersey Miller said making it to strength every week is the key to improvement and makes a huge impact on your season.
“I can’t stress how important it is. Part of skiing is once you learn the technique, you have to be able to do it, (and) that requires building up strength,” Miller said. “Being at strength consistently can make or break your season.”
To build a supportive and effective workout, Gust said she has to focus on injury prevention and the balance between what will continue to strengthen the muscles used while skiing, and continue to support the other muscle groups.
“We’re looking at trying to reduce the risk of injury due to the repetitive nature of their sport,” Gust said. “We’re trying to maintain some balance between the muscles that they repetitively use in their sport and also complementing that with other stuff that they’re not going to get in their sport.”
Junior Nora Lindeman said committing to showing up to weight training before school also is proof of the team’s commitment to show up for each other.
“It’s the camaraderie of (how) we’re all here at 7:15 in the morning and we’ve all made this commitment to be here and spend time with each other,” Lindeman said.
Miller said morning strength sessions are a great way to bond as a team and spend time together.
“It’s definitely a bonding experience because you see all of your teammates not only after practice, but also in the morning. It’s super fun because it’s definitely a community,” Miller said. “Everyone shows up and then we all go to the locker room, we eat breakfast and plan our outfits for the day. It’s great.”
Girls nordic meets twice a week for 30 minutes, typically between 7:15 and 7:45 a.m. Gust said she is flexible with the coaches wishes and the time they are willing to give up from practice for strength training.
“What I’ve found is that 30 minutes is a time that coaches are willing to give up,” Gust said. “It’s not necessarily about what would be my preference for time,” Gust said. “Most of our coaches are really cool with two times a week for 30 minutes. They feel like that’s a reasonable amount of practice time to sacrifice. They feel like it’s a reasonable addition to the expectations for the kids.”
Park’s girls nordic will have their next meet at 10 a.m. Jan. 25 at Hyland Hills Ski Area.
