In the spring of 2007, a parent called me to ask about the Minneapolis Ski Club Summer Program. She was interested in having her son do the advanced night sessions. I asked what school he went to and she told me Mounds Park Academy. I was fairly sure there were no skiers from MPA training well and I basically told her “the evening program is very hard and he will have trouble staying with people”. Her son was Jack Sloan and he began the program in mid June.
Original photo courtesy Bruce Adelsman, www.skinnyski.com
The first couple of weeks Jack had many equipment problems. The poles did not stick in the black top because there had steel tips instead of carbide. The rollerskis were defective and the wheels kept falling apart after very little use and sometimes there were problems with bringing the right equipment.
The program was 3 nights per week, on Mondays we went very long with workouts up to 18 miles both skating and classic. I would have the routes go certain ways so people would not get lost. Sometimes we would go out and come back so everyone would finish at about the same time. On Wednesdays we would go up and down the coulee in Afton several times, this kept people from getting lost but sometimes we would do 20 miles routes and this presented the challenge of making sure everyone skied a long ways and got back safely. On Thursdays we stuck to the same routes, with some days being just and out and back so getting lost was more difficult.
We test people for arm strength and skating the second week of June up the coulee in Afton. The best skiers are around 6:20 for classic and double pole, it took Jack over 14 minutes to do the double pole and he was too tired to ski up it the second time. Many skiers skied up the hill 4-5 times and I pretty much knew Jack was not having much fun being the slowest skier day after day. My goal to help Jack get fitter and stronger, if he came the 3 days of the week he would get better. If he trained on his own, then he would become a good skier.
In the fall of 2007, there were a couple of high schools looking for head Nordic ski coaches and one was Mounds Park Academy. Since the school was located only a mile away, I applied and was offered the position at the interview. I knew Jack had begun to learn how to ski but he was still the slowest guy at every practice in the summer. I knew it would be a winter or teaching people how to ski vs training them to be fast.
Jack had done some rollerskiing in the fall and his technique had improved from the summer, he also seemed to be more fit than the summer. During the first races of 2007-2008 he was placing in the top 10 at the conference ski meets. Then he moved up to 2nd and that is where he stayed and as he took 2nd in the conference meet. He did not qualify for the state meet as the section had many ranked teams and skiers.
Over the summer of 2008, Jack improved his coulee time to under 7:00 minutes and by the end of the summer was up with the best posting a 6:33 in skate. Quite a bit faster than the 14 minute time the previous summer. During a practice in early December a parent asked me who the guy in the brown jacket was and I told him Jack Sloan. He told me he thought Jack had very good technique. In mid December the Minneapolis Ski Club had many skiers compete at the Junior National Tryout in Ironwood Michigan. Jack placed in the top 10 for MN high school skiers and was ranked in the top 10.
At the Minneapolis Ski Club Holiday relays, Jack lead off the skate relay for Mounds Park Academy and Jack took the lead and then was passed by Adam Loomis from Chippewa Falls, then at the end Jack came back and crossed the tag zone just ahead of Adam as they had the same time. Jack had gone from one of the slowest to one of the fastest in just 18 months. That is the great thing about Nordic Skiing, is that hard work really does pay off.
Jack finished the high school season with a 2nd place in the Tri-Metro, a 6th at Section 4 Championships and a 63rd at the MN State High School Ski Meet. Several of the people Jack was skiing with placed in the top 25 at the State Meet and Jack’s goal will be to place in the top 10 next year.
Filed under: Articles | Tagged: 2008, East Side, evening, high school, junior, rollerski, spotlight, summer, Training
