Youth Nordic skiing continues to grow

Jackrabbits program seeks new coaches

The Sun Peaks Nordic Club’s jackrabbits program is looking to continue expanding following another season of growth.

The third year of the youth program had between 35 and 40 kids from Sun Peaks and Kamloops between the ages of three and 13 strapping on cross country skis each Saturday for three months between December and February.

“We’re not really motivated by getting X number of kids in the program. The motivation is really providing life skills in the community,” said Christopher Nicolson, head coach of the jackrabbits program. “The very fact we’re part of a Nordic and an alpine community probably illustrates that the best. Success for us is kids having fun and kids developing skills with as many things as you can slide on.”

The biathlon will be a big, big hit.

The addition of a Nordic terrain park this winter was a huge benefit for skill development. New jackrabbits uniforms also provided an unexpected comradery among the kids, Nicolson said.

“Like any program, the root of it has to be fun. For the kids the terrain park represented that, it represented fun,” Nicolson said. “We, as coaches, just implemented and incorporated the terrain park into our sessions. We started there, often times we’d finish up there and as we’re working on particular skills we would use some of the terrain park features into those skills.”

The number of participants has more than doubled since the jackrabbits began, and now they’re looking for additional coaches to add a teenaged group to the
program’s offerings.

The motivation is really providing life skills in the community

“One of the things we’re doing is adding a level for that early teen age, so we need to have some additional coaches to be able to cover that full spectrum,” Nicolson said. “If we can bring in two more coaches next year it would be a massive asset for us. It’s a sign of success of the program.”

Another new feature for the upcoming jackrabbits’ season will be laser rifles and sensor targets to safely integrate biathlon programming. The Nordic club received funding from the Kamloops Blazers Sport Society Sport Legacy Fund and will have them ready for use next winter.

“The biathlon will be a big, big hit. We know there’s already pent up demand and excitement about it. It’s another opportunity to tie in yet another Olympic sport into the Sun Peaks community,” Nicolson said.