Nordic program puts students on skinny skis
“I’m skiing! I’m skiing!”
“I went uphill! I went downhill! I did it! I can do it!”
“Mrs. Garcia, this is the BEST day of my life!”
These pronouncements of joy can be heard every January and February on the groomed Nordic tracks at Muldown Elementary where Vonda Garcia, the school’s health enhancement instructor, holds her cross-country ski classes for third- and fourth-graders. Like many successful programs, Garcia’s ski program ultimately launched on a hunch and a generous offer.
In the fall of 1993, Garcis and two of her Glacier Nordic Club friends, Molly Bruce and Rhonda Fitzgerald, were discussing how other ski towns like Aspen and Sun Valley included skiing in their school curriculum.
As a former ski shop owner and ski team coach, Fitzgerald knew that ski companies provided “school deals” — youth ski gear at cost — to start ski programs. Fitzgerald acquired quotes from ski companies to begin a cross country ski program at Muldown.
One quote came in at $2,200 to get almost 300 students on skis.
Garcia then wrote up a proposal and submitted it to the Muldown principal at the time, Bobbie Barrett.
Barrett’s enthusiasm and approval was immediate. She enjoyed skiing at the golf course herself, and needed very little coercion to add to the curriculum a program that could potentially pay dividends for life.
Barrett even had a fund set aside “for something neat.” Garcia’s vision for the Nordic program transformed those dollars into “a very neat” third and fourth grade cross-country ski program.
To help launch the program, the Sportsman and Ski Haus agreed to act as “the receiving warehouse” for the Nordic gear. Glacier Nordic Club members volunteered their time to mount ski bindings and apply the skis’ first layers of wax, and the club’s board offered to groom the school’s snow-covered playground at no cost.
With that, the program consisting of four one-hour classic ski lessons was born.
Though the focus of the program is to teach students how to classic ski, the six teaching points of the program can help form a mindset or skill set for life.
Students learn basics such as how to carry their own gear, get up from falling, and correct use of pole straps. They learn how to move beyond shuffling and get good gliding, how to duck walk or side-step uphill, and how to ski downhill skillfully with turns.
As Muldown’s third and fourth grade students learn to ski, they explore new terrain despite being on their familiar playground. Some students who’ve never experienced athletic success discover a natural ease on skinny skis, as if hand-picked for the next generation of Nordic Olympians. Conversely, some advanced downhill skiers on Nordic gear encounter surprising athletic challenges.
With the Glacier Nordic Club grooming Nordic tracks that help shorten the learning curve, Garcia explains to her students that they can really ski anywhere there is clean snow, not just on perfect corduroy.
In 2004 the Whitefish Parent-Teacher Association helped solicit funding to purchase new gear. Amazed that the equipment has lasted nine years, Garcia realizes she’s learned a bit about how to teach students to treat their ski gear with respect. A yearly waxing and tune-up by Garcia and helpers for the 35 pairs of skis also help to extend their life-span.
“Overall, our initial investment has paid great dividends — all of those skiers, probably over 3,000 of them in 20 years,” Garcia said. “That’s a lot of ‘best days.’”