Nordic News

“My 4th grader tried to play basketball and soccer last year,” a mom recently told me as we sat around the dinner table after one of my speaking engagements. “It was a nightmare. My son kept getting yelled at by both coaches as we left one game early to race to a game in the other sport. He hated it.”

“I know,” said another. “My 10 year old daughter’s soccer coach told her she had to pick one sport, and start doing additional private training on the side, or he would give away her spot on the team.”

So goes the all too common narrative for American youth these days, an adult driven, hyper competitive race to the top in both academics and athletics that serves the needs of the adults, but rarely the kids. As movies such as “The Race to Nowhere” and recent articles such as this one from the Washington Post point out, while the race has a few winners, the course is littered with the scarred psyches of its participants. We have a generation of children that have been pushed to achieve parental dreams instead of their own, and prodded to do more, more, more and better, better, better. The pressure and anxiety is stealing one thing our kids will never get back; their childhood.

Read the rest of the article at the Changing the Game Project.

Omer and Bob’s sent us this announcement about their upcoming consignment sale:

This is a great place to get rid of your old ski/board gear and a great place to pick up some gear at a great price that still has some good life left in it.

For sellers: bring your ski or board gear to the shop 10/29-10/31 and tell us what you would like to get for it. We won’t be able to take straight skis, skis with old bindings, helmets or softgoods. If it sells we can either write you a check for the sale amount minus 25% commission or you can get the whole sale amount as store credit. If it does not sell we need you to pick it up next week (11/3-11/6).

For buyers: come on by 11/1 (9-5) -11/2 (11-4) and see what’s around that might be a match for you. We will be there to give advice for fit and condition. Historically there has been alpine, XC, and snowboard gear there so there will be something for everyone at least if you like snowsports.

The Stratton Mountain School’s T2 team produced a video of their recent clinic with Ford Sayre skiers.  Check out the video at the T2 Athlete blog.

The Dartmouth Ski Team is holding a ski sale and swap this Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm.

This is a good venue for equipment for older kids or adults.

Online registration for the 2014-2015 ski season is now open.  Please go to registration.FordSayre.org, select the category (Alpine, Nordic, or Volunteer), and then scroll down to select your specific program.

If you registered last year, you should use the same login and password, and the registration form will use much of last year’s information.

New this year is the use of online waivers.

If you have any questions about registration, please contact the Program Head of the specific program (the list of email addresses is on the Contact Us page), or send an email to info@FordSayre.org.

Good luck with registration!