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Co-editors:
Chris Dornan, Wanda Bogdane and Martine Grenon |
October 2011 |
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| PARTNERS AND SPONSORS |
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Funding partners:
- Sport Canada
- Own the Podium
- Jemini Foundation
- National Winter Sport Association
Major partners:
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Podium partners:
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CCC E-Store...
NEW 2011/12 Sauce Headwear toques & headbands have arrived!!!
Stay warm and feel great with your Sauce toques and headbands during your winter athletic pursuits this year! We have different designs and colors for you to choose from!
Order now through our E-Store!
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Job corner...
Sorry! There aren't any new job postings for October.
Please visit the Jobs section on our website for more information.
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Cross Connections
Dear Cross Connections Subscriber,
Thank you for tuning into Cross Connections newsletter. We look forward to keeping you up to date on all the latest news throughout the season. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and we would like to let you know that to view this newsletter best, please use Firefox as your web browser. Other browsers may adjust Cross Connections' formatting.
Thank you and happy reading!
Martine Grenon-Lafontaine
Assistant Administrator
info@cccski.com
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Frozen Thunder launch Credit: Wanda Bogdane
Canada's elite nordic athletes have been skiing for over a week now on snow on their home turf.
The early-season snow access at their home training centre is thanks to an innovative project that stock-piles snow at the Canmore Nordic Centre. The project, coined Frozen Thunder, kicked off in sync with Cross Country Canada's naming of its 2011-12 National Ski Team October 17.
In an effort to provide Canada's nordic athletes with the ability to train on snow at home in October, the Frozen Thunder initiative stored enough snow last spring to cover nearly two kilometres of trail in a large pile under a thick layer of sawdust, used to insulate it during the summer months. The Canmore Nordic Centre, which is the first facility in North America to take on the initiative, became the first nordic venue on the continent to open (October 15) for training and recreational enjoyment.
"Best skiing in October ever!" said NST member Ivan Babikov after a training session on Frozen Thunder last week.
Thank you again Canmore Nordic Centre Provincial Park for your efforts.
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FIS World Snow Day January 22, 2012
World Snow Day is:
* A part of the international FIS campaign 'Bring Children to the Snow' introduced in 2007
* An annual snow festival for children and their families
* A chance to EXPLORE, ENJOY and EXPERIENCE snow
* An opportunity to celebrate all things snow!
* An opportunity to bring the global snow industry together to promote snow and the fun activities it offers
* Open to anyone who has already discovered snow activities or would like to
* Aiming to introduce newcomers to snow and to provide
additional value to those who already participate
World Snow Day will be comprised of various activities, taking place simultaneously on a single weekend around the world to make for THE BIGGEST DAY ON SNOW, ALL YEAR!
What will you do for World Snow Day? Click this link for ideas.
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 Important information for coaches
Have you ever taken a NCCP (National Coaching Certification Program) course - if so, you will have a Coaching Card# (CC#) with the Coaching Association of Canada (CAC). The CAC keeps track of any NCCP courses coaches have taken across the country in any sport. Coaches can access their personal transcripts using their CC#.
How do I get an NCCP account/CC#?
1. Under normal circumstances you will receive a CC# when you complete your first NCCP training workshop. Once a workshop is entered into the NCCP database, you will receive an email with your CC#/username and password. Please note that it can take up to three months for a workshop to be entered in to the database.
2. If you do not receive a confirmation email, or to request a CC#, please send an email to coach@coach.ca and include the following information: name, address, date of birth, and possible time frame of the NCCP training/workshop, if applicable. If you have duplicate CC#s, then you can also make a request to merge the two files.
3. Your CC# can be used to check your transcript by clicking here. Your transcript is proof of completion of NCCP training, evaluation and certification.
4. To receive a NCCP coaching card by mail, please send a request in writing to CAC Coach Services at coach@coach.ca and provide your CC# (if available), name, address and date of birth.
If you have any questions regarding your transcripts please contact your provincial division office.
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Are you connected yet ?
Things are really ramping up toward race season! Join us on Facebook and Twitter and keep in touch.
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East and west Para-Nordic development training camps
Credit: Mike Edwards & Nadia Smith
 The first annual East & West Para-Nordic camps are a cooperative effort between Cross Country Canada and Divisions (SFW, CCO, CCA, CCBC) with some additional divisions funding support to reduce participants costs.
CCC is investing $10,000 to assist with the development of Para-Nordic athletes and coaches across the country with the intention of increasing the level of competition in Canada.
These camps will be used as a mentorship opportunity for athletes and coaches alike. Two coaches for each the Eastern and Western camps will receive support to have the opportunity to network with other coaches (among them Robin McKeever, Head Coach of the Para-Nordic Ski Team).
Athletes and coaches who are interested in participating in the camps should contact:
Please click here for further East and West training camp information.
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Club profile: Cross Country Saskatchewan training camps with James Cunningham Credit: Dan Brisbin
Athletes and coaches from the La Ronge, Saskatoon, Humboldt and Regina clubs attended two Cross Country Saskatchewan training camps held this past summer. Both were organized by the CCS High Performance Committee and led by James Cunningham, Cross Country Canada's High Performance Coordinator for Western Canada.
The June camp at Waskesiu, in Prince Albert National Park, and the September Camp in Regina both featured fitness tests, roller skiing technique, hill running with poles, and core, power and flexibility workouts. In Waskesiu, Andrew Brisbin, a member of the Augustana Vikings cross country ski team from Saskatoon, gave a talk on his experiences through skiing so far. Instructors at the Regina camp included Thomas Hamilton and Dan Farthing from the Sports Medicine and Science Council of Saskatchewan, who spoke about nutrition and strength, and Emma Korkola from Yoga Mala on yoga technique. A CCS snow camp is being planned for Canmore in late November.
 
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 Eastern high performance coordinator update: happenings since July 2011 Credit: Lisa Patterson
Aug
After a summer vacation, I travelled to Southern ON to assist in the combined Cross Country Ontario (CCO) Training Camp and Coach Symposium. There were 103 athletes and 25 coaches who attended from across ON, NFLD and QC. Athletes from NDC Thunder Bay and coaches were in attendance to provide the younger developing athletes with a view of the full spectrum of development through high performance.
The large numbers of athletes created some logistical challenges, but host Hardwood Ski and Bike and Lead Coach, Mark Doble, did an excellent job. There was enough new pavement surrounding the venue that allowed for athletes and coaches to spread out and create a safe learning environment. The country roads surrounding the Hardwood Ski and Bike venue offer some of the best rollerskiing in Canada, hands down! To view a video of the event, please go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4rF1dpByto
The Coach Symposium had three topics including: overtraining, motor learning and yearly training program design. CSC-Ontario provided two of the speakers, while NDC Head Coach, Eric Bailey and CCC`s Lisa Patterson shared duties on the Yearly Training Program topic. Coaches received not only a theoretical component, but were also matched up with mentor coaches to shadow technique and training sessions. The symposium was well received by coaches in attendance.
Full article
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CCC's Skill Development Camps
Skill development camps are an integral part of a progressive club athlete development system. Camps can help children learn ski related technical skills, teamwork, self reliance and good eating habits. They can facilitate the recruitment of new participants, motivate, promote friendships, influence lifestyle choices and provide a positive introduction to activities that encourage physical fitness.
Cross Country Canada's Skill Development Camps are a component of the national Track Attack Program which targets children in the Learning to Train stage of development (eight to 12 years of age).
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Canmore XC ski camp 2011
Get ready for the ski season with four days of expert XC skiing instruction and training from December 27-30, 2011 !
Learn from the best with the Alberta World Cup Academy coaches, in collaboration with Ascent Physio Therapy & Performance Lab in Canmore.
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Invitation to NDC's Kick-off event - October 27th, 2pm @ PUSH fitness centre
On behalf of all the NDC athletes and Board of Directors, I want to extend a heart-felt thank-you for your commitment to our team. We are looking forward to another exciting season and this would not be possible if it wasn't for all of your generous and continuous support.
We are pleased to announce that NDC-Thunder Bay will once again be holding their kick-off event at PUSH Fitness Centre on October 27th at 2pm. We invite you all to come on out and celebrate with us the start of the 2011/12 season and to meet the new team as they prepare for another season on the trails! The event will start with a team announcement and will finish off with a rollerski relay race around the parking lot where the athletes will represent the team's most prominent sponsors: CRC Communications, Fresh Air Experience, RBC and PUSH Fitness Centre.
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 Volunteers...critical to the success of sport and recreation!
Appreciating our volunteers and providing well managed programming and tools will assist in the retention and positive experience for everyone involved. Typically volunteers feel a strong identification with the activity, a passion for giving back and want to make a meaningful contribution. How do organizations keep people coming back? From local clubs to national organizations, recruiting, managing and retaining volunteers can be difficult and daunting but there are tools out there to help.
SIRC has gathered some practical resources relating to recruiting, managing, retaining and rewarding volunteers.
Full article
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Whistler Olympic Park (WOP) Garage Sale
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Junior athlete profile: The Lifeguard - Michelle Workun-Hill, Qc
Career ambitions outside of cross-country skiing?
I would love to get into medicine. I am looking into starting an undergrad in physiology at some point, as a first step towards this goal.
When not training/competing I am likely?
Studying or working at the pool. I teach swimming and I am a lifeguard for the City of Ottawa. I spend so much time there that the smell of chlorine no longer registers for me.
When finished with my cross-country skiing career, I want to?
Get into rowing. After a ski career, something about flats is somehow very appealing...
Favourite Vacation Spot?
San Francisco. I have only been there once, but loved it so much! I am also a big fan of Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. My grandparents have a timeshare condo there. It is very relaxing.
Favourite Book?
The Harry Potter series. I know it is dorky, but I have poured through these more times than I would like to admit.
Favourite Movie?
Love Actually. Such a great movie! Or maybe Gone in 60 Seconds. It made me want to drop everything and start stealing cars.
Favourite Olympic/Paralympic Moment?
Watching Petra Madjic finish on the podium with a punctured lung. So much perseverance, so impressive!! Also, it was extra amazing because I was there front and centre to see it all in person as a forerunner at the Games.
Before a race, I will listen to what song?
I shuffle my Ipod. Everything on there is awesome. And it seems like no matter how hard I try, I will ALWAYS end up with three lines of some irritating, but catchy, top 40 song in my head for the whole race.
My Olympic hero is?
Alexandre Bilodeau after his win in Vancouver. So awesome to see someone from close to home do so well, and he was so genuine, it was great. So inspirational!
If I could rule the world for a day I would?
Put a Caribbean Island on a boat and bring it home to my backyard.
One thing people don't know about You?
I am a certified NLS instructor... I can teach lifeguards to be lifeguards!
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Volunteer of the month: Kevin Miller, MB Credit: Richard Huybers
On Saturday October 22, 2011, the Cross Country Ski Association of Manitoba (CCSAM) held their Annual General Meeting for the year ended March 31, 2011. In addition to all of the usual AGM workings, time was allocated to honor a long term board member: Mr. Kevin Miller.
As Chairman of CCSAM, I am of two minds for this task - happy to be honoring Kevin. And sad that Kevin is retiring from the Board. For those who do not know Kevin, I have compiled a snapshot so you can see his involvement with our organization. Kevin was the Information Systems chair for CCSAM. The real story was that Kevin did everything related to computers. The range was from administrating and maintaining our website; distributing mass communications many times during the year; to trail condition reports; to the actual timing of races/events and posting the results and on, and on.
He was meticulous, detailed, precise, and had amazing work ethic. These are only a few adjectives to describe Kevin. When he mentioned that he would have a task completed on Oct.1st, you would be sure that by midnight Sep.30, it would be done.
As a CCSAM Board member, Kevin would come prepared to meetings, having read all the material and then would ask the really tough questions. At the same time Kevin was quick to share his seemingly infinite knowledge and history on any topic. He is a multi sport athlete - Nordic skiing/triathlon/cycling to name his current main sports. He is hugely involved in all of these sports and was volunteering for anything and everything. Kevin just gets things done. He also has been intimately involved in Bike to the Future: a grass roots organization that promotes bicycle use in the City of Winnipeg. Next time you see a brand new cycle trail, know that Kevin and his group were responsible for it.
Kevin is retiring from his day job, which is amazing for a few reasons; he looks so young and there is no reasonable way he should be retiring! We are not sure what he is going to do with his boundless energy and he will now have more time to pursue his own life passions.
 | | Photo caption: (From Right to Left) Kevin Miller / Karin McSherry, Executive Director CCSAM / Richard Huybers (Chair). We presented Kevin with a print entitled: "After the Storm" by the Artist Sean McCabe. |
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BMO Cross Country Canada MasterCard
Help Cross Country Canada target the podium and support the development of young skiers across Canada. Every time you use your BMO Cross Country Canada MasterCard to make a purchase, a payment is made to the Cross Country Canada from BMO Bank of Montreal at no additional cost to you.
Reward yourself.
Get the BMO Cross Country Canada MasterCard.
Reward yourself with 1 AIR MILES reward mile for every $20 spent or 0.5% CashBack and pay no annual fee.
Apply Now!
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 Quote of the month
"Today, veterans and rookies united by the maple leaf and our passionate corporate supporters on our race suits are focused on building on our past success with the goal of continuing to produce record results this season."
...Perianne Jones at the National Ski Team Announcement
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Did you know.....
- Machine-made snow lasts nine times longer than natural snow. The machine-made snow created by the Canmore Nordic Centre makes Frozen Thunder a reality. Only one-third of the snow stored over the summer months under sawdust melts away, allowing for nearly two-kilometres of snow-covered trails in the fall.
- Two-time Olympic medallist, Beckie Scott, is now writing a travel and lifestyle column for the Globe and Mail. Beckie's first article appeared on October 20. The column can be viewed at www.globeandmail.ca
- Canada will host back-to-back World Cups in 2012 - with a downtown sprint in Quebec City followed by a return to the world-famous Canmore Nordic Centre.
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Finding it hard to stay up to date with our latest news?
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