: Winter Programs

Winter Programs

The Minnesota Youth Ski League (MYSL) is a volunteer organization that offers children between the ages of 4 and 13 and their parents the opportunity to learn, develop and enjoy cross country skiing skills together.

The Winona MYSL club meets once a week on Thursday afternoons from first week in January through February. Session length is 1 hour for younger children to 1 hour 15 min for older athletes. The program emphasizes fun, fitness and development of basic and intermediate Nordic ski skills. Skiers of all skill levels are welcome and athletes are grouped together based upon age and skill level. Parents are strongly encouraged to come and participate with their children. All instruction is done on waxless classic skis and equipment rental is available through the Winona chapter.

SkiWERKS

What is Skiwerx?
Skiwerx is a ski program for active kids age 9-13 that love Nordic skiing and want to learn to go fast (speed, strength, endurance, flexibility). Skiwerx programs meet two times weekly mid November- early March.

Highlights
*Session length is 1 hour 15 min.
*Skiwerx personalized hat
*Waxable classic/skate ski rental program. WAXABLE CLASSIC AND SKATING SKIS REQUIRED.*Ski culture/next steps/how to become a ski racer and/or stay active and healthy for life
*Waxing tutorials for parents

Requirements
Age 9 as of Dec 31 and skier must have 2 years MYSL experience
For dryland training, running shoes needed
For on snow training, waxable classic skis (no fish scales!) and skating skis. Rentals will be available through the Winona chapter.

WinHawk Nordic

The Winona WinHawk Nordic ski team is a varsity high school program at Winona Area Public Schools (ISD 861). Cotter and Bluffview Montesori are participating co-op schools. Athletes from grades 7-12 are provided individual instruction and team-based goals.

The ski team regularly rosters 50+ athletes and 10+ coaches. Numerous coaches with extensive personal skiing and life experience are present for every practice. Practices occur after school Monday through Friday and Saturday morning. Varsity athletes are required to attend two morning weight-lifting sessions weekly. Practices generally involve a lot of form and speed development through hill-bounding, rollerskiing, snow skiing, and always core and stretching. The coaches and practice schedule adjust for everyone’s abilities and learning style.

The ski team owns over 50 pairs of rollerskis and 90 pair of classic/skate skis. No other high school program in Minnesota compares. The rollerskis are used extensively during the regular season, which runs from November to February, and also during summer rollerskiing programs, which run in June and July. The team-owned skis and poles are available to first year skiers, outfitting them each with one pair of skate skis, one pair of classic skis and two pairs of poles. Athletes are required to purchase their own boots and clothing. Remaining equipment is distributed to second and third year athletes as needed.

The head coach is Jason Mork. He can be reached at morkjw@yahoo.com. The team webpage is winonanordic.weebly.com. It contains extensive information year-round. The Athletic Office is also a source of information linda.wendler@winona.k12.mn.us.

Thank you for your interest. See you on the trails.

Winona SISU JO (Junior Olympics) Comp Team

The Winona JO Comp team is a collaboration with the regional SISU Nordic club based out of St. Paul, MN. Athletes on the JO Comp team participate in the Midwest regional Junior Olympic (JO) qualifying series throughout the winter. The JO series attracts the top high school athletes in the Minnesota and Wisconsin region and is the avenue to qualify for national caliber racing at the annual Junior Olympic championships in early March. There are four qualifying race weekends throughout the winter and athletes race two days on any given weekend in a multitude of disciplines and formats. Athletes participating in this program receive coaching two times a week during the winter season and race support at the JO qualifying events. The goal of this program is to provide support and guidance for those elite athletes trying achieve top regional and national results.

Winter Programs

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