InFocus Magazine

Dave Battison has a problem that other coaches, teachers and youth leaders would love to have. As the full-time coach of the Strathcona Nordic Ski Club at Mount Washington, Battison says that “his kids” are so highly motivated that he has to work hard to get them to slow down!

“Kids that are drawn to compete in cross-country skiing already come to me with very strong ‘Type A’ personalities,” explains Battison. “These are smart, athletic young people. Most of them are A+ students in school, and they possess a strong desire to achieve in everything they do. I actually have to make a determined effort to de-motivate them from training too fast and too long! My role, as their coach, is to teach them how to harness that energy with control and skill.”

There is no doubt that the group of more than a dozen teenaged cross-country skiers I meet at the Nordic Centre on Mount Washington one Thursday evening are full of enthusiasm. Despite the fact that the wind is blowing, it is snowing hard and it will soon be dark outside, these young men and women are eager to hit the trails with their coach and mentor.

Battison rounds up his group and heads outside, leaving me to chat with four members of his junior racing team. I am immediately captivated by their wide smiles and positive energy.

Comox Valley girls Sylvia Watkins, 17, Brett Trainor, 17 and Andrea Lee, 19, along with Campbell River resident Freya Wasteneys, 18, tell me they have all been active in cross-country skiing since they were three or four years of age. With the on-going support of their families, they have progressed through the Ski Canada Skills Development Program, advancing from “Bunny Rabbits” to “Jack Rabbits” and are now proud to be members of the Junior Racers team. Their involvement with the sport has enabled them to travel across Canada to compete in various national events, including the Canada Winter Games, the BC Winter Games, the North American Cup and the National Championships.

The girls explain that their team skis at least five times during the week and twice on weekends, logging up to 30 hours weekly on the trails at Mount Washington’s Nordic Centre. In addition to this, they work out regularly at the gym and run. When the snow melts off the mountain trails in spring, they practice on the glacier or take to roller skiing on the roads. It is a grueling schedule they stick to from May through March each year—taking only the month of April off for a well-deserved break. They do all of this while balancing schoolwork with training, travelling and competing, yet still manage to earn top grades at the same time. I am fatigued just listening to them!

In an era when many parents can’t get their kids to put down their cell phones long enough to join the family for dinner, I asked the girls what keeps them so motivated. Why are they hooked on cross-country skiing?

The girls exchange quick glances and smile at me sympathetically, as if the attraction to the sport is so blatantly obvious I shouldn’t have to ask.

“Most people think that cross-country skiing is an individual sport, but it’s not,” says Lee. “This is a team sport and, because we have been working together for so many years, our team is like family to us. When things get really tough during a practice or race, it is that connection to our team that keeps us going.”

“For me, it is about the challenge,” says Trainor. “When I am truly focused on racing, I almost go into a state of autopilot. I strive to work harder and harder to increase my speed, improve my technique and do better than I did in the last race.”

Wasteneys agrees, adding: “It is also about being physically fit and having fun,” she says. “I find that skiing and being fit makes me feel good about myself.”
Watkins loves the fact that they get to travel a lot and, because of the nature of the sport, “get to see Canada from a different perspective than the average person. There is something extraordinary and invigorating about being alone in the forest or skiing across a glacier!”

Having competed at every major Nordic facility in Canada over the past few years, the girls know they are privileged that their home training base is one of the nicest lodges in Canada—Raven Lodge on Mount Washington. And they are grateful for the amazing people who work there. The great facility, mild temperatures, ample snow and more than 55-kilometres of world-class cross-country ski trails at Mount Washington are all much appreciated. Being able to wear shorts to cycle in the morning and go skiing in the afternoon is a perk that few (if any) of their co-competitors across Canada get to experience. The coldest temperature on Mount Washington is about -7 degrees C. Skiers in other parts of Canada often have to train in temperatures well below that, and they are required to come in out of the cold when it is -20 degrees C or more.

But what really motivates these girls, the rest of the kids in the club, and their parents, is the team’s leadership. The Strathcona Nordic Ski Club (SNSC) is managed by a dedicated volunteer board of directors, all of whom depend on coach Battison to not only teach these kids to ski, but to build their confidence as well. While winning at national events is the main goal, fostering a life-long enjoyment of physical activity and the outdoors is of utmost importance, too.