There is a lot of energy and enthusiasm in this group of kids who are learning to cross country ski through the Cook County Y-Ski program. Arrowhead Electric’s Operation Round Up provided $5,000 to the program this year, with $3,000 going to purchasing new ski boots and some new equipment for the Y-Ski program and the rest going to purchasing cross country ski equipment for the high school Nordic ski team. Photos courtesy of Tina Hegg Raway
The following is an interview with Tina Hegg Raway, director of the local Y-Ski program.
Q- How many kids are out for Y ski this year? And what is the start/end date?
A- Y-Ski finished up its equipment rental distribution on Sunday, December 6. This year we had 50 kids sign up to rent 70 pairs of skis – nearly as many as last year’s record! Kids get to keep the equipment until the season is over so they can spend tons of time outside with their families, perfect for COVID times! We collect them sometime in early April.
Q- What are the ages of the children? Does it cost parents money to enter their children into Y-Ski?
A- Y-Ski is offered to kids in grades K-6 or homeschool equivalent. The rental fees have been kept very low and haven’t changed in years: $25 for classic equipment or $35 for classic & skate for our advanced fifth and sixth grade skiers. Lessons are typically $20 per child for the entire season. Parents of the smallest kids attend lessons, and the rest of the parents often decide that this is a fantastic time for them to get in some skiing or snowshoeing of their own at Pincushion.
Buttoned up for winter fun, a long line of children learn to use their ski poles as they navigate a trail on Pincushion Mountain.
Q- How often do you meet?
A- Currently, lessons are not allowed per state mandate. However, if they are permitted, kids in grades 3-6 with significant ski experience will be able to join our volunteer coaches for lessons on Sundays in January and February from 1:30-3 p.m. In 2021, only this age group and experience level will be offered instruction so that we can provide exclusively contact free lessons.
Q- Are you the lone coach? Who else, coaches?
A- It takes a village to run Y-Ski; I am the Program Director and I usually have coaching duties as well. We have a dozen or more coaches and assistants who are able to bring kids of all experience levels out on Nordic ski adventures at Pincushion weekly and help teach them to have fun in the woods. Coaches and volunteers are what make this program happen!
Q- How far do the kids ski, or how much time do you have them ski for practice? And how are practices run during this pandemic?
In a typical year, we would meet at 1:30 p.m. in five different groups according to age/ability level to the ringing of a very noisy cowbell. Coaches share the plan for the day, and then Tina declares the “game of the day,” where everyone chases each other around on skis in one format or another. After a few minutes of these games (which are awesome for teaching balance and agility), coaches bring their kids on appropriate ski adventures from 1K or less for little ones to 5-8K for advanced skiers.
Afterward, there are usually snacks (graciously provided by parent volunteers) and noisy fun gathering together in the chalet while we wait for parent pickup. We also take field trips to Bearskin or Golden Eagle, and we have fun events such as the Y-Ski Olympics. Night Ski and Dessert Potluck, and kids’ races during the Pincushion Ski Festival, those weekends keep the lessons exciting and shake up the routine.
Q- How are you adjusting to the pandemic?
A- During the pandemic: Younger kids and kids with no ski experience usually need lots of physical help in order to figure out how to put on skis and sort out how to move their bodies and stay balanced, so that’s why in a pandemic year we cannot teach those groups. There is also no access to the warming hut or to any other facilities this year, so kids will carry what they need on them while skiing, and we won’t have contact games or snacks. This year was a lot of extra work for equipment rental – we had to develop an online registration system, parents had to measure their kids several ways and guess their shoe sizes, and then we had to find and bundle every child’s stuff and label them with names and bring each set outside for a totally contact-free pickup!
Q- Do you teach waxing techniques, polling techniques? Are the kids taught to skate-ski or just what I call “normal” cross country skiing?
A- The kids are taught many types of drills to learn classical ski technique. 5-6th grade kids in the most advanced group begin to work on skate ski techniques. All of the skis are waxless except for the skate skis.
Q- How much money did you get for boots from Arrowhead Electric? That’s a great gift to the kids.
A- Arrowhead Electric’s Operation Round Up gave us a grant this year of $5,000, which is amazing! Of that, $3,000 will go towards purchasing new ski boots and refreshing our tired, old, stinky inventory for Y-Ski kids. The remainder is going to be used to buy cross-country ski equipment for the Nordic Ski Team, which serves youth in grades 7-12.
This type of grant allows us to serve Cook County youth with our rental program – otherwise, we would not have an equipment inventory. We keep the fees very low and use them to cover a small set of annual expenses. We also hold at least one fundraising event each year.
Q- Do you have skis for all of the kids who want to learn to ski, or do they have to bring their equipment?
A- We outfit every kid who would like to be equipped, which is almost all of them, as long as they register by the deadline (which was December 3). If we run out of something for a registered kid, we send them up to Devil Track Nordic Ski Shop, and Y-Ski foots the bill. In the last few years, Y-Ski has become so popular that we don’t have quite enough inventory for some sizes and we have purchased a lot of new gear! So we are basically at capacity for the program right now. It is a huge operation to get that many kids outfitted and then to collect it all at the end of the year. We also glide-wax all of the skis before the season begins to ensure they are in top condition. Tons of volunteer work is needed and there are lots of generous people helping to make this happen, not the least of which are my own family members. It’s totally unaffordable for kids to buy their own gear new every year – just one set of skis, boots, and poles costs several hundred dollars, and they grow out of all of it after one season!
Q- Y Ski looks like it could be a great feeder program for the high school team. Do many of the kids go on to compete in high school?
A- We do hope that Y-Ski kids love to cross-country ski and will join the Nordic team for fun or competition! The Nordic team has had its ups and downs but has seen a surge in popularity over the last three years – growing from three kids to six kids to 12 kids. There is a lot of fun, team spirit, and camaraderie in the Nordic ski team, similar to the cross-country running team, which is so fantastic in our area.
Q- How old is the Y Ski program? Is it a local program, or is it a national program?
A- I’m not sure which exact year Y-Ski started in Cook County, but it has been a popular program for decades. I was in Y-Ski when I was a kid and now I get to help lead this program for my son!
Y-Ski has continued without ceasing and has passed through the hands of many very dedicated and creative Program Directors, growing into the massive club that it is today with the local nonprofit North Superior Ski & Run Club’s backing. In fact, I suspect more kids are participating in Y-Ski than in any other organized sport in Cook County! At times the program was part of the Minnesota Youth Ski League, but currently, their fees are too high and their training requirements are too specific to provide the kind of casual fun we want the kids to have in our program – plus all the special events they have are catered towards places in the Cities that are too far away. So we keep running a simple, effective, joyful program that keeps this sport affordable and accessible to Cook County kids.
You can follow our activity on Facebook at North Superior Youth Ski League and watch near the end of each November for emails and school fliers about participating in the program.
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