Nordic Rocks for introduces XC skiing to school kids. Courtesy of NENSA
Perhaps there are millions of skiers who were first introduced to skiing on the snow through elementary school programs. Now the Nordic Rocks program is bringing cross country (XC) skiing to youngsters in the schools. The program provides students an opportunity to experience XC skiing with teachers and classmates usually during a PE class or after school for the purpose of the health and wellness benefits associated with getting exercise outdoors while having fun.
The Nordic Rocks program is underwritten with local sponsorships and annual grants from the Killington World Cup Foundation and Share Winter Foundation. The program originated with the Central Cross Country Skiing (CXC) organization in 2014 in the Midwest states and has been extended to a program in the northeast with the New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA). This idea is not new as various ski organizations have been bringing XC ski equipment and coordinating XC ski lessons through schools for decades. While working at Manchester Sports in Vermont, I (the author) brought a pickup truck full of XC ski equipment to the kids for a weekly PE class at Rupert Elementary School in eastern Vermont back in the 1970s - and that school is no longer in existence.
More recently, in the 2021-22 winter, Nordic Rocks was in 119 schools with CXC in states such as Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin and 28 schools with NENSA in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. There were more than 23,000 students in the two regional Nordic Rocks programs last winter. The CXC program has three options to provide equipment to schools by covering all or some of the cost, or finding a local donor to cover the cost of gear for a respective community school. The NENSA program provides the equipment to the schools usually at no cost to the school.
Universal ski bindings allow regular snow boots to be used. Courtesy NENSA
Nordic Rocks provides XC ski equipment, teaching support, and a curriculum of lessons, videos, and games. Equipment for the Nordic Rocks program is paramount as the size selection concept has been streamlined with only two different sized skis, and a step-in binding whereby student can use their own snow boots. The NENSA program does not utilize ski poles as the students become accustomed to scooting around on skis by playing games in the school yard.
One unique aspect of the NENSA Nordic Rocks program is the ski binding manufactured by Lost Nation R & D in Craftsbury, VT. The binding is universal which means that the kids can wear their own snow boots when connecting to the skis. This eliminates the need for special ski boots to fit a specific binding and as a result the NENSA outlay for ski equipment is less costly (no boots or poles). The CXC program manufactures their own universal bindings and adjustable ski poles. The CXC bindings are being updated to allow an easy conversion to regular XC ski bindings with the same hole patterns.
The skis (NENSA acquires from Madshus, a ski product supplier) are soft and wide which provides significant stability on the snow for the kids. The program is usually conducted in the school yard and limited to mostly flat terrain.
The backbone of Nordic Rocks is school coordinator which might be a physical education teacher or another volunteer who happens to like XC skiing. The coordination of the program might include for example acquiring equipment, storing equipment at the school, activities planning, concern about snow conditions in the school yard, assuring that it is a safe experience for schools concerned with liability, and even transporting kids to local XC ski areas.
The impetus for the Nordic Rocks program at Fort River Elementary School in Amherst, MA was from a local XC ski enthusiast who brought it to the school and found local funding for equipment. The PE teacher has run the program with a few other teachers and every student (320 enrollment) has gotten out on XC skis at least once in the last few years despite minimal snow in the area.
Fun on XC skis. Courtesy NENSA
The ski organizations’ goals for the Nordic Rocks program are to introduce kids to XC skiing but the organizations (CXC and NENSA) also encourage some kids to explore the sport beyond the schoolyard. They can join local ski club programs, visit a XC ski area, and perhaps even become a XC ski racer. The organizations can offer additional resources such as rental equipment and scholarships to enable ongoing participation in the sport at whatever level a child might choose.
NENSA assists participating Nordic Rocks schools with equipment acquisition, teaching support, a regularly updated 5-lesson curriculum, access to instructional videos, a games list, and the option for a NENSA staffer to visit the school. The 5-lesson curriculum is easy to follow and offers teachers learning ideas with both outdoor and indoor activities. Schools interested in joining Nordic Rocks must have a willing coordinator (usually a PE teacher), some extra volunteer help (parents/caregivers or additional teachers), and a flat area near the school for everyone to ski on (no terrain grooming is needed). In exchange for support, coordinators are requested to provide the organizations data at the start and end of the ski season. This data is important to the program organizers and funding grantors and it helps gauge progress and justify funding the program.
The Prospect Mountain Nordic Center in southern Vermont has taken the Nordic Rocks program to the next level and is expecting to add a third elementary school to have a weekly half-day at the ski area. One of the schools used field trip transportation funds to cover the cost of bussing to the ski area. There are also home-schooled kids in the program at Prospect Mountain.
Two Massachusetts elementary schools in Leverett and Belchertown share a PE teacher who wanted students to experience some non-traditional youth sports and fitness activities so snowshoeing and cross country skiing were offered during the winter. There’s a rural setting and a wealth of trail systems in the region which aligned well with Nordic Rocks. Educational outcomes and getting the kids outdoors are important objectives, too. Despite a lack of snow in 2021-22 there were 38 lessons taken collectively in grades 2-6 in these two schools. Of course, the most exciting part of the program for a majority of the students reportedly was learning how to climb and descend down hills.
The Nordic Rocks program is a Johnny Appleseed concept that can be replicated in northern schools as long as there is some snow in the winter months. The program’s main challenge to sustained success is school coordination (and school staff turnover) but Nordic Rocks holds great promise to introduce XC skiing to thousands of kids at hundreds of schools. NENSA CXCSkiing