Importance of Fun and Games By Nichole Bathe
Nichole Bathe of Madison, Wisconsin is a Team Birkie and Robbinsdale High School Coach, and has an impressive background with a Bachelors from Fairbanks and an MS in Health Economics from the University of Oslo, Norway. Nicole has unique experience as a ski racer, as she was a U18, Junior, and U23 World Championships US Ski Team member, as well spending time on the British National Team for the 2017-2021 seasons, where she participated in the World Cup and 2019 World Championship.
During her time in Noway, Nicole coached at Hemin IL, in Oslo Norway from 2019 to 2021 and when she came back to the US, she worked as an athlete rep for Madshus, along as working as a Health Solutions Consultant.
Importance of Fun and Games
One of my favorite memories as a kid is when coach would tell us that it was game time. I didn’t realize the impact of games until further in my career and now as a high school coach. Certain games can actually increase youth's balance, coordination and overall enjoyment for the sport. I have listed out my favorite games below and the ways they help improve skier.
Ski Soccer: This can be played on snow or while rollerskiing. It helps build strength in legs as you have to play without poles. It also helps with speed, balance and coordination.
Pillow Polo: A polo game that includes sticks with pillows on the end to ensure no one take a stick to the face…this similar to soccer creates balance, inspires friendly competition and helps with coordination.
Football/Frisbie: Also great for all the above reasons.
Relays: A great way to inspire speed and competition in a less stressful way than an outright competition. If you have youth of different ages make sure that you pair up athletes of different speeds to keep it fun for all!
Push/Pull: Pair your skiers up and have them push each other using their poles and then have them flip to pulling each other using one set of poles to move your teammate forward. This is a great strength workout and helps promote teamwork.
Moral of the story is you always want to keep youth engaged and interested in practice and what young person doesn't perk up when you say you're going to play a game!
