Pages

Sunday, November 1, 2020

2020/2021 Registration Open

Well, with the city moving into Pandemic Response Level Red on Monday and community centres and sports groups basically shut down for the next little while, we figured there was no better time to open registration for Jackrabbits! Call it an act of defiant hope. There *will* be Jackrabbits this year -  hopefully sooner than later. But regardless of when, we will do it safely. 

This year registration will ask if you want to be in Bunny Rabbits/Jackrabbits or Track Attack. Remember that the Track Attack program is designed for older (~10+) skiers who already have some skills. This group will be a ski-out group while the Bunny Rabbits/Jackrabbits will be at Wildwood. We will all be at Wildwood from time to time as well. There is no hard and fast rule about the ages. Both programs will be family-based and families are encouraged to ski together. 

If you have any questions you can take a look at the email we sent last week, or send us an email. There is no difference in cost, and it is all one big happy skiing family, so if you need to switch or you aren't sure, don't worry. We'll sort it all out as we go. 

Registration is via ZONE4: https://zone4.ca/reg.asp?id=24872 

The fees are the same as previous years: $55 for one child $110 for two or more. Parents/Caregivers, if you are planning to ski (and we strongly encourage that), please register too. It is one of those insurance things. There is no cost to register the adults - but you also don't get a fancy toque or stickers. Sorry. 

Your registration includes registration with the Cross Country Ski Association of Manitoba and Nordiq Canada. There are also options to donate to track maintenance at Wildwood, and to National Athlete development. These are totally optional. 

Please also check the "receive club emails". It is just us that gets that list, and it lets us send you these emails and reminders. 

As always, if you have questions, please let us know.

Sunday, October 25, 2020

Gearing Up for the season

The season is almost upon us and we have even had a good dusting of snow to get us excited (has someone been practicing the snow dance?). Registration will be opening soon - watch for an email on that coming in the next week or so. And if you need skis, you may want to act now. The scuttlebutt is that this may be a busy year for skis as people figure out what we have always known: skiing is a pretty great way to get outside in the winter!  

So as we gear up for the season, there are a few programming changes to share with you:

We are going to be expanding our programming to include the Track Attack level. The Nordiq Canada ski program for kids has 3 levels: Bunny Rabbit, Jackrabbit and Track Attack. We have generally just called our program Jackrabbits, and will keep doing that, but at age 10, kids should start moving into Track Attack and we have never had that option. This new program will be geared to the older kids with some experience in skiing. Coach Ted and Coach Adam will run the program. We will go to different locations in and around the city to try out other courses and do skills work geared to the course and the conditions. It will still be family-based, so everyone can come and ski!. About once a month we'll join up with the rest of the Wildwood family for a session at Wildwood. We are still working on a schedule and locations - so let us know if you have favourites we should try!

The Bunny Rabbits, and Jackrabbits will stay at Wildwood. We are super thrilled to announce three new coaches: Sara, Bryan and Chad, who will step into coaching ski boots to run this program. All three have been part of Wildwood Jackrabbits, and they have some considerable skills and experience. While the program may shift a bit (it always does as new coaches bring their own energy and skills), it is still going to be a family based program focusing on teaching kids to ski by having fun together. We are grateful and thrilled (did I mention thrilled) that they are taking up the ski poles of leadership as we expand the program. 

Now, COVID. With the current 5 person outdoor gathering limit, it doesn't make sense to start. Once those restrictions are relaxed we will get underway. Skiing, as it relates to COVID, is a pretty safe sport, and we will put practices in place to ensure we comply with all  provincial health orders and guidelines, and will follow guidance from the Cross Country Ski Association of Manitoba (CCSAM) and Nordiq Canada. This will include distancing, some modifications to games, and how we organize groups. There will be more on that as we get closer to go time. 

If you have any questions as we start to prepare for the season, don't hesitate to contact us. 

We are looking forward to a great season!

Friday, March 27, 2020

Thanks for a great season - and one final challenge: Get out and ski!

There is still snow. It would be perfect for an end of year snowball biathlon or other fun day of games, but with the COVID-19 stuff, we don’t think that would be a good idea. And though I am sure the kids would love to get together, the whole ‘social distancing’ is hard for them to adhere to – even with their ski POLEs (Personal Offset Length Evaluators) as a distance guide.

So, instead, we have a challenge for you! There are still lots of places that are good for skiing. Pick and place and go as a family. You can check out the CCSAM site for ideas on where to go: https://www.ccsam.ca/wheretoski/activity/ Windsor is still great – and free! Birdshill is still good in many places. The weekend is going to be beautiful, so get out and ski!
This will be it for the year for Wildwood Jackrabbits. It has been a whole lot of fun and an absolute privilege coaching the kids this year. It has been so rewarding for us to see the progress in everyone (even some of the parents!). 

Next year is likely going to be a bit different. We are needing to add on some programming for the older kids, and with two coaches (and sometimes just one) it will be difficult to run the full program. So we need help! The program is fairly well developed (if we do say so ourselves) and there is good training and certification available through the Cross Country Ski Association of Manitoba, which the club will pay for. You don’t have to be a great skier yourself – particularly for the little ones. We have had a few parents step up and help this year which has been great (and actually quite essential). With a few more we could have a really robust program that isn’t too taxing on any one coach. Ted and I will be around to help with planning and prep, and we can be around as backups. But we need to transition the leadership to some other folk. If this feels like it could be you, give us a shout and we can peal back the curtain on the magic that is Wildwood Jackrabbits. We think it is a great program and we'd hate to see it end.

Thanks again for a great season! We'll figure out all the stickers and get those out... somehow. And we’ll see you all in November, just in time for all the social distancing to finally end!

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Skiing March 21 and onwards

Hello Everyone,

We have been giving the idea of skiing this weekend as a group a lot of thought in light of the need to social distance and flatten the curve of COVID19.  We have thought further regarding smaller group gatherings and how we can still keep skiing for a few more weekends.  We are very supportive of doing our part to stay separated from each other during this time and are happy to encourage everyone to get outside as a family and keep skiing as much as you feel comfortable.  

We will continue to come out, as long as there is snow, to Wildwood, at the same time to setup some poles, pylons to allow kids some fun hill time and families to go skiing together.  They will be fairly informal sessions with mostly just come out to ski and practice your skills if you want to. It will sort of be come and go on your own but knowing there are other Jackrabbits out there somewhere.

We totally understand and respect everyone's decision to stay home, no pressure at all.  If you are more interested at skiing on your own as a family while you still can, please check out the link below as it outline some other trail areas.


As for stickers and books, we will try to get the stickers out via mail, or drop off at your door, in the next week or 2.  If you don't have a book for stickers, let us know and we'll send that out otherwise keep your eyes peeled for stickers in the coming weeks.

Hope you all keep skiing as long as you can and we'll keep updating people week to week.

Hope everyone stays healthy and safe!

Coach Adam & Ted

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Dash for Cash Feb 27

Just a reminder that the Dash For Cash is Feb 27 at Windsor Park. This is a fun event that can give our jackrabbits a taste of what racing is about. Coaches will be there for 5:30 for registration. It is a sprint format, and shorter distances for the little ones. 50m up to 200m. The races usually take under a minute per heat. And this really is for all ages up to grade 9.

It is a chance to get out and ski and a chance for a fun race. WWJR will do a bit of a pre-race practice so we can learn how to start and how to stop a race and see what the course is like.

Registration at 5:30
Races start at 6:45
WWJR will do a pre-race practice at about 6:00 on the grid.

Information is provided here:
https://www.ccsam.ca/event/dash-for-cash-3/  

Friday, February 21, 2020

Sat Feb 22 - Cookie Party & Hot Chocolate

Weather tomorrow looks amazing!   Sunny and high of ZERO degrees C!  We are planning a fun day of events for the kids AND grownups tomorrow.  We are planning to have a few stations setup for the kids to go through to have fun and show off the skills they have learned this year.

There will be an obstacle course, a skiing and tossing challenge and a kids vs. grownups ski race so grownups, be ready!!

We will end with plenty of time for all to enjoy some hot chocolate donated by the local Tim Hortons and all the cookies/treats provided by parents.  Please bring whatever treats you can and please note if there are any nuts/peanuts clearly, in case there are allergies.  Also, if you have reusable cups/travel mugs you can bring for the hot chocolate, that will save on the disposable cups we will have for everyone, if you forget.

Come out dressed for some fun and sun tomorrow.

Coaches Adam & Ted

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Wildwood Jackrabbit Cookie Party - Feb 22

Hello everyone,

This is it!! The annual Cookie Party will be this Saturday, Feb 22 at our regular Wildwood golf course location and time.  Each family is asked to bring some home made (or whatever you have time for) baking or cookies to share with the group at the end of Jackrabbits to go with hot chocolate.  If you are bringing treats with nuts, or peanuts, please be sure to have them clearly marked.

We will do some skills and games/challenges then finish a few minutes early for treats.  If you are not sure what to bring, more chocolate anything goes well with hot chocolate!  

The weather is looking great for this weekend so let's hope it holds on!!

Coach Ted & Adam

Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Skiing this Saturday - Feb 8

Hi All,

I am going to the mountains to do some skiing this weekend so sending this out a bit early.  Looks like weather should be great for skiing again and the trails are in great shape.  This weekend will be a combination of games and skiing and playing on the hill.  Chad and Chantelle will be leading Jackrabbits this weekend so appreciate everyone coming out and having a great time.

Happy Skiing!

Coach Ted

Friday, January 31, 2020

Scavenger Hunt - Feb 1/20

Hi All,

It looks like another great day to go for a ski tomorrow!  The weather will be -4 or so by 10:30 am and feel like -10 with the wind chill!  That is pretty awesome for Winnipeg in January.

To celebrate we will be doing the annual stuffie Scavenger hunt tomorrow. This is where we ski our loop and keep on the lookout for some lost stuffie animals in the woods.  The little kids can do the short loop and the bigger kids can carry on to do the full loop.  

It will be a good day to skate ski for the older ones again if they want to. 

See you all out there,

Coaches Ted and Adam

Friday, January 24, 2020

January 25

The weather looks great tomorrow for a ski and the tracks were supposed to be set earlier this week so they should be in great shape by now!  It will be a good day for layers as we will try to go ski the
loop tomorrow.  If we overheat along the way, good to peel off a layer or so.

Bunny rabbits can head out and back if they want, play on the hill and play some games if not up for the whole thing.

Look forward to seeing everyone out tomorrow!

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Jan 18/20 - Jackrabbits is on

Hi All,

We will go out and ski this morning and enjoy the snow!  It looks like the wind will still be picking up later in the day but will be below our cutoff this morning.  With the trees around, it should be a nice morning as the air temperature is warm and there is tons of fresh snow.  

See you all this morning!

Coach Ted

Friday, January 17, 2020

New snow yay! High winds - not so yay - Jan 18/20

Hi All,

Well the snow dance is finally paying off as the white stuff is about to come down pretty heavy tonight and tomorrow.  I believe the golf course was tracked this week too!! 

So, the forecast is pretty bad and the snow may be fairly heavy tomorrow morning with high winds.  We are going to play it by ear in the morning.  I will send out a Go or No Go email tomorrow by no later than 9 AM.  If it blows as deep as they say, it will be tough skiing through the heavy drifts in the high winds and won't be super enjoyable.  If it is looking pretty tolerable wind wise with just some deep snow, we'll go and do some good games and snow plow, hill stuff to celebrate!!  If we do go, just remember to dress for the weather as there is tons of snow to keep moving on.

Strange winter so far but excited snow is finally here!

Coaches Ted, Adam, Chad

Friday, January 10, 2020

January 11 - Canceled

Well, we have awesome new snow, but also frigid temperatures. Our cut-off is -27 with the windchill. Saturday morning at ski time looks to be -34. That is chilly. And really, particularly for the little ones, no fun.
You can find information about our cut-off on our blog here: http://skiwildwood.blogspot.com/p/too-cold.html  

We use SpotWx for our temperature models. You can see the fancy graphs here: https://spotwx.com/products/grib_index.php?model=gem_lam_continental&lat=49.8495&lon=-97.13063&tz=America/Winnipeg 

So, regrettably, we are canceling tomorrow's session. Keep up the snow dance (we can use more!) and we'll hope for warmer weather next week.

Friday, January 3, 2020

Saturday January 3

Happy New Year! This Saturday we be a pretty basic session. We'll play a few games and then get out for ski. It looks like it will be a beautiful -8 to -10 at ski time, which is pretty much perfect.

Looking forward to getting out on the trails!