How to save XC?

Recent mention was made of the bad winters maybe killing off some vital
XC shops and really hurting XC. Well, sure, I agree that would be
terrible.

But thinking ahead, or thinking to the side, what does XC really need?
To help it endure, to give it legs? Why do winners pump up a scene? How
do they contribute more than the impulse of a fad? I suggest that what
they add that can stick is CULTURAL VALUE.

I think that building, sharing and promoting XC culture is the #1 thing
to making sure XC sticks around. And it's the best hope for helping it
to grow.

Sadly, I don't think that mags/websites that basically only carry
advertorial of one kind or another can do the trick. They never have!
There's no scene that's been sustained by such. And it's not how any
scene was started. I suppose the advertorial style is just the effort
of folks trying to hang on. Can't blame 'em.

Resort profiles, equipment previews, and hightech analysis: none of
these things can grow or sustain an activity, culture or sport.

They're all nice, in their place, but they're only support.

Sadly, it seems like a lot of XC media (and outdoor sports media in
general---especially also paddlesport) has been of the advertorial
type---barely rewritten press releases and sales pitches disguised as
articles.

Oh well. I hope to keep trying to do something different. It's hard to
do much as one guy with zero budget, but I'll do what I can.

--JP

On 8 Feb 2005 14:54:42 -0800, wrote:

Recent mention was made of the bad winters maybe killing off some vital
XC shops and really hurting XC. Well, sure, I agree that would be
terrible.

But thinking ahead, or thinking to the side, what does XC really need?
To help it endure, to give it legs? Why do winners pump up a scene? How
do they contribute more than the impulse of a fad? I suggest that what
they add that can stick is CULTURAL VALUE.

I think that building, sharing and promoting XC culture is the #1 thing
to making sure XC sticks around. And it's the best hope for helping it
to grow.

Sadly, I don't think that mags/websites that basically only carry
advertorial of one kind or another can do the trick. They never have!
There's no scene that's been sustained by such. And it's not how any
scene was started. I suppose the advertorial style is just the effort
of folks trying to hang on. Can't blame 'em.

Resort profiles, equipment previews, and hightech analysis: none of
these things can grow or sustain an activity, culture or sport.

They're all nice, in their place, but they're only support.

Sadly, it seems like a lot of XC media (and outdoor sports media in
general---especially also paddlesport) has been of the advertorial
type---barely rewritten press releases and sales pitches disguised as
articles.

Oh well. I hope to keep trying to do something different. It's hard to
do much as one guy with zero budget, but I'll do what I can.

--JP

I wonder how people in snow deprived areas would react to my fantasy of a
750M indoor ski track. I know they have an indoor alpine ski slope in japan
somewhere.

Ben

Get $1,000,000.
Then get 100 coaches in small towns around the USA.
Then divide the money up...
Each coach gets $10,000 to recruit 20 kids to become skiers and coach them
for December to March - 5 days/week 2 hours/day. If you can't find 20 kids
and coach them you don't get your paycheck.
Then get another $1,000,000. Split it up amongs the coaches so each coach
gets another $10,000 . The coach can then go to his/her local ski shop and
buy poles, skis, and boots for the kids to use. Assorted sizes, flexes,
etc. Not top of the line stuff, but good beginnner stuff that will last 4-5
years. When the kids get hooked on skiing ( some will, not all ) they will
buy their own top of the line stuff or have Santa Claus chip in.

Paid coaches, free equipment = incentive.
In 12 years I'll predict an American Olympic champion.
Personally I really think the USA's lack of olympic/world champion medals is
a numbers game - a game we're losing.
I think you said it a while ago Jeff - we need a big $$$$$ backer for nordic
!!!!!!

JK
Anyone have $2 million?

wrote in message
oups.com...
Recent mention was made of the bad winters maybe killing off some vital
XC shops and really hurting XC. Well, sure, I agree that would be
terrible.

But thinking ahead, or thinking to the side, what does XC really need?
To help it endure, to give it legs? Why do winners pump up a scene? How
do they contribute more than the impulse of a fad? I suggest that what
they add that can stick is CULTURAL VALUE.

I think that building, sharing and promoting XC culture is the #1 thing
to making sure XC sticks around. And it's the best hope for helping it
to grow.

Sadly, I don't think that mags/websites that basically only carry
advertorial of one kind or another can do the trick. They never have!
There's no scene that's been sustained by such. And it's not how any
scene was started. I suppose the advertorial style is just the effort
of folks trying to hang on. Can't blame 'em.

Resort profiles, equipment previews, and hightech analysis: none of
these things can grow or sustain an activity, culture or sport.

They're all nice, in their place, but they're only support.

Sadly, it seems like a lot of XC media (and outdoor sports media in
general---especially also paddlesport) has been of the advertorial
type---barely rewritten press releases and sales pitches disguised as
articles.

Oh well. I hope to keep trying to do something different. It's hard to
do much as one guy with zero budget, but I'll do what I can.

--JP

I'm thinking we need a big backer for one skier. That's all it will
take. Greg had one. Lance had one.

I'm not sure how many other big/medium backers there were for other
contenders out there. Probably some. But I suspect that those in the
know knew that Greg was our national hope at the time. So the biggest
backer backed him. No dilution. Same with Lance. We need to
rocket-propel ONE GUY/GAL to the very top. Then watch the trickledown.

In the meantime we need good solid ski culture more than money. What
gets the average joes and janes out there is the cultural values. If
you can sell people on going out and having fun all year round and call
it XC and training for it then we win. Sell people on hanging out in
the woods with picnic stuff and bota bags. You just have to get them
picturing it and it's a winner.

On 8 Feb 2005 19:13:25 -0800, wrote:

I'm thinking we need a big backer for one skier. That's all it will
take. Greg had one. Lance had one.

I think we need places to ski and places for kids to do outdoor sports
safely and easily -- skate parks, safe streets for cycling, running
paths, more pools, more skating rinks, more ball courts, etc. Plus
decent highs school sports programs -- programs that encourage health
and fun, and (for competitve sports) are much more participatory with
more kids involved. Like no-cuts teams where every who comes to
practice regularly is on the team.

Supporting elite or future elite ski racers is gravy.

JT

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Skate park? Give me a woodlot or vacant lot and that's enough. It was
when we were kids anyway.

I didn't need anyone to give me anything as a kid. I made my own rules.
And so did my peers and role models. That's what going out on a bike or
on XC skis or in a canoe or hiking lets anyone do at any time.

We still ride, paddle and ski EVERYWHERE around here. It's just that
nowadays we're about the only ones doing so.

No one else seems to mind their slavery. Bike/boat/ski/foot are about
the most unmediated activities out there. Everything else has rules and
fees and driving and limits and waiting lines and pecking order. By
definition!

These rules suit some kids who don't mind giving up freedom and who fit
with the limits and who have rich servants for parents.

You don't have to strain a thing with bike/boat/ski to have TOTAL
FREEDOM for anyone of any age. You don't need special fields or
set-ups. It sure helps to save up a few hundred bucks, tho. --Chump
change compared to a soccer league fee.

Maybe the roads are getting to be too bad in many places, but I bet
not. What about 'personal safety of the youth.' That was a big deal in
the 70's and 80's, too. Remember, the Summer of Love was over, man. It
was meth and Hell's Angels. Sleep out in a field and you might get yer
throat cut! ---But we did it anyway. We hitchhiked thru the wild
pre-AIDS 80's. No prob. And crime actually was wilder back then. That
was when urban areas were no-fly zones for real. But we did our thing
there, too, anyway.

I sometimes can't believe we survived. But maybe that's what you want
each generation of teens to be able to say. Where's the growth and
challenge when you're being carted around by parents and coaches?

There simply needs to be a culture rebuilt of not listening to
naysayers and of valuing freedom. If they say you can't do it, do it
anyway. What other activity would let a kid do this? Are you going to
organize your own soccer league?

Basically, any kid who has run into a limit and disliked it can find
freedom on bike/boat/ski/foot. There ya have it.

But you need those peers and role models to look at. You don't need
many, just a couple. But that's part of the culture thing. OK, maybe
that's more part of the volunteer thing. I should do something with the
Boy Scouts every year, in case there are kids out there who just need
to see that it's OK to be free.

--JP

On Tue, 08 Feb 2005 23:03:51 -0500, John Forrest Tomlinson
wrote:

On 8 Feb 2005 19:13:25 -0800, wrote:

I'm thinking we need a big backer for one skier. That's all it will
take. Greg had one. Lance had one.

I think we need places to ski and places for kids to do outdoor sports
safely and easily -- skate parks, safe streets for cycling, running
paths, more pools, more skating rinks, more ball courts, etc. Plus
decent highs school sports programs -- programs that encourage health
and fun, and (for competitve sports) are much more participatory with
more kids involved. Like no-cuts teams where every who comes to
practice regularly is on the team.

Supporting elite or future elite ski racers is gravy.

JT

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Remove "remove" to reply
Visit http://www.jt10000.com
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Good points. My 18 year old switched from XC ski racing to basketball
( his true love) a few years ago. The difference in the "culture" of
the two high school sports is amazing. The very top echelon of both
sports is very similiar. Very talented, genetically gifted and driven
people, some to the point of obscession. But once you leave that top
tier behind the differences are stark. In the local HS XC scene
everyone in the club gets to race if they want to. There are no bench
sitters. Here in Wisconsin its only the top 3 finishers in each school
that earn points in each race. The rest can race and finish where ever
and it made no difference in the team standings. I've seen some of the
local HSs put 25 racers into the field. Everyone gets to "play". And
it showed in the kids attitudes. Happiest group of student athletes
I've ever met, by a long shot. BB is pretty different. There is a real
disgrace in being considered a "scrub" but even worse is the fact that
if the kids go out for the team they almost always love the game.
Sitting on the bench watching others do what you'd love to do yourself
is tough, tough, tough. And as the season goes along you can see the
pressure on the players and the non-players take an emotional toll.
And if their team isn't doing as well as they hoped, it gets much
worse.


So anyway, I agree that one of the best ways to build the sport is to
bring in people of all abilities. And that is done by not making it
into a haven for the hyper-fit or those on the run from their
mortality but rather as a "place" for people to enjoy themselves. I
know the cliche of the wine skin toting skiers from the 70s is a
widely mocked image in XC skiing, but the fact is if people were to
think of skiing as something that is fun and emotionally rewarding at
what ever level of participation there would be no talk now of XC in
decline.

g.c.

Ben Kaufman wrote:
--JP

I wonder how people in snow deprived areas would react to my fantasy
of a
750M indoor ski track. I know they have an indoor alpine ski slope
in japan
somewhere.

I know that Finland has a couple of indoor skiing tracks, like the Ski
Tunnel in Vuokatti http://www.skitunnelvuokatti.fi/eng/index_uk.html

The first (as far as I know) Swedish ski tunnel has just got green
light for building. Their web site is Swedish only, but in case you
want to see some pictures and .mpg animations, just click the links
he

http://www.torsbyskitunnel.com/bild3d.asp

/ Niklas

I've always said if I win the Lottery I'd buy some land, cut trails and
build a snowmaking system. Why don't you all send me some cash so I can
buy more lottery tickets and make this dream come true... Of course,
I'll build a golf course too...

Jay Tegeder
"It's not how fast you go, it's how many fast people you know!" JT

Its funny how we all have the same thoughts about building an x-c ski
center if we won the lottery. If I couldn't build a ski tunnel, I'd
settle for building a cooled ski track like this:
http://www.jaahdytettylatu.fi/php/etusivu.php

wrote:
I've always said if I win the Lottery I'd buy some land, cut trails
and
build a snowmaking system. Why don't you all send me some cash so I
can
buy more lottery tickets and make this dream come true... Of course,
I'll build a golf course too...

Jay Tegeder
"It's not how fast you go, it's how many fast people you know!" JT