News & Stories

Anwatin at CXC Igor Legacy Camp

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Camps are perhaps one of the Anwatin Middle School team members’ favorite things, and this camp was no exception. Last year was the first of the three-day U12/U14 camp held in honor of Igor Badamshin, a Russian World Champion medalist and one of the top youth development coaches in the country. The camp was held in Iola, Wisconsin, as a tribute to Igor’s dedication to youth and coaching cross country skiing. Coaches Allie Rykken and Kevin Johnson brought seven soon-to-be 8th graders as an introduction to ski-specific training camps, in an effort to prepare them for longer training camps as they move into high school. “Weekend training camps are a great way to accelerate fitness and motivate kids to train harder in the months ahead,” commented Coach Kevin Johnson.

This past weekend, the Anwatin team ventured to Iola, Wisconsin, and spent Friday through Sunday ‘moving, moving and moving,’ as encouraged by Igor as a key to long-term athlete development. The athletes ran, swam, rollerskied, played games, did strength and agility drills and pole hiked. As the weekend went on, friendships were built with skiers ages 9-13 from Minnesota and all over Wisconsin. The weekend was a stimulating mix of strength, speed, technique work, endurance and play which fueled an energy for cross country ski training in the summer. The Anwatin team demonstrated a high level of commitment, politeness and skill that the Loppet is proud of.