As many of you know, 1980 US Olympic Biathlon Coach Art Stegen and I started an informal program 2 years ago to provide opportunities for junior skiers in NY to be exposed to and ultimately become more proficient in the sport of biathlon. At the recent Spring NYSSRA Nordic biathlon meeting, it was decided to form an official Junior Development committee. Art & I will serve on that committee and we are excited to be joined by Carl Klossner who has been involved with our past efforts.
As in the past, we hope to provide clinic, training, and racing opportunities throughout the year to experienced Nordic skiers who are interested in getting involved with biathlon as their schedules permit. The goal is to get them involved early and give them opportunities to learn the sport now since the learning curve is a fairly long one. We hope to do this while keeping costs to parents as low as possible. The target audience is strong skiers ages 14-20, but exceptions will be considered on case by case basis.
We plan on holding two clinics this summer and also hope to do another early winter on-snow clinic again this year if the weather cooperates. We also plan to support skiers at local races over the winter and we even brought some NY skiers to the World Junior Team trials in Vermont last December.
The first 2011 clinic will be a one day program dedicated to biathlon shooting. We will go over proper rifle fit, position, technique & skills training with some light combination training. This will be held in Old Forge NY on Saturday June 11 and it will be free. Also, The Polar Bear Biathlon Club will be hosting a summer biathlon (running & shooting) race the following day on 6/12/11 so the kids can put what they learned to the test right away!
The second clinic has not been finalized yet, but we hope to set up a 2 or 3 day program that will have more advanced shooting & physical training involved. This will be geared towards stronger skiers who have already raced in the winter and/or have gone through our earlier clinics. This is still under development and more information will be made available once the dates & locations are finalized.
**Space at the clinics will be limited so please call or send an email to Sean Halligan ASAP if you are interested. When doing so, please provide us with:
- Name & email address & phone number.
- Past experience level with Nordic skiing and biathlon.
- If you have a biathlon rifle &/or have access to one you can borrow.
**Biathlon newcomers should reply ASAP as loner rifles will be limited!!
Please note that we will only be sending the firm details for each program to those people who express an interest in coming, so if you are interested you have to let us know! Tell us sooner than later, even if it is a “maybe” so we can properly plan and keep you in the loop.
We look forward to hearing from you. Please feel free to reply or call if you have any questions. Also, pass this information on to anyone who might be interested.
518-583-6132 (Sean) Sean@halliganci.com
845-255-5636 (Art)
315-369-3624 (Carl)
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