CCSA Skier Interviews
By Corey Coogan
March 3, 2005
Linn Dale | Heidi Rader | Lisa Graham
Linn Dale, St. Olaf College
- I know that you grew up in Norway, when did you move
to Minnesota?
I moved to Minnesota with my family almost three years ago,
in July 2003.
- What Minnesota high school did you go to? Did you
ski for one of the local club teams as well as your high
school team?
I went to Bloomington Jefferson High School for one year
and had a fun year skiing with the high school team. I also
participated at some of the Minneapolis ski club summer
practices with Bj�rn Lasserud.
What are you majoring in at St. Olaf? What do you intend
to do after college? Do you think that you will continue
to ski after college?
I am double majoring in exercise science and psychology
at St Olaf. I will probably go back to Norway after college
and study at the Norwegian Sports University (�Norges Idrettsh�gskole�).
I am interested in sport psychology, because I love people
and sports. I have also thought about physical therapy.
I will definitely continue skiing after college. I love
skiing, because it is a lifetime sport that I may continue
doing for the rest of my life. I will keep competing as
long as it is fun. - Describe your experience skiing in Norway. When did
you start skiing? When did you start racing? How is junior
skiing different in Norway?
My experience skiing in Norway was great. I have been on
many different teams throughout the years and my experience
has always been that everyone is very committed to the sport.
There are no school sports in Norway, so club teams organize
everything. I found that it was very important to have a
good support system, because parents often had to drive
us to practices and races, since there was no team-bus or
anything. I think there are both advantages and disadvantages
with school sports. One of the things have really enjoyed
in the US is the strong sense of team spirit. I have skied
since I was very little, but I started competing when I
was about 13 or 14 years old.
- You ran cross-country for St. Olaf this fall, did
that have a positive effect on your training?
Yes, I believe running cross-country at St Olaf had a positive
impact on my season, because it helped me stay motivated.
On the other hand, I probably should have roller skied a
lot more and possibly done some more ski specific strength.
- How do you feel about your season thus far? Have you
met your goals?
I have to admit that this has only been a mediocre season
for me. I have not met my goals, because I didn�t do enough
summer training. I am definitely motivated to train a lot
more this summer and before the next season.
Heidi Rader, University of Alaska-Fairbanks
-
 You
are one of few CCSA competitors enrolled in graduate school.
What are you studying? What do you plan to do once you have
completed your degree?
I'm in a Natural Resource Management Master's program. I'm
primarily interested in sustainable agriculture and am working
with a professor who does geothermal greenhouse work at
a nearby hotsprings. They grow vegetables all yearround
using the heat of the hotsprings. My project might be some
sort of high tunnel vegetable trial. I'm not sure if I've
planned as far as to when I graduate, but some ideas I have
are being a mountaineering instructor or a hunting guide,
or earning a PHD in sustainable agriculture in Europe.
- Where did you earn your undergraduate degree and in
what?
I went to University of Colorado at Boulder and majored
in evolutionary and ecological biology.
- What high school or club did you ski for and what
was your bestresult in high school?
I skied for West Valley High School in Fairbanks and I think
my best result was top-20 in State, but I don't really remember
exactly. I only raced seriously the last two years of high
school, so I never went to junior nationals.
- Did you ski as an undergraduate?
I went to New Zealand the year after highschool and then
kind of gave up racing for the next two years and then went
on study abroad to Cosa Rica and then thought about skiing
my last year at CU, but I wasn't really too excited about
roller skiing all the time and wanted to try triathlons,
so I did summer and winter triathlons last year and a few
ski races that were mostly skating.
- As a graduate student, how much NCAA eligibility do
you have remaining?
This is my last year of eligibility because I had four fulltime
years of college already.
- What factors caused you to choose UAF for graduate
school? How did you decide to join the ski team?
I just graduated from CU last spring and was planning on
helping out my uncle who is a hunting guide for a couple
months and then working odd jobs and helping out with a
mountaineering class and going on lots of trips and not
going to school at least for a year, if not five. The hunting
sort of fell through because of the smoke and so I ended
up in Fairbanks, where I�m from, longer than I planned and
I didn't call any of my friends because I was planning on
leaving again, but my friends found me and one of my good
friends, Jed Kallen-Brown, said that I should take some
classes so I could ski. Scott had also recruited my little
sister, so I knew he needed people. I talked to Scott and
found out I actually had to be in grad. school to ski and
I had considered going to grad school, just not so soon.
So I applied and got accepted the day before classes started.
Anyway, it's not what most people expect to hear, but that's
how it happened.
- Since UAF competes in CCSA, the team travels a lot.
Has this been difficult for you academically? Do you think
it is more or less challeging for the undergraduates on
your team?
Honestly, since I'm just now beginning to develop my project,
it hasn't been that difficult academically. I think that
for me, undergrad was far more vigorous because of classes
like calculus and organic chemistry. I usually had a hard
class or two every semester and I think that travelling
during those classes would have been far more difficult.
Also, things have been good for me this year because I wasn't
in a rush to get into graduate school, so I had time to
think about what project I really wanted to do. When I first
was getting into grad school, there was some pressure to
just pick any project, usually lab projects under professors.
Since I was more focused on skiing this year, I kind of
needed to wait before I could really work on something and
now I have a project that I can develop with the professor's
help, which I'm really interested in, so I'm pretty happy
with how things turned out.
- Will you continue to ski after you complete your degree?
I'll probably still ski, but I really enjoy winter triathlons,
so maybe if that turns into an Olympic sport I'll train
for that. This fall was the first time I've roller skied
and I can't say that I'm a huge fan. I really enjoy triathlons
because you're not just training for one thing all the time.
Also I think I probably have the most potential for biking
and in winter triathlons you bike on a groomed ski trail
so it doesn't hurt when you crash like it does in road bike
or mountain bike races.
Lisa Graham, Finlandia University
- Since Finlandia University is the �new kid on the
block� to many readers, can you give us a short description
of the school?
Finlandia University is a small private school in the copper
country. It has roughly 600 students. The Hancock area is
a great place for skiing and the outdoors. Finlandia has
a small campus, but a friendly atmosphere that gives you
the opportunity to know most of the students and staff.
-
Photo: C T&S FotoForge |
What led you to choose to attend Finlandia?
I came to Finlandia to play volleyball and to get a good
education. I didn�t intend on Nordic skiing.
- Have you chosen a major yet? Which one?
My major is elementary education and my focuses are math
and science. I will have a degree for K-8th grade, and I
am hoping to teach upper elementary students.
- Where are you from? Did you ski in high school? If
so, what was your best result in high school? If not, what
convinced you to begin skiing in college?
I am from Bessemer, Michigan. It is about 2 hours away from
Finlandia. I did not ski in High School. I convinced myself
to ski to stay in good shape during my off-season for volleyball
and to help get Finlandia NCAA-qualified. We needed as many
people as possible to participate in Nordic skiing in order
to become qualified.
- What do you like best about Finlandia�s ski team?
I really enjoy Finlandia�s ski team. I have a blast on all
of our ski trips, and the practices are a great workout.
It is a great time to get to know other students.
- It seems that your team is competing only in classic
technique events, is this intentional? Do you skate in practice?
This year we were just learning to ski, so we only competed
in classic events. Our coach felt it was better to get classic
down before we learn something new. We started to skate
in practice, but we are just learning. We are not ready
to compete in skating events yet.
- Describe your vision for the future of skiing at Finlandia.
What do you imagine the team will be like in, say, 2008?
I think the future holds endless possibilities for the Finlandia
Ski Team. We are all very young and willing to learn better
technique everyday. I think in the year 2008, Finlandia
will be able to compete with the best skiers in our region.
- What sort of person would be an ideal recuit for the
Finlandia Ski Team?
I think the ideal recruit for the Finlandia Ski Team is
someone who has ski experience and has a good attitude.
We need someone that is willing to not only learn new things,
but also to teach and guide new skiers.
Related links
|
