An amazing story!

Hope this finds you all having a wonderful Thanksgiving, shared with family and friends. Snow is in the air. Are you thinking about skiing???

Here is a story about a woman who experienced an amazing miracle. It was a nice reminder that miracles still do happen. Enjoy! :)

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/rabobank-womens-team-signs-miracle-athlete-monique-van-der-vorst

SAIL's SPAR Program

Hello Friends and Followers,

The Superior Alliance for Independent Living's Recreation Program has officially taken over the ski program. Please help them to make this program a continued success.

There are small duties that need attending to year around in order to have a smooth ski season. Volunteers are always welcome.

The more people out enjoying the U.P. winters on cross-country ski trails, the happier we will be. Winter's fresh air and fitness are a wonderful combination! :)

Weeeeeeee!!!!!

Downhill! :-)

more video...

Some 2011 Videos

Mqt Year End Celebration

We had a party! :)

One memorable moment of the night:

One participant asked where our party was. When he was told that he was at the party, he looked confused. So I asked him what a party meant to him, and he said there should be balloons! :)

Despite no balloons, everyone seemed to have fun. There were healthy snacks, socializing, a re-cap of this years accomplishments, a few videos from our outings, and a fun slide show. The stars of the night were the volunteers and the donors, those who supported us to make the season a success.

Thank you to everyone who made this year a success!

MTU Crew Photos

This years support came from...

Becker Law of Madison, WI
$300.00 Storage Rental Fee

City of Ishpeming Parks and Recreation
FREE Use of trails (49 Uses, $7.00/day = $343.00 total)

Ishpeming Community Foundation
$700.00 for equipment purchase

Michigan Tech
FREE Use of trails (22 # of Uses, $6.00/day = $132.00)

Michigan Tech Nordic Ski Club
FREE Rentals (4 users, $10.00 yearly pass = $40.00 total)

Milestones and Mobility
Participant Referrals

Negaunee Community Foundation
$300.00 for equipment purchase

Sports Rack
6 binding mounts and wax ($90.00)

Superior Timing
2 FREE Race Timing

Wilderness Sports
9 FREE Rentals ($81.00)

YMCA of Marquette County
Advertising

Individual Donations.
$175.00

Continued Support is needed for...

Funding
For administrative costs, equipment costs, misc costs (equipment repair).

More equipment
Stand-up skis, boots, poles,
Sit-skis (esp. children’s sizes)

More volunteers
Modify equipment
Help to teach skiing
Wax skis

We appreciate everyone's support, no matter how big.
Thank you! :)

Thank you card from the Mqt Program

Interesting Facts, MTU Program

Despite the cold weather this winter, the MTU program was able to provide 22 lessons. Most of these lessons had more volunteers than participants.

These lessons were made possible by generous donations from the MTU Nordic Ski Club, who provided free rentals for all of the skiers.

Thank you, MTU Nordic Ski Club!

Interesting Facts, Mqt Program

100% volunteer run organization

Number of days scheduled: 10
1 canceled due to lack of snow.

Number of lessons attended: 49
Volunteer Hours for lessons: 68

Misc. Volunteer Hours: ~160

MINIMAL # of Volunteer Hours Required DURING SEASON: 250

Total amount of money donated: $1475.00

Total amount of “in-kind” monetary donations: ~$515.00

GRAND total needed to run the program: ~$2000.00 + cost of sit-skis (don. by CXC)

Blog
848 Hits (as of Saturday), with 656 of them from the US.
Other viewers are from the UK, Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, and Finland.
2 followers.
Please visit and follow our blog for updates.
http://mqt-adaptive-ski.blogspot.com/

MTU OC Photo Update

Look, a "FINN!" No wonder he is a natural! :)

And more of us...

It wasn't possible to upload all of these photos onto one post. So much fun that we have so many participants here in Marquette! :) Everyone has made such progress, friendships have formed, and now there are about 10 more avid skiers in our county! :)

We have one more session left (this coming Tuesday), and we are all hoping for some fresh snow...we might need to cancel it due to ice...and that would be sad.

Remember to RSVP for the Year End Social. It will be held at the SAIL Office in Marquette. If you need directions, just ask. See you there! :)

Most of the crew

It is all about having fun!

Ski then play. Sometimes playing in the snow is more fun. ;)

As long as everyone is smiling, we'll do whatever it takes to get them out.

NMU Home Meet Adaptive Race - Al Quaal

Congratulations to all of our Participants in the NMU Home Meet Adaptive Race! Thank you for coming out to ski! It was so much fun, and everyone had personal bests! :)

Thank you to Superior Timing for donating your time and equipment to time both the NMU Meet and the MTU SuperTour Meet! It is because of generous community/business support like yours that our program is able to offer so many fantastic experiences. THANK YOU!

Hopefully more race opportunities will be available next ski season. :)

Welcome Iron Mountain Participants! :-)

Wow! Look at that smile! Snow+Ski=Smiles. The formula once again proves to be true. :)

NMU Home Meet, and adaptive race coming up

Please join us as a skier or spectator.

NMU Home Meet, Al Quaal Trails Race.
(Adaptive XC Ski Race)

Sunday, February 13th, 2011
1:30 p.m., $5.00 Entry Fee
Please pre-register with Jodi (jodi.tervo(at)cxcskiing.org) by Feb. 10th.

Thank You, Kiwanis

Today Sarah Peura and I attended a Kiwanis meeting at the Ramada Inn in Marquette. They invited us to talk about our adaptive ski program.

Thank you Don Hurst for telling your club about us. We had a lot of fun, and made some good connections.

2011 USSA SuperTour at Michigan Tech

What a race! :) We had one participant in the first ever MTU SuperTour Event. It was his 3rd time on skis and he completed a 0.6 km course in less than 6 minutes! Great work! Congratulations!!!

He must have some great ski instructors! Thank you volunteers for helping to make opportunities like this available to our community!

The Mining Journal featured our ski program, too.

It was nice to see media interest out on our first night. Here is the article from the Mining Journal.

http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/557861/Everyone-can-ski.html?nav=5137

Please share the word.

And remember, we have a couple of ski races coming up.

SuperTour next weekend, January 29th, 4:10 p.m. at Michigan Tech.

The Al Quaal race will be the second weekend of February, with more details coming soon.

Skier Progress is Amazing.

The participants have had huge smiles on their faces, and the volunteers too.

From walking to gliding...
From skiing with assistance to skiing with someone nearby...
From skiing with assistance to skiing independently...

The participants progress has been so rapid, we are all excited and eager to see what each one will be able to do the next session.

Skis are in, waxed, and the bindings are mounted! :)

Thank you to our volunteers for waxing the skis! And, also to Sports Rack for mounting our bindings for us. The participants love them!

Amazing Volunteers and Community!

Wow! Yesterday I sent out an email to ask 5 of our volunteers if they would be willing to wax our new skis, and within a couple of hours all skis were taken. Now today, the youth skis are at Sports Rack (a local ski shop) and they are mounting the bindings for us!

Thank you everyone for your amazing support for our program! The participants are grateful. :)

Ski sessions are underway.

Both the Marquette and Michigan Tech Opportunity Centers opened this week. Tuesday in Marquette we had 8 participants out learning how to ski. Some of last years participants were there, and continue to make quick progress. Hopefully soon they will be independent and able to ski with their families. :)

The Michigan Tech program had 3 participants out for the first time in their history! :) They are meeting on Thursday evenings. Thank you to everyone who is helping the Michigan Tech program get off its feet. They all had fun, and are looking forward to skiing again next week.

The ski year is off to a great start!

Happy Skiing!

If you have questions about either program, please feel free to contact me via email.
jodi.tervo(at)cxcskiing.org

We made the news!

Here is the link for the Fox UP Late News:

http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/news/story.aspx?list=194550&id=566109

More to come from the Mining Journal. Stay tuned.

Yay! A Successful Opening Night at Al Quaal.

An absolutely fantastic first night of skiing here at the Al Quaal trails in Ishpeming! :) The smiling faces are back, both volunteers and participants.

Thank you to Wilderness Sports for once again generously donating free rentals to our stand-up participants. We are diligently working on getting our own supply of skis. If anyone would like to make donations of ski equipment, please let me know. We are looking for complete sets in all sizes.

We had 8 participants out tonight, 4 for each session. All ages, all abilities, and everyone was smiling.

At the beginning we had a couple of news reporters interviewing and filming volunteers, participants, and their parents. If I can find links to the articles I will post them. Some of our young participants felt like superstars! :)

We all look forward to a great ski season. Stay tuned for more updates on both programs.

Remember to consider the 2011 USSA SuperTour Adaptive Race at Michigan Tech at the end of the month.

Super Tour Registration Open

The Super Tour this year, hosted by Michigan Tech will include an Adaptive Race category. This is the first Super Tour Adaptive Race ever, so please sign up to make history! :)

When:
Saturday, January 29th, 2011, at 4:10 p.m.

Here is the registration page:
http://www.skireg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=3155

Come out to join the race or watch the excitement!

For more specific details, please contact me.
jodi.tervo(at)cxcskiing.org

I'd love to see a large turn-out. :)


As listed in the Daily Mining Gazette:

Registration Open for 2011 USSA Michigan Tech Super Tour Event presented by Portage Health

HOUGHTON, Mich. - Registration for the 2011 USSA Michigan Tech Super Tour Event presented by Portage Health is now open. The event, January 28-30, will feature races for youth through professional skiers and everyone in between. All races are at the Michigan Tech Nordic Training Center, host of the 2006 Junior Olympics and the 2007 and 2008 U.S. National Championships.

For more information and to register, go to http://www.supertour.mtu.edu.

MTU OC: Thursday's 4:30

If you know of anyone who would like to learn how to XC ski who has a disability in the Houghton area, please let us know. The MTU program will be meeting at 4:30 on Thursday afternoons through the end of the ski season (roughly through March 2011).

The MTU volunteers are flexible, so if this time does not fit your schedule there is a chance to schedule a different time.

Karyn Juntunen is the one who is organizing the day-to-day business for the Michigan Tech Opportunity Center. Her email address is: kjuntunen(at)copperisd.org

PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED.

Happy Skiing on the beautiful Michigan Tech trails!

MTU OC Volunteer Training - Such FUN!!

Such great volunteers we have! Thank you for donating your time for our community!

No Snow...

Please keep your fingers crossed for new snow here in the U.P.

Tonight was suppose to be the first night of the 2011 Mqt Adaptive Ski Program. However, the weather has different thoughts. With icy conditions and dirt showing through we had to cancel our event for tonight.

We are hoping that new snow will fall and we will be able to start next week.

Maybe we need to sing the Yooper's Heikki Lunta Snowdance Song!

Links of potential interest

Sent from followers of our UP Ski Program.

A biking story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7smBb_dA5Y

And, the US Adaptive XC Ski Team Link:
http://www.usskiteam.com/adaptive

Enjoy!