As you probably are aware, the Governor yesterday extended the “pause” on youth and adult sports competitions until the 4th of Jan at the earliest. The COVID rates are simply not dropping enough to warrant a return to normal. Again, too many are not following the protocols that the health experts have laid out—so we all suffer!!
Accordingly, MN Cup #1 & #2 are cancelled. The Midwest Regional Races tentatively scheduled for the 2nd & 3rd of Jan will be rescheduled.
In addition, USBA announced this morning the the US Youth and Junior World Championship Team Trials have been cancelled. You can read the full announcement on the USBA webpage.
As they will be looking at regional results to make up the US teams, being prepared, well trained and racing in Jan will be doubly important!!
In the meantime, skiing at Mt Itasca is good, and there is a 1.5 km course that you can use to mark your progress!
It’s a long journey- and certainly not always easy!! Bill Meyer, Coach MNBiathlon
Due to new policies in MN, limiting gatherings and concerns for high rates of Covid, the Midwest Region Biathlon race scheduled to be held at MT Itasca on December 5th and 6th has been postponed. Bill Meyer and VladCervenka will be monitoring the situation closely and rescheduling the race when it is considered safe to do so.
Please pass this information on to the clubs and biathletes you work with.
The other shoe has dropped! Primarily because people did not follow the earlier guidelines, COVID rates and deaths have spiked in MN and even more in surrounding States. So a new order was issued by the Governor yesterday that strongly affects how we function as MN Biathlon.
The two keys in the above guideline from the MN Dept of Health are: – Household units only – Cross Country skiing is encouraged, but only alone or with members of your household.
The immediate effect of this order means we will cancel any organized practices until further notice. That said, lets see what we can do!
Our ranges and trail systems remain open. You and your household can utilize them at any time. We will also watch for opportunities to do things like having a course marked that you can time yourself even including shooting and a penalty loop. The major key in whatever we do is to stay masked up and keep your distances from other households who may be using the facility at the same time. Don’t share shooting mats and spread out on the range as much as you can.
So with the above in mind—the informal practice Saturday at Mt Itasca is cancelled. You are welcome to go up and get in a ton of skiing—the trails are coming out as nice as normal under Vlad’s direction and grooming [pushing] has started and could be done already on about 1.5 km of trail, the firing line and the arena. I will be up there around 10:00 on Saturday, but will not be coaching/zeroing. I do plan to pick up the ammo folks ordered and get it sent on the way back to you. I will also put up paper on say 5 shooting points for zeroing use, and open 5 metal targets for shooting metal or combos. I suggest to those still coming not to all arrive at 10:00. The course will be open all day. I do need Jeff, Marcus/Tara, and hopefully someone from Duluth for ammo distribution.
Rules for using the trails/range: – Pay $6 per person per day at the kiosk on the parking side of the HQ building -Do not use the buildings for lunch/ changing etc– -Go in and get a mat on the range side of the HQ building—that is now yours until you return it. Move it from a zero point to a metal point when you are done zeroing -You will need to scope yourself or have a household member do it for you. You can’t walk down if others are shooting!! -When you are done, clean up after yourself and take your trash with you.
For those who have talked to me about trying out the sport, you are welcome to come up and ski, but I will not be offering rifle instruction or shooting at this time.
For those who did order ammo, please let me know if you plan to come up sometime on Saturday—if so I will leave your ammo at the venue. Otherwise I will send it home with someone from your area or bring it back to Nisswa. For all those who ordered—please send me a check for the appropriate number of cans—at $42.50 per each- made out to me personally.
So lets be super careful, and see how the new world shakes out!! Hopefully the COVID rates will respond to this extra effort and drop quickly. The more careful we are, obviously, the sooner we can get back to normal life! If only we had all listened the first time around!!
One of our newest members, Ryan, found these two on line. With our newfound time again for most, it is worthwhile reading through the Coach’s doc especially for those in Coaching positions!! Actually Art Stegen in NY, Marc Sheppard in West Yellowstone, and I collaborated on this about 10-15 yrs ago. There is a newer Coach’s document out by USBA, but this covers the basics like taking a shot and rifle fitting in more detail. Also note, since this was written, I have found a 4 week training cycle with an easier 2nd week works better than stepping up the load 3 weeks in a row then recovery. Kind of a mini recovery week in #2 and a bigger one in #4. The principles of load and recovery then supercompensation are still valid!! You won’t improve your fitness without that supercompensation!! The youtube clip is interesting also!!
Bill Meyer, Coach MNBiathlon
I found a coaches handbook online from the USBA that I’ve been reading through, attached below. I’ve been enjoying learning about the technical aspects of the sport and it’s been helpful to mentally prepare myself for firing posture, sequence and cadence. I also found a great video explaining how biathlon came to be. https://youtu.be/14NTlDvmzyc
