This season, Andover Boys and Girls Nordic are looking to improve upon its performance from last year. The boys’ team is looking to rebound from a seventh place finish in the conference last year. The team will look to use its multitude of returning Seniors with veteran experience to increase the team’s standing. The girls are also looking to improve from their finish last season, which ended them in fifth place. Three of the team’s five Varsity skiers graduated last year. While Nordic’s focus is on faster individual times and winning races, both boys and girls teams maintain emphasis on having fun. “Our main goals are to have a good season, while also having fun,” said Daniel Lee ’14. “A big part of the team is the camaraderie. We sometimes spend three hours in a cramped van, which definitely helps the team get closer.” To improve their times, the team will work on technique. “We’re looking to improve our technique, and get better times, now that we all know how to ski. Getting better times as a team is a big goal,” said Olivia LaMarche ’16. Lee said, “Technique is a huge part for our team, and even more so for me. A lot of us just want to get better at racing. A big part of this season is getting better at racing.” Head Coach Keith Robinson’s plan to improve technique centers around “getting everyone up to speed and getting them ready to race and contribute is an expected challenge.” “Our girls team graduated three of our top five, so some folks will need to step up this year and fill in the holes,” Robinson added. The team will overcome the challenges they face through their senior leadership. LaMarche pointed to the the Captains, Sean Burkitt ’14 and Elana King-Nakaoka ’14, as a prime example, “They have so much experience and they’ve been skiing forever. They know the strengths of the team and what we need to work on. They’re very helpful with teaching the newer kids how to ski and helping the people with more experience as well.” Additionally, the team hopes that its passion for Nordic skiing will help propel it to a successful season, “We all love skiing and we all do it because we enjoy it. We may not get recruited to big schools, but we all share a love of the sport. We keep it kind of light-hearted in a sense. It’s a competitive sport, but it’s really enjoyable for everybody,” LaMarche continued. In terms of new additions to the team, there are promising athletes on the roster for both the boys and the girls. “On the girls side we have a good mix of experienced skiers and athletic newcomers with a nice mix of Seniors, Uppers, Lowers and Juniors. On the boys side, we have a lot of experience,” said Robinson. With neither team racing until after break, the focus is currently on practice. “We’ve been out skiing all week and that will really help us as we start racing in January. With the old [academic] schedule, we wouldn’t really be able to start skiing until January.” The team hopes its extra practice time will propel it to a win against Proctor on January 8.
