My daughter has been signed up to attend the Junior Development Squad (JDS) this year so I have been recruited to be one of the parent helpers. The JDS is run by Huntly Nordic and Outdoor Centre, but receives support from the club in the form of helpers and coaches.

My daughter is only 5 years old which is right at the bottom of the age range accepted for the JDS so I was a bit concerned that she would struggle as nordic skiing is quite a demanding activity. I have put her on skis a few times but this would be a big step up for her. When we actually turned up and I handed her over to Sandy and Claire it suddenly occurred to me that you need to be quite trusting to hand over you little ones to someone else who takes them out into the challenging environment which the winter world is.

At the end of the 3 hour session my daughter was loving skiing and happy to go back again next week  – so well done Sandy, Claire and Paul. On the way home she flaked out exhaused by the effort of the class.

We have been really lucky this year to start off the JDS year with a snow based session, so I had a great time accompanying slightly older participants in their class. We started off on the football pitches behind the ski centre with some exercises to improve the class’s classic technique. The presence of snow was a bit of a surprise for some of the children as some have seen very little snow in the preceeding year’s JDS. Following the break the group was split in two and the more experienced children went on a tour of the golf course where you can find a few demanding downhill sections.

To mark this being a  Winter Olypic year, the JDS has been divided into countries, Finland, Norway, Sweden and those Nordic giants Denmark. Each session will involve a Winter Olympic event (adapted for the ski centre’s circumstances), the tally of which will will be added up at the end of the season to give an overall total.  This week we had curling which comprised pushing the smallest members of the team in a tubing ring to see how far they would go on the striding lanes. It made a fun end to the session.