CSA Women's Association Helps Local Kids Fall in Love with Winter

This past winter, 1,027 students from 12 schools across five counties laced up ski boots — many of them for the first time — and skied the groomed trails at Crystal Mountain Nordic Center through Nordic Rocks, a programHeading down the trail at Crystal Mountain Nordic Center. of the Crystal Community Ski Club (CCSC), a local nonprofit. Sessions are free for all schools, and every 3rd through 5th grade class can register for up to four sessions across the season. That structure is intentional: this isn’t a one-time ski field trip. It’s a real introduction to a lifetime sport, with enough repetition for skills to actually take hold — all while falling a little in love with northern Michigan winter.

 

It was a fifth-grade boy at Traverse Heights Elementary who offered the most accurate assessment anyone has made of the Nordic Rocks program. Taking a break at the top of Thumper, one of Crystal Mountain Nordic Center’s intermediate trails, cheeks flushed, poles planted, he turned to a classmate and delivered his verdict: on a scale of one to ten, Nordic skiing rates an eleven. 

 

Nordic Rocks was built with every kid in mind. Nearly half of participants qualify for free or reduced lunch, and the program deliberately reaches rural schools where winter recreation can feel out of A group works its way through the forest trails - coats ditched, spirits high.reach. It asks very little of families. There are no equipment costs, no special clothing requirements, and coaches keep spare gloves and socks on hand for kids who need them. And while kids are busy having fun, they’re also getting one of the best full-body cardio workouts of their young lives — legs, core, arms, lungs — the kind of workout that feels like play. Healthy bodies, active minds, and a genuine love of being outside in winter: Nordic Rocks delivers all three.

 “I love doing this — it makes me feel so alive inside. I can’t understand why more people don’t do this!” — ZOE, 4TH GRADE, BLAIR ELEMENTARY

After each session, kids pile into the Nordic tent — cheeks red, boots off, skis racked — and wrap cold hands around hot chocolate while popcorn disappears faster than it can be refilled. The tent gets loud. The stories get bigger. Nobody is in any hurry to leave. Teachers report that ski days are favorites all around — and not just for the obvious reasons. The confidence kids carry back onto the bus tends to follow them through the rest of the school day. They’re calmer, more positive, and with notable changes in behavior — fueled by the particular confidence that comes from trying something that scared them — and finding out they were more than up to it.

The Nordic Rocks coaching team brings genuine passion to every session. Program coordinator and coach Liz Negrau is second from right. Not pictured: part-time coach and fellow CSAer Matt Nahnsen.

Thank you, CSA Women’s Association.

This season, the CSA Women’s Association generously funded Nordic Rocks equipment — skis and boots sized specifically for 3rd through 5th graders — making it possible for hundreds of kids to experience the sport on properly fitted gear. That investment shows up in every session, in every kid who pushes off for the first time and discovers they can actually do this. We are deeply grateful. Your generosity is felt by every child who pulls on those boots, pushes off for the first time, and discovers they can do something wonderful.