Winter Sports: The Challenge and the Benefits
Yes! The first two weeks of MCS’ Winter Sports Ski and Snowboard lessons have gone well. Thank you to all those staff and parent volunteers who are making this program so successful and organized.
Why skiing and snowboarding, you wonder? It has always been a goal to be able to give each elementary student the opportunity to explore the sports as part of our great Wasatch Front, and world-renowned mountain slopes.
Transporting eighty plus students, with gear, snacks, and equipment is no small feat. There is a lot of preparation, practice, and patience involved. There is nothing quite like the panic of missing snow-pants, a broken clasp on a helmet, or the confusion of 4 sets of skis that all look alike and the label has rubbed off.
However, and whatever the new challenge is, the buzz and nervous excitement of the students makes it all worth it. Our students are challenged in every way, taking on Winter Sports. They are leaving their regular school day schedule with several tricky transitions from eating lunch earlier, changing into proper clothing and gear, keeping track of gear and bags, moving to and from proper busses, meeting up and working with different groups of peers and instructors, developing new skills, and so much more.
You have probably noticed your students are exhausted by the end of the day! Not only are they getting such a great physical workout with carrying their gear back and forth, staying on their feet for the two- and half-hour lesson, and all the muscle groups in their legs, they are receiving many social and emotional benefits as well.
Some of the added benefits for this kind of activity are as follows:
- Increased circulation equals increased endorphins and adrenaline: this can elevate the mood and provide an overall sense of wellbeing and contentment.
- Greater sense of spacial awareness: being able to judge speed, distances, and body position begins with your mind and its’ ability to interpret surroundings.
- Better Sleep: at the end of the day with so many charged interactions between brain and body, you might notice the Sandman comes to your home and a deep, healing sleep will come.
- Improved concentration and thinking capacity by making strategic decisions like the best route and considering other moving objects around you. This means a greater capacity to learn in all areas of life flexing the correct brain muscles to decrease chances of suffering from mental decline in old age.
We look forward to the remaining lessons this season. Please don’t forget sunscreen and NUT-FREE snacks and water bottles for the bus rides. If you have any questions, feel free to contact the MCS Office.
