After our Pledge of Allegiance and reciting the Four Way Test, Anthony Nordan offered the invocation. Dean Monke turned the microphone over to our Student Guests, Naomi Beske and Bradley Hunter. Bradley is the son of Lloyd and Lynn (?) and serves as the manager of our high school boys basketball team; his plans for next year are to go to either the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis or the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire. Naomi Beske is the daughter of Jerry and Terry Covington and her involvements include student council, choir, orchestra, dancing (with Mary Pettit one of her instructors) and working at Pioneer Care. Brad Hoganson then introduced our Student Athletes from Hillcrest: Anna Murray who hails from New Jersey and played soccer and basketball at Hillcrest; she is a National Honor Society student and plans to attend the University of Pittsburg next year for her pre-med education; and Lexi Tungseth, daughter of John and Nancy (?) and a cheerleader at Hillcrest who next year plans to attend M-State to pursue a career in nursing.
Lori Larson recruited President Steve to give a three minute presentation on Rotary at a March 8th Chamber event and then we went into brags and fines. Greg Darling paid up in anticipation of leaving for the warmer inclines of the southwest for a week while Brad Hoganson offered up both a Happy and Sad Dollar, sadly noting the death of his childhood pastor and hero but thankful for the influence he had on Brad's life.
Buzz Lundeen introduced our speakers for the day, Jeannie Trosvig and Paul Meyer, representing the local club of the Minnesota Youth Skiing League ("MYSL"). Jeannie, picking up on the pattern in presenting our student guests and athletes, announced she is the daughter of Bob and Barb Lorsung. The MYSL has been in existence for 25 years, starting out as the Bill Koch (who won a silver medal at the 1976 Olympics) Ski League Club at Como Park in St. Paul. They decided to develop a curriculum on how to teach kids to have fun on skis, which entails an eight week course at six different levels. Nordic skiing was described as a contact sport, but this writer could not tell if that just reflects the games that club members regularly play or if that is the norm in Nordic skiing (when I tried it I know I had a lot of contact with the ground). Poor snow conditions limited the club to less than three practices last year but this year they have only had to cancel one practice, and that was due to the cold. There are now 29 clubs in Minnesota and Wisconsin with over 2000 members. Jeannie reported she grew up at Spidahl's but really did not become adept at skiing until she volunteered as an instructor for the club when her daughter was in second grade. Now she and Paul Meyer are co-coordinators for the local club. Jeannie pointed out that after Bill Koch, the next Olympic medal won by an American happened just the prior day, when Jessie Diggins and her partner took gold in South Korea; Jessie started in the MYSL when she was four years old.
Paul Meyer moved to town in 2012. The program offered in Fergus Falls is for second to sixth graders and they typically have about 35 attend their Sunday meetings. Nordic, or cross-country skiing, was described as a life-long sport that you can do as long as you can walk. The local club's biggest challenge is keeping good equipment on hand for the students; where they ski, Spidahl's, is provided free of charge by Dave and Cindy, and their trails were described as "Minnesota's best kept secret." There are two types of Nordic skiing -- striding or traditional/classic and skate skiing. President Steve gave a historical perspective on skiing in the Fergus Falls area and then the two students who accompanied Jeannie and Paul, Barret Skoglund and Annie Meyer, gave their perspectives on the sport. Barret, a junior in high school, described it as a full body workout; she received all conference honors this past year. Annie, a fifth grader, is Barret's protégé and it was obvious they both love the activity. We also were able to look at some of their equipment which they brought to the meeting.