Coaching in Shungnak, AK: Where “It’s a We”

What a privilege it is to be a ski-racer: we train yearround for a sport that we love, a sport that is exciting, intimate with nature,technical, and keeps our bodies healthy. When I was in high school, our coachadvertised cross-country skiing as “a lifetime sport,” a sport inwhich you can compete for the rest of your life. For myself, I hope that thestructure and work ethic that training for cross-country ski racing instills inme will transfer when my life is centered on something other than being thefastest ski-racer or biathlete I can be. Cross-country skiing is a sport thatis worth sharing, and this April I had the privilege of getting to share thesport in rural Alaska.

There are parts of the world where skiing can not only serveas an avenue for athletic or character development, but also play a morefunctional role in daily life. Think of the Arctic, where snow covers thelandscape more often than it doesn’t, where snow-mobiles (known simply as“sno-gos” in the Arctic) pack down the snow-laden village streets,and where success or failure in silently stalking caribou on a hunt can mean aguarantee of food on the table, or not.

Skiku/NANA Nordic is an Alaskan non-profit that sends skiersand coaches to the rural Alaskan villages to teach basic skiing skills for oneweek each year. “Skiku” is the overarching name for the organization(the name comes from combining the Inupiaq word for ice, siku, and the word ski)while “NANA Nordic” was the original name for the organization beforetheir reach expanded beyond the Northwest Arctic Native Association’s region.This year Skiku had 58 villages on the schedule. Between three and six coachesare sent to each village for one week. While in the village, the coaches takeover the phys-ed classes during the day, provide after-school ski programming(usually games and adventure skiing) for kids after school, and offer lessonsfor community members as well.

This year I had the privilege of coaching with Skiku in thevillage of Shungnak. Shungnak is located 355 miles inland of the KotzebueSound, just southeast of Kobuk Valley National Park and southwest of Gates ofthe Arctic National Park. Shungnak has about 250 residents, 95% of whom are ofAlaska Native heritage. In Shungnak I was joined by two other coaches, HarvardUniversity assistant coach Jeff Tucker and GRP summer athlete Johanna Talihärm (during the week, Jeffreceived word that he would be joining the Craftsbury coaching staff for thesummer!). Although I had served as a coach with Skiku in the past, each villageis unique and I knew that Shungnak would be no exception.

Shungnak, Alaska

A week before traveling to the Arctic I called the Shungnakschool principle, Roger, to introduce myself and make sure that the village wasprepared for their “ski-week.” Roger assured me that he, the village,and the kids were ready. The kids love skiing, he had told me, and they arepretty darn good, too. He talked about previous years, about how the entirevillage had lined the village streets to watch the race at the end of the week.“Because in Shungnak, It’s a ‘We’,” he had said.

Fast forward to our week in the Arctic, and it didn’t takelong for Johanna, Jeff, and I to learn what “It’s a We” was allabout. The community made us welcome, having put up welcome signs in the schooland providing us with all the resources we need, which made it a joy to shareas much as we could about skiing with them. We spent our nights sleeping in thefourth and fifth grade classroom and our days on skis. After morning assemblyat 8:55am, we would prep for our classes by organizing gear or setting up anobstacle course, treasure hunt, games, or the race course. When P.E. classesbegan, we were fortunate that Shungnak’s students were easy to work with. Aslong as we maintained structure and order, as was the way at Shungnak school,the kids followed along. This allowed the three of us to get all the kids, asmany as thirty at a time (and nearly fifty on race day!) set up with equipmentand out the door in a matter of minutes.

Bears learning to ski… photo by Debby Tzolov

Every day we took four separate PE classes out for an houreach; ages ranged from pre-kindergarten to seventh grade, and abilities rangedwider.  Each day brought a newtheme (which always kept things interesting for both us and the kids): Startingand stopping games, agility course, biathlon, treasure hunt, and racing. Afterschool we took all comers outside to play a game on skis (the most popular beingrun, caribou, run and capture the flag) or on an adventure skieither down the sno-go trail toward the next town, Kobuk, or through thevillage streets. Although we had to be on the lookout for stray dogs andspeeding sno-gos, I always preferred going into the village, where interestedadults would glance up from their work on a sno-go to watch kids ski by, andkids would call out, “look, Dad, watch me slide!” and then proceed toshare with you all about their family as we skied along.

Found: a clue while on a treasure hunt

S’mores!

Agility Course!

The first attempts at “pizza pie”… work to be done

Scary Bear!

Laser biathlon!

It’s a showdown! Shungnak’s best vs. Johanna

It’s easy to think that we were the ones giving the kids aspecial experience. And in a way we did. It was evident when we saw the joy ontheir faces as they sprinted to the equipment line on the last day, when theyzipped down a hill without falling, or when one said “I croak”(translation: I’m exhausted) with satisfaction after he crossed the finish lineon race day. But the reality is that they and Shungnak as a whole gave us arguablythe more valued experience, one that will change our perspectives on culture,struggle, joy, and what is really important. It’s not just a privilege topursue ski racing, but it is also a privilege to share it.

Community lesson, photo by Debby Tzolov

Roger was really big on mottos. “It’s a We” wasthe big one, but there were also “Education comes first” and“Education is a job,” which were emblazoned all over the gym. Atfirst, I thought it was a little overkill. The phrases were everywhere. But bythe end of the week, I had bought in. Take “It’s a We,” for example. Rogerhad come up with the phrase as a school motto, but the words were transcendent.“It’s a We” represented Roger’s mission to increase the sense ofcommunity in Shungnak. It was Shungnak’s brand. And they wore it well, bothfiguratively, and literally. In fact, Roger had officially made the slogan a registeredtrademark of Shungnak School, and it appears of every article of schoolclothing, from teachers’ sweatshirts to basketball uniforms. Roger even outfitus ski coaches (as well as other visitors) with our own ‘It’s a We’paraphernalia, broadcasting the Shungnak identity beyond the Kobuk Valley. Butit was clear that the slogan wasn’t about sending an image to outside world,but about uniting Shungnak internally. One of Roger’s biggest goals when hearrived as principle eight years ago was to increase parent involvement in theirchild’s education, to have parent and student pursue education as a jobtogether. He wanted families to stand up against domestic violence and alcoholabuse, to make Shungnak a safe and healthy environment. He wanted the studentsto serve their communities, for example fetching stove oil for neighbors orchopping wood for an elder. This is what “It’s a We” stood for.

During our time in Shungnak we heard jaw-dropping storiesillustrating Shungnak’s transformation over the last eight years. We only got aglimpse into Shungnak, but we could see the essence of “It’s a We” insomething as simple as skiing. For one, the school had bought into the skiprogram: they not only have established an ongoing system to take the kidsskiing throughout the winter but have also purchased two laser biathlonsystems, Podiumwear warmup uniforms, and a wax box filled with a brand new SwixT77 iron, waxes, brushes, and a “Swix CeraF” apron. Teachers andcommunity members were also enjoying the sport: we had four adults attend ourevening community ski lesson, including a mom who had been convinced by herfirst and third grade daughters to give it a try. And the biggest sign ofsupport was when we saw the community turn out to watch the race on Fridayafternoon. Family members and friends lined up in front of the village storeand watched their kids race a challenging 3km in slushy conditions. For me,that alone made it worth it, to see that skiing could contribute to the missionof “It’s a We.”

Principle Roger shows off Shungnak’s Podiumwear warmups in 2018

Beautiful landscape of the NANA region