For current CDC CONCUSSION MANAGEMENT guidelines: click here.

For current EMXC COVID guidelines, click here.

For current EMXC Health and Safety guidelines, click here.

Juniors Illness Guidelines

In a group setting like a team, illnesses can spread quickly despite our best efforts. It is the responsibility of all of us to keep our teammates healthy, and to make choices that will lead to medium- and long-term success.

Training for sport is a balance of managing stress and recovery. When we train, we stress the body. When we give ourselves time to rest, we allow the body to recover, and build back stronger than before. At the most basic level, this is all ski training is. However, it is important to remember that your body does not have a "filter" for different types of stress. As far as your body is concerned, stress = stress! This means that stressors we might consider to be wildly different (social, emotional, skiing, illness) aren't all that different after all.

What does this have to do with illness? Any illness is a form of stress on your body - be it a cold, the flu, or something else. If ski training is all about adding stress and then allowing for recovery, illness often gets in the way of the recovery part of that equation. Often, athletes who have a cold or mild sickness might feel like they "can make it through" a training session - but the real problem is that they can't adequately recover from that training session.

So, as a general rule of thumb, if you have a cold, stomach bug, respiratory illness, etc., don't come to practice! This will help to keep your teammates safe, but it also will give your body time to respond to the stress already in your system, and get healthy.

Returning to Training & Practice

Below is a general outline for returning to training and practice after illness. This should be taken as suggestion, not rule. For rules and guidelines from the Safety Committee, please click here to view the EMXC Health and Safety Guidelines page. The general rule of thumb, however, stands - if you aren't continuing to feel better each day, back off.

Part 1 - Not Ready to Return: Still have symptoms of illness, fatigue, etc. Can go for short walks, but shouldn't try to "push through" and do workouts.
Part 2 - Testing the Waters: If you're starting to feel better after a few days of being sick, have your "first workout back" be something short (under 45 min) and easy (spin, easy ski, jog). If you don't feel better the next day (aka don't feel like you're still improving), take another day very easy or off.
Part 3 - Return to Practice / Training: If you've gotten an easy day under your belt and still feel better the next day, the next step is to try a longer L1 workout. If you come to practice, make sure to tell the coach that you're recovering from being sick. Listen to your body - you can try doing a longer easy session (under 90 min) or very light intensity (under L3) if you feel up to it, but don't go crazy with L3 or L4 intervals.
Part 4 - Full Return: If you've gone through a full practice in L1 with no problems and you're still feeling better, this is when you can start thinking about getting back into intensity and full training volume.

Other Preventative Measures

  • Tick Borne Illnesses: Some EMXC Juniors training involves running through the underbrush/woods at various practice locations. Tick bites can cause several illnesses such as Lyme, Borrelia, Babesiosis, Anaplasmosis, and Powossan virus. Applying a tick repellent lotion or bug spray is recommended before practice. Do a tick check after every session! Be alert to remove ticks, shower after practice and know the early signs of infection such as rash.
  • Norovirus ‘Winter Vomiting Virus’ and other gastrointestinal viruses: These highly contagious viruses causing vomiting and diarrhea are often transmitted hand to mouth. Wash your hand with soap and water before eating! If you've been sharing equipment with teammates (wax, strength gear, etc), be careful to eat your snacks with the wrapper between your hands and your food.

Juniors Rollerski Safety Guidelines

Rollerskiing is by far the highest-risk activity undertaken at EMXC Juniors practices. Juniors athletes must demonstrate an appropriate level of respect for the risks of rollerskiing. Juniors coaches reserve the right to end an athlete's practice session if the athlete is behaving in an unsafe manner.

All Juniors must master the following rollerski skills:

  • "Bailing" on grass at a moderate speed,
  • Merging quickly into single file double pole when somebody yells “car back,"
  • Snowplowing to slow down, both from a moderate speed and from a slow speed.

Mandatory Rollerski Equipment for all Juniors Athletes & Coaches:

  • Neon vest or shirt. Neon shorts, helmets, water belts, etc are "bonuses" - they do not replace a neon shirt.
  • Helmet.
  • If skiing within 1 hour of sunrise or sunset, red blinky light mounted on water belt or helmet.
  • Absolutely NO headphones.

Rollerski Rules:

  • Never cross the yellow line (or crown of the road, if there is no yellow line).
  • Communicate when a car is coming from behind, and when car has passed (“Car Back” and “Clear”).
  • When classic skiing: immediately move to single file classic skiing when a car is passing from behind.
  • When skate skiing: ALWAYS ski single file, unless you are on a closed road. Double pole when a car is passing from behind.
  • When stopped, both rollerski wheels must be off the road (or as close as is possible). If you are choosing a place to stop, choose a spot where this can be accomplished.
  • ALWAYS ski in the direction of traffic.
  • Follow the rules of the road - stop at stop signs and stop lights, use hand signals.
  • When turning left, take a "wide" corner to stay in the right lane. Do not cut into the inside of the corner.
  • ALWAYS follow the instructions of coaches. Coaches can "add rules" to this list as needed if the practice requires it.