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» WWW.GEARTRENDS.COM 60 » THE BOOK » WINTER 2004 I’m going to take a wild guess here, and assume that you enjoyed middle school about as much as I did. Yeah, brutal wasn’t it? Of course, you and I did not get to attend Alma Oatley’s outdoor education class at Mather Middle School in Munising, Mich. With Ms. Oatley I could have spent PE snow- shoeing rather than running for my life, as John Ferguson tried to remove my head with a rubber ball. Wasn’t “battle ball” just great? But Oatley’s class does much more than protect a young fella’s melon; it’s trimming young waists. Con- sider Jesse, now 14, who entered Oatley’s first-semester 8th-grade class overweight. “Through all the activity we did, he lost about 20 pounds, and he was really proud of himself. Most of the kids in this class do lose some weight,” she said. Snowshoeing has become a major part of this class, which also includes activities such as rock climbing and orienteering. The program is made possible through education grants and partnerships with snowshoe manufacturers. Over years of covering the snow- shoe market, I’ve always been im- pressed with the manufacturers’ ef- forts to reach out to participants through grassroots programs. Their initiatives seem timelier than ever, as the outdoor industry tries to at- tract young people and to counter the country’s widespread obesity problem. Snowshoe companies are now actively involved in helping es- tablish school snowshoe programs throughout the United States; this has become easier thanks to gov- ernment resources. In 2000, the U.S. Department of Education established the Carol M. White Physical Education Pro- gram (PEP). This provides grant money to school systems so they can implement alternative physical education classes. Larry Lawless, a retired school principal, served as a grant admin- istrator to help Michigan schools secure a PEP grant. “When you live in the upper peninsula of Michi- gan, you have snow on the ground five months a year,” Lawless said. “We were looking at alternative types of outdoor programs and talked about cross-country skiing, but the obvious problem is the tremendous equipment expendi- ture. Snowshoeing has become more popular here in the upper peninsula, so we thought snow- shoes would be a good way to go.” With the help of Lawless, Michi- gan schools received a $435,000 PEP grant, of which $80,000 was appropriated for snowshoe class- es. In the fall of 2002, 44 middle schools each received 35 pairs of Redfeather snowshoes. Snowshoe companies such as Redfeather, Tubbs, Atlas and Yaki- ma have assisted such efforts by providing shoes for wholesale or less. “When I heard we were get- ting these 35 snowshoes, I almost did cartwheels,” recalled Oatley. “Otherwise, it would be cost pro- hibitive for a school to buy that type of equipment.” Redfeather also sent out its reps to the different school districts in Grants and partnerships are bringing snowshoes into public school programs—and making PE 4 school BY MARCUS WOOLF s n o w s h o e s too cool » » fun again. PHOTO COURTESY OF ATLAS SNOW-SHOE COMPANY/KEOKI FLAGG PHOTO, 2001
Transcript of snowshoes 4school - Amazon Web...
» W W W . G E A R T R E N D S . C O M6 0 » T H E B O O K » W I N T E R 2 0 0 4
I’m going to take a wild guess here,and assume that you enjoyed middle school about as much as I did.Yeah, brutal wasn’t it? Of course, you and I did not get to attendAlma Oatley’s outdoor education class at Mather Middle School inMunising, Mich. With Ms. Oatley I could have spent PE snow-shoeing rather than running for my life, as John Ferguson tried toremove my head with a rubber ball. Wasn’t “battle ball” just great?
But Oatley’s class does much morethan protect a young fella’s melon;it’s trimming young waists. Con-sider Jesse, now 14, who enteredOatley’s first-semester 8th-gradeclass overweight. “Through all theactivity we did, he lost about 20pounds, and he was really proud ofhimself. Most of the kids in thisclass do lose some weight,” she said.
Snowshoeing has become amajor part of this class, which alsoincludes activities such as rockclimbing and orienteering. Theprogram is made possible througheducation grants and partnershipswith snowshoe manufacturers.
Over years of covering the snow-shoe market, I’ve always been im-pressed with the manufacturers’ ef-forts to reach out to participantsthrough grassroots programs. Theirinitiatives seem timelier than ever,as the outdoor industry tries to at-tract young people and to counterthe country’s widespread obesityproblem. Snowshoe companies arenow actively involved in helping es-tablish school snowshoe programsthroughout the United States; thishas become easier thanks to gov-ernment resources.
In 2000, the U.S. Department ofEducation established the CarolM. White Physical Education Pro-gram (PEP). This provides grantmoney to school systems so they
can implement alternative physicaleducation classes.
Larry Lawless, a retired schoolprincipal, served as a grant admin-istrator to help Michigan schoolssecure a PEP grant. “When you livein the upper peninsula of Michi-gan, you have snow on the groundfive months a year,” Lawless said.“We were looking at alternativetypes of outdoor programs andtalked about cross-country skiing,but the obvious problem is thetremendous equipment expendi-ture. Snowshoeing has becomemore popular here in the upperpeninsula, so we thought snow-shoes would be a good way to go.”
With the help of Lawless, Michi-gan schools received a $435,000PEP grant, of which $80,000 wasappropriated for snowshoe class-es. In the fall of 2002, 44 middleschools each received 35 pairs ofRedfeather snowshoes.
Snowshoe companies such asRedfeather, Tubbs, Atlas and Yaki-ma have assisted such efforts byproviding shoes for wholesale orless. “When I heard we were get-ting these 35 snowshoes, I almostdid cartwheels,” recalled Oatley.“Otherwise, it would be cost pro-hibitive for a school to buy thattype of equipment.”
Redfeather also sent out its repsto the different school districts in
Grants and partnerships are bringing
snowshoes into public school
programs—and making PE
4schoolB Y M A R C U S W O O L F
s n o w s h o e s
too cool
»
»
fun again.
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Michigan to instruct the teachers on how touse the products, and help them understandother important aspects of traveling out-doors in winter. And, Sports Rack, a 14-year-old store in Marquette, Mich., helped sup-ply the Michigan schools with 1,000snowshoes.
Oatley has run her morning outdoor ed-ucation classes for 8th graders for threeyears. Before her school received the PEPgrant, she had to borrow wooden snow-shoes from the National Park Service andreturn them after six weeks.
“When we got the grant, the snowshoeingreally took off because we could use shoesas long as we wanted to. And these were alu-minum shoes that the kids liked much better.”
As Oatley’s students get in shape, they arealso becoming outdoor enthusiasts. “The kidshave asked their parents to get them snow-shoes. Many times, the whole family will getthem. Plus, it gives them an appreciation thatthere are things in the outdoors other thansnowmobiling and four-wheeling.”
Jim Segar, a middle school and highschool physical education teacher in MontPelier, Vt., has worked with Tubbs to pro-mote school snowshoe programs through-out the state. He says that in the UnitedStates, schools are beginning to implementPE classes with certain standards. In Ver-mont, standards have been produced by theAmerican Alliance for Health, Physical Ed-ucation, Recreation and Dance, a non-prof-it, educational organization that promotesand supports creative and healthy lifestyles.
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TravelChair created the folding camp chair 20 years ago in Gig Harbor, Washington. We are still in Gig Harbor and still producing the best quality folding furniture, which is why you will only find us at specialty retailers.
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When I heard we weregetting these 35
snowshoes, I almost did cartwheels.
—Alma Oatley, 8th-grade teacher““
getting some skill, some basis for lifelongpractices,” said Segar. School snowshoe pro-grams have been running in Vermont forabout six years, starting in middle school,where students first learn safety aspects ofthe activity, then the recreational aspect.
The children are not the only ones whobenefit from school snowshoe classes; theteachers do as well. The Vermont SchoolBoard Insurance Trust (VSBIT) operates aprogram that tries to involve all membersof the education system in healthy lifestyleactivities. Its Vermont Educator’s HealthInitiative program serves 17,000 memberswho range from teachers to bus drivers.The idea behind the program is that healthystaff members are the critical first piece increating a successful curriculum.
As part of the Health Initiative, VSBITheld a contest in 2002 where winners re-ceived money to purchase Tubbs snow-shoes. Teachers paid $10, received a pe-dometer and walked a certain number ofsteps each day for 10 weeks. Along the way,they accomplished different missions re-lated to healthy behaviors—improving eat-ing, simplifying their lives, etc. Though theprize money went toward the purchase ofadult shoes, VSBIT also matched funds toacquire kid-sized shoes. In 2002, VSBITpurchased about $50,000 in snowshoesfrom Tubbs to support snowshoe programsin 50 schools throughout Vermont.
While schools have ramped up theirsnowshoe programs for kids, so have anumber of National Forests, National Parksand non-profit organizations. In 1995, Lit-tle Bear Snowshoes and the Winter Wild-lands Alliance (WWA) in Boise, Idaho, es-tablished Snow School, the largest nationalprogram devoted to on-snow winter ecol-ogy field trips for elementary school stu-dents. It began as a loaner program, whereLittle Bear provided shoes to WWA, whosemain function is to promote human-pow-ered activities on public lands. Now, theAtlas Snow-shoe Co. provides the shoes,and there are Snow School programs at 23locations in forests, parks, private naturecenters and colleges.
“The idea of Snow School is to providescience-based and physical education-basedprograms for 4th graders,” said Ken Miller,education and outreach coordinator for
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WWA. “All of the sites are in some way notfor profit, and they all have interpretive en-vironmental and educational programs.”
WWA is now developing curricula andproviding information to new sites thatmay not have them established. Many ofthe Snow Schools use a curriculum to workwith local school districts to facilitate out-ings. An interesting twist is that WWA re-quires each site to make any and all edu-cational materials available to other sites.
As for Atlas, it not only provides SnowSchools with shoes at a discount, but italso puts WWA hangtags on products tohelp promote the program.
For the last 10 years, physical educationprograms in schools have withered away,but snowshoe companies are on the righttrack toward improving kids’ lives. If noth-ing else, 8th graders in upper Michigan arechilling out on snowshoes right now, whilesome poor Alabama kid is running for hislife, trying to duck a deadly rubber ball.
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XCWINTER TRAILS
GOESIn October 2003, SIA announced that the2004 Winter Trails program would be ex-panded to include up to 100 Nordic centersthat are members of the Cross Country SkiAreas Association.
Launched in 1997, Winter Trails is a one-day free program designed to introduce thepublic to snowshoeing and winter recreation.While Winter Trails has proved to be verysuccessful, its reach has been limited be-cause snowshoe manufacturers have tradi-tionally served the demos, and they obvi-ously lack the personnel and financialresources to blanket the country. Now, cross-country ski areas will also be able to hostWinter Trails, using their fleet of rental shoes.
The Sunday River Cross Country Ski Cen-ter in Newry, Maine, will participate in the2004 Winter Trails day, which will be heldnationwide Jan. 17.
“Most Winter Trails events run a half day,but ours will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.,”said Eric Boyle-Wight, marketing managerfor the cross-country center. He says snow-shoeing is growing in this resort area, andsnowshoe rentals and sales help make up forthe slow cross-country ski market.
“We see snowshoeing as a growing mar-ket, especially for people who haven’t beeninterested in sliding sports, or people whowant time off from downhill skiing,” Boyle-Wight said.
For the 2004 Winter Trails event, he ex-pects to see about 100 attendees.
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