TEAM BIRKIE CHAMPION’S CORNER: Athlete Education Series

Athlete education plays several key roles in sport development for several reasons. 

First, it empowers athletes to master skills necessary to optimize their performance on their own. Understanding training principles, nutrition guidelines, and proper technique enhances athletic abilities, reduces the risk of injury, and fosters a mindset of continuous improvement.  When athletes learn sound principles, setting and pursuing athletic goals, they learn how to maintain a balanced approach to training and competition. 

Athlete education also cultivates valuable life skills such as discipline, resilience, and time management, which are transferable to various aspects of life. Ultimately, investing in athlete education shapes successful competitors and nurtures well-rounded individuals poised for success both in life and competition.

Team Birkie Champions Corner is an athlete education series featuring Team Birkie Ambassadors, David Norris and Jessica Yeaton. A monthly Zoom meeting designed to empower junior athletes of all levels by interacting with the “First Couple” of the American Birkebeiner, Norris and Yeaton will share with participants, a wide array of critical insights, anecdotes, and advice, on the numerous big-picture themes and details that are crucial to becoming an elite ski racer. 

From training logs to training zones, to strength training and injury prevention, to optimizing nutrition, ski technique, and race day tactics, these sessions will offer guidance anyone interested in improving their ski racing will value, from unbeatable sources. 

Zoom sessions will encourage interaction and engagement with your world class hosts. All sessions will be recorded and made available for on-demand viewing for those unable to attend live or simply for review.

Parents and coaches are encouraged to register as passive participants, allowing them to listen in and gain valuable insights to support their athletes' development journey. The series is designed for young athletes interacting with the Champions.  We want parents to be excited about the content, but fundamentally expect parents to observe more than interact.  

The Champions Corner is an outreach fundraiser for Team Birkie.  We want you to enjoy, learn and grow from this resource and we’ve priced the program at what we feel is a great value.  Please respect individual log-ins for each paid registrant. 

THE CHAMPIONS

David Norris is a two-time winner of the American Birkebeiner and one of the most consistent distance racers on the World Cup and at the World Championships for the United States over the past decade.  Norris also competes as a professional trail runner in the summer, and coaches juniors while working and training at his home with partner, Jessica Yeaton, in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Jessica Yeaton is a Birkie winner, two-time Olympian, and a successful multi-endurance sport athlete.  Born in Australia and an Australian citizen, Yeaton grew up in Alaska where her talents as a skier developed along with a love for being outside and active.  Yeaton competes as trail runner, mountain biker, on top of being one of the most formidable distance ski racers in the United States. She works and lives with her partner, David Norris, in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

If you are interested in sending a check to avoid the processing fees - please make a check payable to "Team Birkie" and mail it to CXC Skiing, P.O. Box 930442, Verona, WI 53593