90 youth skiers are taking to the hills

By BETHANY ROLFSON

The Western News

With 90 kids signed up for after school ski lessons, and larger age range, the area may relive the glory days of youth skiing.

Twenty kids, ages six through nine, have signed up for cross-country skiing and regular skiing under Ben Scott, and around 71 fifth-graders have signed up under Susie and Greg Rice.

The after-school program runs for about an hour and 15 minutes at the ski course by Flower Creek.

“Basically what I’m trying to do is get it going like when I was a kid,” Scott said. “It’s to keep the kids interested and outside doing things, not inside looking at screens.”

The classes are working on getting the kids comfortable and balanced on skis, and getting them comfortable with individual techniques.

The area hasn’t seen this level of youth interest in skiing since 1989, when the Bill Coke Ski League discontinued.

Back in 1978, the Bill Coke Ski League was formed in Lincoln County, named for the Olympic athlete who had been awarded a silver medal in the 1972 Olympics. The program taught many area kids how to ski, combined with the Kootenai Cross Country Ski Club. At one point, they were one of the largest Bill Coke Ski Leagues in the nation, with 198 kids in skis and many of those kids going to national competitions.

The club relies on donations and money from the ski rentals to keep going.

Bethany Rolfson is a reporter at The Western News and can be reached at 293-4124, or by email at reporter@thewesternnews.com