By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Sixth-graders in Casey Johnson’s and Erin Hoffses’ classes at Presque Isle Middle School are quite knowledgeable in the sport of biathlon thanks — in part — to a recent visit by former PIMS teacher Elaine Hendrickson.
The school programs chair for the upcoming IBU World Youth/Junior Biathlon Championships, Hendrickson visited the school Feb. 6 where she showed students a PowerPoint presentation and led them in a few fun activities.
“My mission is to have students understand biathlon better,” she said. “That was not really done before, so I rewrote the biathlon teacher’s guide, and I put more information in the beginning about biathlon and vocabulary that’s used in the sport.
“I hope the students get a little background knowledge as a result of my visit, and I hope they become enthused about going. I’ve been having a good time doing these presentations,” said Hendrickson, who has also visited Zippel Elementary School, a homeschool group at the Nordic Heritage Center, as well as students in St. Francis, Houlton, Mars Hill, Fort Fairfield and Easton.
The sport of biathlon, which combines cross country skiing and shooting, began in northern Europe.
“Initially people in Finland and Sweden would ski and carry a rifle and go out and shoot rabbits and deer in order to provide food for their families,” Hendrickson told the students. “In World War II, there was a group of Army soldiers called the 10th Mountain Division. They were stationed in the Apennine Mountains in Italy, and it was their job to fight the Germans. They learned how to shoot and ski, and they wore white so they would be camouflaged against the snow.
“The first biathlon competition was held in 1767 between the Norwegian and Swedish soldiers right on the border. In 1958, the first World Biathlon was held in Austria, and then in 1960, the first men’s Olympic Biathlon was held in Squaw Valley, Calif.,” she said, noting that women weren’t allowed to compete in the Olympic Biathlon event until 1992.
In addition to discussing the equipment used in biathlon — skis, poles and rifle — Hendrickson showed the students a bib that biathletes wear.
“You’ll notice it has a number, both on the front and back, so the officials and spectators can see their number,” she said. “It also has the numbers on the side, and they usually wear a paper number that’s pinned to their leg so everyone can tell who the person is.”
Hendrickson explained that there are two sizes of targets the biathletes shoot at — the larger is the size of a DVD or a CD, while the smaller is the size of an Oreo cookie.
“When you’re lying down, or in the prone position, you’re more stable, so they give you a little bit more challenge and they make the target smaller,” she said. “The larger target is for when you’re standing because you’re not as stable, and the wind can sway you.”
Since Aroostook County is hosting the Youth/Junior event, Hendrickson said there’s a twist with the flower ceremony which occurs following each race.
“First-, second- and third-place winners of each race will get up on a podium, but we don’t use a podium here; we use potato barrels. They’ll put their skis up in front of them so people can see the advertisements,” she said. “We don’t give a bouquet of flowers per say; we give a bouquet of white pine with some carnations in it. Sometimes they get a bag of potatoes, too, as a gift.”
One of the more entertaining parts of the presentation came when Hendrickson had students select articles of clothing, as well as colorful and creative accessories, that people need to be warm and seen and help “dress” a fellow student.
The sixth-graders will visit the Nordic Heritage Center Feb. 28, the first day of the international competition.
“There may be 6 million people watching you, as well as the athletes, on TV in Europe because they have a filming company that’s going to be there from Europe and he or she will be filming you. If you make lots of noise and you dress really funky, then I bet you’ll get on the jumbo tron that will be in the stadium and you’ll get to see yourself, and they’ll see you in Europe so that’s pretty exciting,” said Hendrickson, likening the popularity of biathlon in Europe to football in the U.S.
More than 1,800 county school children — from St. Francis to Sherman — are planning to attend the biathlon.
“I’m very pleased with the amount of support we’ve gotten from county schools,” said Hendrickson. “I firmly believe with this event that the world is coming to us, and it gives students the chance to see athletes from all over the world.”
As the athletes begin to arrive in Aroostook County, Hendrickson encouraged the students to be polite and welcoming when they see them in public.
“When you go out around town whether it be to Walmart, the mall or Graves’ Shop ‘n Save, you’re going to see these athletes dressed in their uniforms going to all these different stores. They love coming to America because — believe it or not — our prices are cheaper,” she said. “They want to buy jeans and sneakers and food, so you’re going to see them out wandering the streets. When you see them I hope you’ll say ‘hello’ to them and not be rude. Smile and say ‘welcome’ and be good representatives of your school and the city.”
Student Harleigh Brewer said she learned a lot from the presentation.
“I learned that there’s a lot of advertisements involved in biathlon. I didn’t know there would be so many, especially on the bibs,” she said. “I went to the World Cup in 2011 with my family, and I’m looking forward to going again because you can experience all of the screaming and cheering and the actual race instead of just watching it on TV. I’ll probably bring a large horn to help cheer them on.”
This will be student Joseph Bolstridge’s first biathlon event.
“I’ve never seen people ski or even race before, let alone shoot while on skis, so I’m looking forward to going,” he said. “It’s weird to think that we could be seen on TV in Europe. It almost makes me nervous because I wouldn’t want to embarrass myself in front of everybody across the world. The biathlon is almost as popular as the Olympics, so that’s kind of neat.”
The sixth-graders have spent a lot of class time learning about biathlon and their teachers have tied the sport to the common core areas of learning. For example, in their math class, students have been learning to use different types of graphs, from line graphs to circle and bar graphs. Students have graphed skiers’ race times, and percentage racers representing each country. They have also used ratios and scales to draw their own biathlon stadiums, based on the IBU standards.
The sixth-graders have been comparing weather data in science class among Sochi (Olympics), a major city in the country they will be cheering for, and Presque Isle (Youth/Junior Biathlon). This will then be used to discuss expectations, training and other logistics of racers. Students have also learned about heart rate and how to calculate their own.
In social studies, students researched flags; made flags; designed uniforms according to biathlon rules for each country; researched facts such as population, languages, currency, time zone and major landforms for each country supported; and created a coat of arms.
In English/language arts, students created a postcard to send to the country they were assigned to support, and analyzed the character attributes of an athlete.
Earlier on, students researched and completed a biathlon race in the library under the direction of Gail Hagelstein, library/media specialist. Students were organized in teams and tasked with gathering as much information from different web sources as possible about the biathlon. The students shot at targets, which were questions. To successfully hit the target, they had to answer the question correctly.
The students have chosen to support the biathletes from Brazil, Canada and the United States, all countries in the Western Hemisphere, a region they have been studying.
The IBU World Youth/Junior Biathlon Championships will be held Feb. 28-March 7.
For more information on the biathlon school program, contact Hendrickson at elaine.hendrickson@gmail.com.
