With the recent closure of the school and snowfall, it is imperative that students find ways to stay active in the cold to maintain physical and mental health. It is becoming increasingly chilly as the winter months approach, and it is hard to find fun things to do outside. 

In Minnesota, skiing, hockey and figure skating are very popular outdoor sports. Ava Philstrom ’22 skates at Parade Ice Garden. She says, “During the fall to November, we’re training for Regionals, and through the summer it’s the most competitive. We normally skate six days a week for two hours each day.” 

Philstrom prefers cold temperatures over warm weather. In contrast, Aidan Schmidt ’24  is a fan of the warm weather, but he skis competitively in the winter at Buck Hill or Hylands with Gilboa Ski Team. Schmidt likes doing a sport in the winter because of the cold weather, it is not as easy to get overly hot. Payton Smith ’24 plays year-round hockey for Orono West Tonka. Smith likes playing a winter sport because, “In winter you aren’t really outdoors doing stuff, so playing hockey is my way of getting exercise.” There are many different activities to keep you busy in the winter but Smith prefers to “go outside and play in the snow with my dogs and drink hot chocolate.” 

In the winter, Schmidt likes to build snow forts, have snowball fights, and ski recreationally. He also likes to play in the snow with his little sister. Figure skating, hockey and skiing look a bit different this year with COVID-19 restrictions. 

For Philstrom, she shares, “During the summer they were restricting how many people could be on the ice at a time including coaches. Now it’s more open but we do have to wear masks when we are putting our skates on and when we are off the ice. When we are on the ice [masks are] optional. All the coaches have to wear a mask.”  

Smith’s hockey team has similar guidelines, she explains, “When we’re in the rink we have to be wearing a mask at all times, except for when we’re actually on the ice. We can’t practice with other teams like we used to do, so that’s the biggest difference.”