Waltham/Weston Nordic ski team takes advantage of this year’s snowy winter

By LIAM O’BRIEN
Waltham Times Contributing Writer

The last few weeks have been difficult for many of us weather-wise.

Shoveling snow and praying the car starts up amid single-degree temperatures has been our way of life recently. After an extremely mild winter in 2024, it has been a tough lesson that the month of January still has some bite to it.

That has been music to the ears of the Waltham/Weston Nordic ski team, which has been able to enjoy the frequency of snowfall and brisk, sunny days while performing at the Leo J. Martin Ski Track in Weston.

Traditional winter sports such as basketball and hockey tend to receive the spotlight, but the WHS ski program does a great job of allowing students the opportunity to try out cross-country skiing amongst their peers without the intense pressure that sometimes looms over high school athletics.

“We treat it as a half-competitive, half-learning ski program,” assistant coach Chris Daly said. “We always have a few kids who have never been on skis or who have little experience. So we are not too demanding. The coaches have a relaxed attitude which works well for our team. We don’t really worry about tryouts or cuts, and we don’t take attendance at practice. We just expect the students to make as much of a commitment as they can, because we know they have other activities going on.”

This type of environment makes for an excellent experience for the skiers, who are happy to spread the news amongst their fellow students that going out to the Leo J. Martin Ski Track is a good time. This has helped WHS build up the roster.

“At this point it is just word of mouth from the current skiers to their friends and other people that would be interested,” Daly said. “We also have athletic directors make sure it gets announced. I also do a little bit of reaching out to kids I know who are coming up from seventh and eighth grade with the club teams. We do pretty well and get a lot of interest.”

The team has about 30 students involved between the two schools. The most competitive skiers compete at the varsity level while the newer contributors try their hand at the junior varsity races to garner some repetitions under their belts.

At the top of the ticket is Laura Shepard, a junior from Waltham High who is one of the team captains.

“Laura has been skiing since she was in the second grade,” Daly said. “She has a lot of experience and she has been our girls leader for the last two years.”

One interesting wrinkle is that while Weston High School students are able to catch a bus that gets them close to the Leo J. Martin facilities, skiers from Waltham High are on their own for the 15- to 20-minute drive from WHS on practice days.

“There is no transportation provided,” Daly said. “It’s all an on-your-own thing to get there, from parents dropping them off to seniors or juniors driving themselves.”

The team owns time slots at the ski track on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Most of the competitions will occur on Wednesdays with practice time coming on the other pair of days. Locking down openings on the premises can be difficult, as more than two dozen teams from around the area share access. Even Harvard University trains at the Weston Ski Track.

As locals who play golf in the summertime know, Leo J. Martin is not the most elegant location. However, having the ability to ski so close to Boston is a privilege that the ski team is grateful for.

“We get what we get,” Daly said. “It’s a flat course in a relatively urban environment, but it’s better than a lot of people get. We do not complain. The kids learn that if they can ski and perform well there, they can ski in any conditions anywhere.”

Editor’s note: Assistant coach Chris Daly is a volunteer copy editor with The Waltham Times; he was not involved in reporting or editing this article.