Next Gen 1 Recap

The start of summer marked the start of this year’s NEXT Gen Camp Series with the US Speedskating (USS) hosting a two-day camp on June 17th and 18th. With the rise of technology and video calling over the past year, the camp reached over 15 participants from around the country with their first camp of the series. 

Short Track National Team Head Coach Stephen Gough led the first day of the camp with short trackers Ryan Pivirotto and Kristen Santos. Speed skaters of all ages joined the first day’s zoom call to watch and learn from Pivirotto and Santos as they did a combination of dryland exercises and core workouts. The second half of day one included Junior World Team Coach and Head Coach of Pinnacle Speedskating Hongyang Wang as he led a second dryland session where  he focused more on side pushes.

The next day, the camp focused on creating some of the National Team’s favorite snacks through a nutrition session with Dr. Jen Day, US Speedskating’s Sports Dietician. Dr. Day and Do-Duc showed athletes how to prepare high-energy yielding snacks. 

Do-Duc believes that this first NEXT Gen Camp helped all the athletes learn better exercise practices.

“This is a great opportunity for athletes and coaches across the country to connect with one another,” Do-Duc said. “It provided skaters at all levels a chance to learn something new that they can incorporate in their training.”

The upcoming NEXT Gen Camp #2 will take place Aug. 9th through the 13th.