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Heartbeat takes you inside the world of the unique Olympic sport of biathlon - a sport that combines the heart-pumping aerobics of cross country skiing combined with the precision element of marksmanship. The US Biathlon podcast brings you close to the athletes to dissect one of the most popularity of Olympic Winter Games sports.
S5 Ep6 - National Guard - TRANSCRIPT_mixdown.wav
[00:00:00] Tom Kelly: And a big Happy Holidays to all of our Heartbeat listeners. It is a great episode we've got coming up here right now as we head into the holidays and a break in the IBU World Cup schedule. Joining me this week to talk about the National Guard and its impact on U.S. Biathlon I have Quenten Jones and Leif Nordgren Thanks, guys, for joining me here on Heartbeat.
[00:00:22] Leif Nordgren: Yeah. Our pleasure. Thanks for having us, Tom.
[00:00:25] Tom Kelly: And I know Quenten, you were over in Hochfilzen. Leif, were you over there as well?
[00:00:30] Leif Nordgren: No, I was at a training camp up in Canmore, Canada, with a couple of our athletes to prepare for the IBU Cup trials.
[00:00:39] Tom Kelly: So, Quenten, you had the pleasure of heading over to the to the Tyrol. Beautiful, beautiful area. And what a great way to spend the weekend before the holidays.
[00:00:48] Quenten Jones: Yeah, it was just gorgeous. And it was fun to be there and see all of our athletes. Yeah, it was it was a pleasure.
[00:00:56] Tom Kelly: And, Leif, this is your third appearance on Heartbeat. I think that matches the record.
[00:01:01] Leif Nordgren: Third, I think this is only the second. I don't remember actually though.
[00:01:05] Tom Kelly: No, you actually I looked back and you actually … we did one back in season one. We did one in season two right after your retirement. So okay. And we'll talk a little bit more about that as we get on with you. But we're going to talk about the National Guard here. And Quinton, why don't you give us a little bit of background on how the National Guard got involved with biathlon?
[00:01:26] Quenten Jones: Yeah, yeah, I'd love to. I'm definitely not the best historian, but I got some things out of Art Stegen's book, so I'll. I'll share some of those with you all, down and dirty. The U.S. Biathlon program was originally up in Fort Richardson, Alaska, from 1958 to 73. And then, the US Army decided they were going to be done with that program. And so the Vermont National Guard, adopted it at that point. And it's been at Jericho, Vermont ever since then, in 1975, the National Guard started its very first ever chief of the National Guard Bureau Championships, with only seven states participating back then, but now we have up to 26. And another fun trivia is. Since 1988, the National Guard biathlon program has had an airman or a soldier in every Olympic Games. And it's been growing steadily ever since.
[00:02:25] Tom Kelly: And tell people about the relationship with U.S. Biathlon, and I don't … you can maybe tell me a little bit more if there's programs like this in other sports. But to me, it's really fascinating that this branch of the US military has a partnership to provide athletes with complete support programs, coaching that Leif will talk to you about in a little bit. But what's the nature of the program, and how it supports biathletes today?
[00:02:51] Quenten Jones: Leif might actually be able to give you more insight to that. From what I gather especially, I know the French athletes are all our military as well. But I guess a good way to think about our program is we're kind of like an upper-level club, even though our soldiers are in the military. So we so a lot of upper-level athletes or people looking to be upper-level athletes will, will, will join the Army National Guard, and they'll go to basic training and they go they'll go to their MOS training. And if they're at a high enough level, they'll come to our program, and we provide support, whether it be orders, equipment, rifles, training, housing, kind of kind of, you name it. We try to support them as much as we can.
[00:03:37] Tom Kelly: And, Quenten, how did you get involved in the program?
[00:03:40] Quenten Jones: So, I was a regular soldier for most of my career. But in 24 years now, local Vermonter, though I grew up alpine skiing, alpine racing, did some time active duty, and I came back home and I. And I knew about this program and I really tried to get into it. And it's it's kind of a hard program to get into. There's only a few few positions that we have on staff, and you kind of have to wait for someone to move on. So I eventually got my chance and was hired and just really proud to be here.
[00:04:12] Tom Kelly: Leif, let's talk about your career as an athlete. We have had you on the podcast before, and I think most of our listeners are fairly familiar with you. But give us a little quick 411 on how you initially got involved in biathlon and what was the pathway that eventually led you to get getting into the National Guard program?
[00:04:31] Leif Nordgren: Yeah, so it's kind of a long story. And it definitely goes back to the early part of my career. I think I was either 19 or 20. This was like 2009, 2010 time frame. I had just gotten off of the junior national team, and I had won a medal at World Juniors and that kind of caught the attention of the senior national team. So they eventually kind of brought me into the fold as happens with, you know, the junior athletes that are moving up. And then I had a friend, Wynn Roberts, who made the 2010 Olympic team, and so he went off to Vancouver. And he came back and he was telling me about how he met this guard recruiter there. And he talked to a couple of the sliding sport athletes, I think some luge and bobsled athletes there. I think because he actually roomed with one of the bobsledders in Vancouver. But yeah, he started telling me about this recruiter that was, you know, trying to get him to join, trying to get him into w cap, which we'll, we'll talk a little bit about later. And so that that was the first time that it was like on my radar, I guess, you know, I had always trained in Jericho, you know, and done a lot of the races. I knew there were guard athletes, but I never really saw it as kind of a path for me until I started talking about it.
[00:06:06] Leif Nordgren: And so, you know, I molded over a lot. I was really on the edge of joining back then in 2010. And I just, I kind of decided not to. I decided I wanted to kind of go the national team route and see where that got me. And then, you know, so I did that for the bulk of my career. And then when I got towards the end, I got married in 2018, and I knew, you know, I probably only have, you know, maybe one more Olympic cycle left. And I was kind of looking forward at that point, like, oh, what do I want to do after I'm done with biathlon? And at that point, the guard kind of came back into my mind as, you know, both a program that could support me short term, but then have a path forward long term once I was done with sport. So at that point I went through with it. And I'm so happy I did. And I've always kicked myself that I didn't join the guard back in 2010. But yeah, it's a fantastic support program for, you know, for athletes that are looking to make the next level and get up onto the national team. And like, like Quenten said, yeah, we provide everything that we possibly can to help these athletes reach the next level.
[00:07:26] Tom Kelly: Let's take a little deviation from the guard itself and talk about your career. You ended up competing in three Olympics. In fact, over your shoulder, you have a bib. And I know, folks, you're listening. You can't see this, but you've got your bib from Sochi in 2014, which is always inspiring to see something like that. But as you look back at your career as an athlete, you were on three Olympic teams. You're on, I think, nine world championship teams. What did you take away from that experience as one of the top biathletes? Well, certainly one of the top biathletes in America but also in the world.
[00:08:01] Leif Nordgren: That's a that's a big question. I mean, one of the biggest things with biathlon is that the perfect race is really elusive. It's hard to have a good biathlon race, you know, and most high-level athletes are so, they're so keyed into themselves and what they're capable of that, you know, even if you have a good race, there's always one thing you could have done differently. One thing, you know, one more shot. You could have hit one part of the track where you could have pushed a little harder, you know, things like that. So I think one of the, one of the biggest things I learned is just to basically be resilient and kind of accept things as they are, you know, push yourself as hard as you can every single day to, to make, you know, the, the 0.1% better in each training session. But yeah, just the kind of resiliency that biathlon can help you with. You know, like we were talking before we started recording. I have two little kids now, and it's it's a different kind of hard work. You know, there's days that are good and days that are bad, but you have to be able to kind of, you know, roll the bad things off your shoulder and keep on going. And I think that's one thing that biathlon is really special for.
[00:09:26] Tom Kelly: During your career as an athlete, did you think much about possibly becoming a coach at some point in time and sharing that knowledge that you had picked up as an athlete for over a decade?
[00:09:38] Leif Nordgren: Yes and no. I mean, I think I had a lot of different coaches in my career. Looking back, there were, I think, good things and bad things with every coach, you know. Mostly good things, I should say. So yeah, I mean, definitely when I was reaching the end of my career and I was the older guy on the team. I tried to, you know, impart as much knowledge and experience on some of the younger guys that I could. And that was kind of the first point where I realized, you know, I, you know, maybe I'll like coaching. I did you know, I did like all athletes or a lot of athletes. Do, you know, little, you know, club programs and stuff like that for, you know, for, for younger kids to kind of get, you know, the next generation into biathlon. And I always really enjoyed, you know, teaching little kids how to ski, how to shoot that kind of stuff is, is super fun and very rewarding. But yeah, as far as, like, coaching high-level athletes like I now know, I never really, never really had that on my radar.
[00:10:53] Tom Kelly: Quenten, from your perspective in, being a manager with the biathlon program for the National Guard, what are some of the qualities that you're looking for in a coach of a program like this? And how did Leif fit into this?
[00:11:08] Quenten Jones: Well, it's tricky being being that we're a guard program and our coaching positions are they require someone to be actually in the National Guard? We just lost … I want to shout out to Coach Travis Boyer, who was in the Air National Guard for. And he was one of our coaches for 18 years. And that position has actually gone away, which is unfortunate. So we're actually kind of shorthanded at the moment. And it was just kind of pure luck between that happening and, and Leif being back home and having, having time. So we were able to talk him into coming in to help us.
[00:11:46] Quenten Jones: But otherwise. Yeah. Otherwise, it's tricky. So we're looking for someone who can obviously coach coach these young athletes in biathlon, but also even in a military sense, like give them like a mentorship as, like a, as, like a senior member of the military. So it's definitely a difficult position to fill for us.
[00:12:06] Tom Kelly: So Leif, what is your what's your current rank in the National Guard?
[00:12:10] Leif Nordgren: I am a warrant officer one.
[00:12:14] Tom Kelly: And tell us what that means.
[00:12:16] Leif Nordgren: So basically warrant officers are they've they've kind of gone in and out of. Being an army rank all the way back to back to World War Two. And even before that. But basically, warrant officers are kind of known to be subject matter experts. So basically they kind of hone their skills on one specific thing, and that's kind of what they're known to bring that experience into their unit, to advise their commander on their expertise to help out younger, younger soldiers, you know, to kind of teach them and instruct them on whatever their specialty may be. So my, as a warrant officer, my job in the military is a Blackhawk pilot. So after I retired in 2022, I got selected to go to flight school with my guard unit. And that was, you know, going back to the previous question, that was kind of one of the reasons that I joined the aviation unit that I did is that I knew once I'm done with biathlon, I want to try to do something in aviation. My dad was a pilot. My brother was a pilot. My, you know, grandpa, uncles. So it kind of runs in my family. So, yeah, I was selected by my unit to go to flight school. I was down in southern Alabama for about a little over a year and a half. Learning to fly helicopters. And yeah, I got back in April of this year and that's that's when they happened to be looking for a guard coach, or a biathlon coach. So it kind of. That's the timeline that Quenten was referring to.
[00:14:03] Tom Kelly: Well, I'm happy to hear you got to that point when we talked right after Pyeongchang a few years ago. I know that's what you were headed to do. So are you are you do you fly Black Hawk helicopters now?
[00:14:16] Leif Nordgren: I do, yeah I do.
[00:14:17] Leif Nordgren: So most, most weeks in the summer, you know I'll, I'll coach a morning training session. And then I try to go over to our flight facility, maybe two, maybe three days a week and fly in the afternoons. So on those days, I'm not really around to coach in the afternoon sessions usually. But, yeah, I try to get out at least twice a week for some flying.
[00:14:42] Tom Kelly: Well, I have to be careful because this podcast could easily just stray into talking about helicopters. But we'll set that aside.
[00:14:49] Leif Nordgren: I'm fine with that.
[00:14:51] Tom Kelly: Well, I just, I just I'm a fixed wing pilot and frankly, I've never understood helicopters and they kind of freak me out. But they are magnificent flying machines, I tell you that. And you know it. You get to sit at the tiller.
[00:15:07] Leif Nordgren: Yeah. It's, you know, looking back at the last couple of years now, I'm not sure there's many, you know, job opportunities that I would have been really ecstatic with after a long biathlon career because, you know, biathlon, you get to go and be outside and push yourself and work hard every day. So I'm definitely not a desk, a desk guy, I guess. So, yeah. Flying is is it's awesome. It's so much fun. And I'm really thankful for the guard that they gave me the opportunity to do that.
[00:15:42] Tom Kelly: That's a great opportunity. Quenten, what is your rank and what's your overall role and responsibility in the garden?
[00:15:48] Quenten Jones: Yeah, so I'm a sergeant first class. So enlisted versus the officer, you know, path. And what I do for the National Guard program is I'm, like, my main job is the budget analyst, which is, you know, it's not very, not very exciting, but it's kind of like, kind of where, where a lot of stuff gets done. So, budget analyst operations. And I try to help out whenever I can on the range. I've been, you know, in the military for quite a while, and, you know, and shooting is very familiar to me, so I'm, I'm comfortable, like, on the range with a spotting scope, helping the athletes out there. But but mainly kind of the behind-the-scenes is what I do. And then Major Luke is also. He's the program director. So we try to take care of all the athletes' orders and their pay and, their overseas travel and, and all that stuff, so they don't have to worry about it.
[00:16:40] Tom Kelly: Quenten. Were you a biathlete?
[00:16:42] Quenten Jones: No, no, not at all. Tom, I'm a just a long time alpine skier, you know. Grew up like ski racing here at Jay Peak when I was a little kid and, you know, skied all over the world, but, no, I came to this kind of later on in life, and, but I'm, you know, familiar with outdoor sport, and I've worked in ski shops most of my life. And so I'm just really happy and proud to be here, though.
[00:17:04] Tom Kelly: Do your athletes ever challenge you to some marksmanship on the range?
[00:17:08] Quenten Jones: No, not yet, but I'm sure they I'm sure they'd beat me if they did.
[00:17:14] Tom Kelly: You know, just curious where you're coming from. Well, I'm not really from the outside. You're certainly involved in snow sports. But what's been your impression of biathlon as a sport now that you're deeply involved with it? With the guard?
[00:17:26] Quenten Jones: It's a good question. These these guys are so impressive to me. Like, you know, I've been around high-level people, you know, my whole life. You know, I've been a, you know, in the combat arms world of the Army for most of my life. And I've got to deal with some pretty high-level, impressive people. Over my career, I've been very lucky. But these biathletes are just a next level. Like what they're able to do, their level of fitness. Just how smart I feel like they have to be to do biathlon. Just the, the strategy they have to do and and their body awareness. And so they're, they're just, they're incredibly impressive and it's very humbling to be around them.
[00:18:07] Tom Kelly: Well we appreciate both of you being here. We're going to take a quick break here on Heartbeat. And when we come back we will talk about some of the details of the National Guard biathlon program together with U.S. Biathlon. We'll be right back on Heartbeat.
[00:18:35] Tom Kelly: Welcome back to Heartbeat. Our guest today talking about the National Guard program, Leif Nordgren, a longtime member of the U.S. biathlon team, and Quenten Jones. I want to have you guys talk a little bit about some more of the specifics of the program and what is the training look like? And Leif will go to you and you know, what's what's the training program that these athletes are involved with. And maybe just to take it back one step. Who are the national team athletes that you're working with in the program right now with with the National Guard?
[00:18:56] Leif Nordgren: So we have let's see. We have ten, I think ten athletes on our team. So, you know, names that everyone recognizes. We have Deedra Irwin, Sean Doherty, Maxime Germain, Eli Nielsen who's who's an up-and-coming IBU Cup athlete. Vlad Kapustin, Tara Geraghty-Moats, Zoe Noble. And then we have a couple prospects that are actually at basic training right now. Oh, Vaclav Cervenka also. And then Vaclav's younger brother, Max Cervenka. … He just graduated basic training this week. And then we have another soldier Caleb Hunter from Fort Kent, Maine area, who's also at basic training. So I very much see our program as like a stepping stone onto the national team. So we're based in Jericho, Vermont, which is it's about a two-hour drive from Lake Placid, New York, which is where the national team is based. So for the most part, you know, the the athletes that are on the national team. I don't do a whole lot with them. I try to let the national team coaches kind of take over most of their training, writing their plans, you know, working on, you know, ski technique, shooting technique, and all that sort of stuff. I, of course, support them when they do come into town, when they come to Jericho, I, you know, I'll facilitate training for them as, as much as, as much as I can.
[00:20:29] Leif Nordgren: You know, where most of my time goes is to those bubble athletes … which is pretty much everybody else on our team, the bubble athletes who are, you know, close to getting onto the IBU Cup or have been on the IBU Cup and are trying to, you know, be more consistent, trying to make it onto the World Cup someday. So that's where that's where a lot of my effort goes. And I think I'm in a really unique place to help them because I have, you know, I have some high-level experience in the past, as an athlete. Obviously, I'm a brand new coach. I now have four months of coaching experience. So, you know, so that that side of things is, is new to me. But yeah, spending 14 years on the biathlon circuit, I think I have a lot of experience, wisdom, and knowledge that I can give to our athletes to try to help them. Reach the next level.
[00:21:37] Tom Kelly: Leif, I want to come back to you in a minute and talk. You talk about the WCAP program. But, Quenten, I want to go to you next. And can you give us a little idea on the training facility that you have in Jericho? This has been an amazing resource.
[00:21:52] Quenten Jones: I wish I had some more facts and figures about the length of our courses, but, Leif might be able to chime in, but we have a 30-point range. Pretty extensive roller ski loop that's that's very popular. We have snowmaking, and we're in the middle of actually … or the beginning, I should say, of a really big upgrade to the facility. So our main lodge is getting torn down as we speak. We have a new lodge. We're gonna have a new wax facility. They're going to widen the trails, increase the snowmaking. So it's. I think the overall goal is to be an IBU B license facility. And it's used extensively by the local clubs. So the Ethan Allen Biathlon Club, Mansfield Nordic, a lot of the high schools train there. It's just a central place for biathletes and Nordic athletes in the region. As far as guard specific, you know, we have our offices are just down the hill, from the range facility. And that's where the athlete quarters are. So the athletes have a kind of dorm facility, a communal kitchen, a drying room, and a waxing room. There's the coaches' offices. And, yeah, we provide everything. We offer rifles and ammunition and transportation for all the athletes when they need it.
[00:23:15] Tom Kelly: I love the partnership you mentioned with the local Ethan Allen Club. Can you tell us a little bit more about that, and maybe the history on how that came to being?
[00:23:25] Quenten Jones: I the history is I haven't been there that long, but it's we definitely have a close working relationship with with John Madigan. They're there every Tuesday and Thursday evenings. I know Leif has done some time helping them out, and when he when he's able, our athletes will even take the time to be there to get extra range time and assist, helping out some of the kids when they can. But, yeah, we have a we have a close working relationship with them, for sure.
[00:23:50] Tom Kelly: Cool Leif, anything to add on the facility?
[00:23:53] Leif Nordgren: Let's see, there's. We have our own gym. I don't think Quenten mentioned that we have a nice gym there. We do have a roller ski treadmill as well, which is, you know, a pretty important tool to use for those. For some of those high-level athletes. But yeah, beyond that, that Quenten pretty much got everything, I think.
[00:24:15] Tom Kelly: When you were an athlete. Leif, how much time did you spend at Jericho? Was that a was that an important tool for you?
[00:24:22] Leif Nordgren: Definitely it was. I didn't, so I didn't spend too much time there until I joined the guard because I lived, you know, over on the New York side and trained mostly out of Lake Placid. But yeah, probably the last for sure. For years, maybe even six years of my career, I definitely spent more and more time in Jericho. And then once I joined the guard, my wife and I actually moved over to Vermont to be closer to her job. o at that point, yeah, I trained in Jericho every day. I trained here, you know, in my town every afternoon. And Jericho was an amazing place to train, and Vermont is a great place to train also.
[00:25:07] Tom Kelly: So leave. Tell us a little bit more about the WCAP program. This came up in our interview with Deedra Irwin earlier this year on Heartbeat, and I've heard a lot about it, but I don't completely understand the nature of it. So start out with what is WCAP stand for and what does it bring to the program.
[00:25:24] Leif Nordgren: So WCAP stands for the World Class Athlete Program. So let's see. So here in Vermont, we're we're in the Vermont National Guard. All of our athletes are National Guard athletes, which means they join the National Guard to be able to be on our team and train in Jericho. WCAP is essentially it's an active duty sports program. So this is the by active duty, I mean, it's the regular army. They have their own athlete program, which basically recruits high-level athletes. And instead of joining the National Guard,, they join the actual army. So they, they support a lot more sports than we do. They have they've had a lot of bobsled athletes, Nordic combined. Now, some biathletes, I would say they have a lot more summer sport athletes. I know they're big in boxing and wrestling. I know there's a couple track and marathon athletes as well. Quenten, you might you might, pick up any, any sports I missed, but, yeah. So they're they they have, you know, all of the same funding that we do. They're able to provide the same support. It's just for the active duty side of things rather than National Guard.
[00:26:49] Tom Kelly: Yeah. Quenten, anything to add to that? And also at the same time, you touched on this earlier, but talk a little bit about how these programs compare to programs in other nations, or at least as much as you know about that.
[00:27:00] Quenten Jones: Yeah. Tom. So I can speak just to I'll add a few things to what Leif mentioned for WCAP. One of the big differences I would say for WCAP is whereas what we're able to do in the National Guard biathlon program, as far as we call it orders or as far as how we support our athletes through pay. You know, when one of our athletes is named to the national team, they'll be on an order, say, from like, November to March, and they're getting paid full-time as if they were in an active duty soldier. And then during the part of the year that's not the racing season. We'll support them while they're going to camps. We'll pay for their travel, and we'll pay them while they're at a training camp. The difference with WCAP is they're essentially kind of like myself or Leif. They're there full-time all year long. So, a little bit more, I guess you could say financial support as far as that goes. That's kind of the advantage of being on WCAP is you're on full-time, you know, year-round pay orders.
[00:28:02] Quenten Jones: So that's definitely helpful. And I will say also another plug, one of our, one of our coaches, Sergeant Drew Gelinas, who's part of the Vermont National Guard, is doing a short stint or a short tour with WCAP. So he's actually moved up there to kind of be a liaison. And he's helping our not only our biathletes but other winter athletes that they have in that program, kind of kind of trying to broaden their, their winter roster. Like Leif said, they've traditionally focused on summer sports. And I really can't speak too much for what some of the other countries do. I do know that a lot of other countries by athletes are somehow affiliated with the military. And every year there's an event called CISM. I don't know if you've heard of that. It's an abbreviation. It's in French, but it's basically like a winter military games. And this will be a big one this year. It's going to be in Switzerland because it's the year before an Olympics. So that's that's all pretty much all the winter sports. But all soldier athletes that attend.
[00:29:06] Tom Kelly: Leave going back to you. I know you're new into the coaching role, but what are some of the athlete results that you point to this year, and maybe even a few from last year, coming from athletes involved in the guard program?
[00:29:19] Leif Nordgren: Well, let's see, I mean, we've had all of our soldier athletes were super proud of them. We're super proud that they're on the national team and able to train and race and, you know, get some amazing results. We've seen a really big jump from Maxime Germain this year, which has been awesome. He's been much more consistent. And I think as the season goes on, we'll see a lot more out of him. Deedra Irwin has obviously also had some great results. She's, you know, she's a danger in any race that she enters, for sure. Sean Doherty, he's always there. He's always plugging away. He's you know, he's been a mainstay for the US team now for years and years. So, he again he can get on a kick and, you know, have multiple good results in a row. So he's again he's always kind of a danger. And we're we're always looking for good results out of him. And then Vaclav Cervenka, he's new into WCAP as of this year. And he's been down on the IBU Cup for the first trimester of the season here. But yeah, we're we're pulling for him. The crazy thing about U.S. Biathlon right now is especially on the men's side, it is one of the deepest, most competitive fields that I've ever seen.
[00:30:38] Leif Nordgren: And yeah, probably ever in U.S. Biathlon just to get to the IBU Cup. You know, this last week, we were at IBU Cup trials up in Craftsbury, Vermont. And I mean, there were, I think there was about 15 men that were trying out for the team and almost 20 women. And I mean, it was close. There was a lot of good athletes there. I think the ICC had a tough decision to make, to pick which athletes to bring back to Europe. So it definitely speaks a lot for USBA right now that they're, you know, that it is so tough to make these teams, which is a good thing. And then I want to go back also to the previous question. So a lot there are multiple countries in Europe that have military teams or police teams. Germany, Austria, Switzerland, they they all have teams where, you know, if you're a junior, you can, you know, you can join the police and the police will have their own, their own biathlon club essentially, you know, and then their, their military will have its own biathlon club. So they, they use it kind of the same way we do to kind of have that stepping stone between, you know, the junior level, IBU Cup level up to the, the national team or World Cup team.
[00:31:58] Tom Kelly: Yeah, it's something that I've seen over my entire career. I worked over in, regular skiing, I'll call it, but it was always interesting to watch this with the foreign teams. I want to talk about plans for the future and turn it back to either one of you. Anything that you are looking to evolve to, new plans or anything for the future. Quenten, I'll start with you and then go over to Lee for anything to add.
[00:32:26] Quenten Jones: Well, that's a big one. And also, I think I should have mentioned earlier, so I'm just going to step back for a second. We don't. The National Guard biathlon program is also a program for for all all National Guard soldiers in the country. So while we do have one element that's our elite team, which we've been focusing on, I need to mention that we also have, different teams from all all the different not all, but a lot of different states around the country. The different states are they can field a team. And every year we will we host a big event. We call it the National Guard Championships, even though it's kind of its own event. But, and that event typically rotates between Vermont, Minnesota, and Utah and, and any, any state can feel the team. And we even have a team from the Virgin Islands that participates every year. And so that's kind of like our second main focus is providing, you know, we provide all the the pay and the travel for all those different states teams to come to this big event. We host a week-long. … You know, we have races, we have, clinics. We have, you know, different trainings for the for their coaches as well. So that's that's a big part of what we do as well. And I just want to make sure we, we mention that. So it's, it's kind of half and half of how we focus on looking ahead.
[00:33:45] Quenten Jones: We're, you know, we're like I said, we're up, we're upgrading our facility in Jericho, which is going to kind of take us out of the running for hosting events for a little while. But, we're always looking to we always. Well, I should say we majority is always goes down to DC to ask us, ask for more funding so we can do more events. You know, for the, for the different states, you know, to host like regionals or different clinics. This summer we so every year we have, we have that big event I mentioned, and we name, we name the top, you know, the all-guard team. And so this summer, we had an all-guard team clinic, and they came out to Jericho this summer. And, Leif was able to provide some really cool training for those athletes that they don't normally get, especially from someone like Leif. So in the future. Yeah, we're just looking to to grow the program, to get more funding and, and, you know, to grow, you know, encourage more athletes to join the National Guard. I feel like we provide a lot of support to them that, just makes their job easier. You know, they can focus on sport and we can take care of the behind-the-scenes stuff for them.
[00:34:51] Tom Kelly: Quenten, for those 17 year olds who are listening or their parents are listening, how do they sign up?
[00:34:58] Quenten Jones: Well, they can they can call me. They can call me. So essentially. Yeah. So just, you know, the down and dirty, they'll have to enlist in the, in the Army National Guard and choose an MOS. They don't have to be in the Vermont National Guard. We always like to make that clear. Yeah, they'll they'll go do their training like everyone else will do. And if they're at a high caliber, like one of our coaches, like, you know, Chief Nordgren or Sergeant Salinas, they'll probably already know who they are and that we can think about getting them on our elite team. And if not, they can be part of their state’s team. And, you know, the guard has a lot to offer. There's, you know, free tuition. There's, you know, just good training and then, you know, just serving your country and the camaraderie and companionship that comes along with that. Yeah, it's a pretty good opportunity.
[00:35:47] Tom Kelly: You know, I just want to emphasize this point. So if I want to stay in Utah or Wisconsin, the two places I've lived, so I could join the guard there and get involved in a program there, I don't have to come and join the Vermont National Guard.
[00:36:02] Quenten Jones: Absolutely. And yeah, and those two states you mentioned definitely have strong state teams. And the one thing we do we we don't we can't fund a lot of like we're not able to buy them a lot of stuff. But we do provide rifles to all the states' teams. They get funneled through my office. So all the different states around the country, we provide them with brand new in-the-box Antschutz rifles and ammunition. So, the state teams are pretty well set up there, but it's on the states to provide some of their uniforms and other items like that.
[00:36:34] Tom Kelly: That's not a small thing though, is it? Yeah. Leif, anything to add?
[00:36:45] Leif Nordgren: Oneof the biggest things that I've noticed here since being a coach is the is just the recruiting side of things. So, yeah, you know, we have all these new venue upgrades and we have some, some amazing current athletes. But we're always looking for new, you know, new up-and-coming high schoolers that, you know, maybe want to make a run at biathlon or, you know, maybe they've gone to finished college, or they're partway through college and, you know, they want to make a big push to see what they can do in sport. So that, you know, that's one thing that I haven't really been involved in, you know, back when I was an athlete. So it's really cool to talk to some of these athletes now as a coach. And, you know, kind of, I guess, help weigh the pros and cons with them of, of joining the military and trying to make a push at biathlon. Because, you know, one of the big things for us is at the end of the day, you're, yes, you're doing biathlon, but you're actually a soldier first. And it's really important that new, new incoming soldier athletes understand that. But like Quenten said, you know, it's really the camaraderie of just the military is a really cool thing. And then, you know, kind of throw biathlon into that. You know, our team is very tight-knit. We have some great training camps together. And so, yeah, we're I'm always looking for new athletes to come join the fold.
[00:38:20] Tom Kelly: Well, I want to thank you both for being here. We're going to close it out with our On Target section. Just a few final questions for you. Hopefully simple. Quenten, looking back, what's your favorite example of a National Guard success story in the athlete side?
[00:38:36] Quenten Jones: That's a that's a tough one. There's there's there's so many it would almost be hard to mention one. I think I think what's, what's really cool and what makes me proud and impressed by these guys is, you know, some some athletes have come to the program.
[00:38:54] Quenten Jones: Because of what we can offer for support so they can pursue, their career as an athlete. And, then, once they're done, they kind of go about their lives. And then some have made long careers, and there's some great really great examples about that. And it's there's just there's too many to list one name. But like, you know they, they've all served their country, and they've, you know, and they've, they've raised their right hand and they've gone off to training. And I'm just I'm proud of all of them.
[00:39:20] Tom Kelly: Leif, over to you. As you look back on the athletic portion of your career, three Olympics, nine World Championships. Is there one memorable moment that stands out in your mind from that athletic career that spanned more than a decade?
[00:39:38] Leif Nordgren: Tom, you said these would be easy questions.
[00:39:41] Tom Kelly: I know, and I always get into this man.
[00:39:46] Leif Nordgren: You know, for me, I would have to say I think just my, my final Olympics said the final season, essentially, actually, nothing really to speak about results-wise. I think if I remember back, I think I was sick a lot of that final season, I didn't have any good races. I had awful races at the Olympics. But as a team, we were. We were a really tight-knit group at that point, and it was just it made biathlon so much fun to be able to train with Sean Doherty and Jake Brown and Paul Schommer, and Vaclav Cervenka. Max Durtschi. We just had a great time training and we were there working as a team, pushing each other every day, you know, trying everybody trying to bring the group together as a whole, essentially. And yeah, I'll always remember that last year. It was just a really fun way to go out in biathlon.
[00:40:54] Tom Kelly: That's good. I love the team aspect of individual sports. It's really contagious to each of you. You both serve our country, and we thank you for that service. Leif, I'll go to you first. What's the pride that you feel in being a soldier?
[00:41:14] Leif Nordgren: Basically, just having the opportunity to keep on representing the US. You know, every time I put on the uniform, it's like I am a part of something bigger than me. You know, and as a coach now, I'm there to support my athletes and help out my athletes in any way that I can. But, yeah, I'm just I'm, I'm proud to to keep on representing the US and our country and, and, you know. Yeah. Be try to try to lead the team and help help the athletes improve the most they can.
[00:41:50] Tom Kelly: Quenten. Same to you. The pride in being a soldier. What does it mean to you?
[00:41:54] Quenten Jones: I think Leif Leif nailed it there. I would say yeah, it's the it's the, the brotherhood or the camaraderie, the pride in doing something bigger than yourself and trying to be better. Having other people inspire you to be better. And yeah, just represent our country and be a part of something.
[00:42:23] Tom Kelly: Last question to you, Leif. Coolest thing you've done as a pilot and a Blackhawk helicopter?
[00:42:32] Leif Nordgren: Well, that's ... I haven't done much. You know, I'm still pretty new at this thing. They. I kind of have my training wheels on still, so to speak. But the coolest thing that we do here in Vermont. We, you know, that I didn't really get to do much down in Alabama at flight school itself is, what we call low-level flying. So basically, you're, you know, between 5 and 20-ft above the treetops, just ripping along. You know, it's one thing to do that on the flat in Alabama, But, you get up here in Vermont, and you're, you know, weaving in and out of these little tiny valleys and, and, you know, not really scraping the treetops, but basically scraping the treetops with your aircraft is, it's so much fun. Like I said before, there are not many things that I would have loved to do so much after being an athlete, but flying is definitely one of them.
[00:43:31] Tom Kelly: It's exhilarating. I want to thank you both for two things. First of all, for serving our country and also for being a part of this amazing program that's fostering a wonderful next generation of athletes here in America. Happy holidays, Leif and Quenten, and thank you so much for being on Heartbeat.
[00:43:50] Leif Nordgren: Thank you.
[00:43:50] Leif Nordgren: Tom, thanks for having us. And yeah, Merry Christmas to you. And you also Quenten and. Yeah, we'll see you next time.
[00:43:58] Quenten Jones: Thank you, Tom. It was it was a real honor to be here. Thank you.
[00:44:03] Tom Kelly: Merry Christmas everyone.
[00:44:04] Leif Nordgren: You too.