S5 Ep1 - Susan Dunklee
Tom Kelly: [00:00:00] Hello everyone. And today Heartbeat is going to the heart of Vermont. We're with Susan Dunklee, athlete turned coach. And, Susan, how are things going? Do you have a little bit of color changing in Craftsbury yet?

Susan Dunklee: [00:00:15] Yeah, it's just the start of peak foliage. So I think the next couple of weeks.

Tom Kelly: [00:00:20] Do you get a lot of folks coming through the Craftsbury area during the fall foliage period?

Susan Dunklee: [00:00:26] Yeah, there are definitely a few more folks traveling from out of state to come see it. You see some big tour buses go by, but I think Stowe and some of those more touristy places. Yeah.

Tom Kelly: [00:00:36] Well, I know that the group coming out to Soldier Hollow for the camp this year, it's a little bit earlier, so hopefully they'll hit our colors. We tend to get them maybe a week or so before you do in Vermont, but great to have you back on the Heartbeat podcast. I was just thinking about this before we came on. I think that you now have the record for the most appearances as a guest. I think this is your fourth. So great to have you, but we've talked a lot in the past about your athletic background, your transitioning into coaching. Uh, we talked a year ago about you coaching in Italy, doing a team trip. Why don't you update us a little bit over the past year as to how your role has changed at Craftsbury now that you are director of biathlon?

Susan Dunklee: [00:01:20] Yeah, absolutely. So I think I switched roles from director of running into director of biathlon about a year ago now, last fall in we'd never had a director of biathlon before. So this this first year has been really trying to figure out like what exactly is my role? Um, what do we where do we want the Craftsbury programs to go in terms of a strategic direction and just figuring out the day-to-day, week-to-week logistics of running practices for the club, supporting our team, supporting, um, race events for the local community, that sort of stuff. So I'm finally starting to settle.

Tom Kelly: [00:01:58] Are you still overseeing the running program as well.

Susan Dunklee: [00:02:02] No.

[00:02:03] So you're singularly focused now on biathlon. Yeah.

Susan Dunklee: [00:02:08] Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'll help out here and there with, uh, events or something as needed, but biathlon. Do you like that priority now?

Tom Kelly: [00:02:17] Yeah, it's definitely ... absolutely right in your wheelhouse.

Susan Dunklee: [00:02:21] Yeah. It's a sport that I really fell in love with and spent so many years of my life devoted to. And, um, I think it's underappreciated in the US, and many communities don't even know what it is. So, I want to be able to spread it and grow it.

Tom Kelly: [00:02:36] Let's go back to your time as an athlete. Now, before you were even thinking about becoming a coach, but you were a green racing project athlete, you skied and competed out of the program in Craftsbury. But what were some of the things that attracted you as an athlete to the Craftsbury program some years ago?

Susan Dunklee: [00:02:55] Yeah, so for me, I always needed balance in my life. I think it's really easy to get wrapped up in the result sheet and have all your value reflected in what your most recent result says, and to avoid that trap, I think for me, I needed to have other interests. I needed to have value beyond just what I could do on the course. Um, being able to feel connected, to place, connected to community, uh, being able to contribute to the community in ways. And the Craftsbury model of athlete support is, is all about that. It really has athletes plugging in, giving back, helping out, building trails, coaching, all sorts of other stuff. So it was a good place for me to land and I tried to be a full time athlete just thinking about training and racing for two years when I lived in Lake Placid right out of college, and it was it's 2 to 1 dimensional, I needed I needed to have something else going on.

Tom Kelly: [00:03:50] Did you look around at other programs at the time, and was this just something that was really unique to the program at Craftsbury?

Susan Dunklee: [00:03:59] Up. There were some others. I looked at Maine Sports Center and thought briefly about heading up that way, and tried to get an outing club started up there, which would have been kind of cool, but I got accepted into Craftsbury, and Craftsbury was my first choice because that's the ski club that I grew up in, so it's really special.

Tom Kelly: [00:04:15] Do when you were an athlete, how did you spend any time thinking about, wow, I could become a coach when I retired, or is this something that's that's really evolved since you left the team a few years ago?

Susan Dunklee: [00:04:30] I've definitely thought about it before. Um, it's funny because when you spend so much time in one world, sometimes you forget that other options exist. And I always kind of do. You know, there are other career paths out there, and maybe what I've done, I'll be quite happy going on another career path. But because I was surrounded by it, I was interested in it. And I had a lot of conversations over the years with Armin actually about like, what is your coaching philosophy? Armin, how do you what advice do you have? Like, how would you deal with this situation. How do you connect with different personality types? That sort of stuff? Um, and so yeah, I was thinking about it, especially .

Tom Kelly: [00:05:05] He tell you, did he give you some good advice?

Susan Dunklee: [00:05:09] Yeah. I think some of the important things he mentioned were would start working with young, younger athletes first. Don't try to jump into elite level coaching. You'll learn a lot more. Um, another piece of advice that stuck with me was that you really have to find the window into each athlete. So we all have different ways that we think, different ways that we, um, understand the world around us. So saying one saying, explaining something in one way to a group of athletes, you might have one kid out of ten that this clicks for, but you really got to find the individual window for each athlete in terms of how you reach them.

Tom Kelly: [00:05:47] I don't imagine you thought a lot about that as an athlete, but now that you're a coach, you know what you said a minute ago that you need to figure out how to reach each of those individual personalities. That has to be a challenge. Yeah.

Susan Dunklee: [00:06:03] You know, as an athlete myself, I always appreciated working with a bunch of different coaches because you have your one primary coach, your point person, but if you have a few different voices in the mix explaining ski technique, for example, they're all mostly on the same page and going after the same idea, but they put it in different words and you never quite know which way of explaining something is going to click. So as an athlete, I actually did I did appreciate the idea of the window and understanding what works for different people. Um, and so I was always seeking out different, different, um, different ways of thinking about something, but also being able to hear an idea and let it go. If it didn't.

Tom Kelly: [00:06:39] Work for any sort of workshopping that young coaches can do to learn these techniques, or is it more something they have to figure out on the job?

Susan Dunklee: [00:06:50] Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, this definitely coach education type courses out there, but I think you learn the fastest when you're just doing something. You know, when you're actually coaching. One of the things I love about the Craftsbury program is a lot of our athletes, uh, help coach the kids programs. And so maybe it's not, you know, super consistent, but several times this summer, they're out there on the range trying to explain something to the kids. And you learn something a lot deeper when you have to teach it to somebody else, for sure.

Tom Kelly: [00:07:18] Help me on this. You're going into your third season of coaching now, right? How would you evaluate yourself? How have you progressed in those first two seasons, and what things are you looking forward to this year that maybe you've learned in the last season or so?

Susan Dunklee: [00:07:35] Yeah, that's a good question. Um, I think so. My first year at coaching, I was coaching only running, and I had been a runner back in college, but not very recently. And so I felt like my knowledge was a little bit outdated and I was organizing camps. And the beautiful thing about that was I was bringing in this team of coaches to help run each running camp week. And so I really learned to use the people around me and learn from them and set up a staffing structure in such a way that you find the, you know, you find the strengths of each person that you're working with and you and you put them in charge of that element. And then the others kind of learn and support. And so as an individual, you don't need to know every last thing. You don't have to be the expert in every area. You have to be able to always be open to learning. But you also find the people who are experts and and get their help.

Tom Kelly: [00:08:28] How do you find those experts now?

Susan Dunklee: [00:08:33] Well, I don't know. I am so lucky at Craftsbury to have colleagues who are extremely, extremely good at what they do. Um, our junior ski coaches have been doing this for several years now, and every time I coach alongside them with some of our, you know, 12-year-olds, 14-year-olds, I'm always learning new ideas for how to, um, how to manage group dynamics, how to respond when an athlete has an injury and they can't participate. The you know, the right way. I'm. I don't know the best way to answer all that, but by watching other people interact, I pick up details like that. And it's it's really, really helpful. I also like to do challenge myself by doing, um, working on projects that are outside the Craftsbury bubble. Because you have to, you have to be exposed to other ways of doing things in order to grow and and learn. And so I just got back a couple of days ago from Austria. I was helping, uh, the IBU with their first-ever para development camp. And so I went over there as a coach working with the para para athletes from I think we had six different countries represented, and we had coaches from all those countries too, and it was really special and kind of kind of neat to to work alongside them and just figuring out how to. How do you communicate things to a visually impaired athlete, you know, you can't just demonstrate visually the same way I'm used to doing in coaching. So you learn new communication methods And it's always, it's always I'm going to go.

Tom Kelly: [00:09:56] Down that path a little bit and then we'll kind of get back onto your coaching career. But, uh, what is the latest in terms of the management of, uh, para biathlon? I know it's kind of jumped around a little bit, but are you updated on where that stands right now?

Susan Dunklee: [00:10:13] A little bit. Um, so the IBU in the past, about a year ago hired a para coordinator, and IBU and FIS are now the governing bodies for para sport. Para used to have its own governing body, I think. But now IBU and FIS are in charge of this. Um, and so last year, I believe FIS organized a lot of the World Cup races. This year, IBU wants to organize the biathlon races and not just have FIS organize both biathlon and cross-country. Um, and so they've been trying to communicate with FIS and figure out that schedule. I think it just got announced a few weeks ago. The new schedule. Um, but yeah. IBU, this is brand new territory for IBU, and they're really interested in, uh, bringing visibility to para organizing really high level, professional level events. And this camp last week was a, uh, you know, an attempt to start producing more opportunities for para athletes to get involved and to get more countries involved. Um, yeah, I'm.

Tom Kelly: [00:11:22] Happy to hear that, because I know that they, that FIS was actually managing para biathlon for a year or so. It just seemed a little bit odd to me. And then I had heard recently, actually, when I was at the Olympics in Paris, that it had shifted back again. Okay, let's get back on track at Craftsbury. One of the things you mentioned that was intriguing to me is how you're going to tap into some of the junior coaches who work with you to kind of tap their experience. Let's flip that around a little bit. I'm sure that they're looking for knowledge from you as well. What are the things that those junior coaches who are teaching you about how to deal with those kids? What are the things that they're looking to learn from Susan Dunkley?

Susan Dunklee: [00:12:05] Well, I think all the years that I spent on the World Cup certainly give me a lot of expertise in how do you deal with race nerves, how do you what do you do for your normal routine on race day? How do you deal with setbacks? Uh, some of the mindset things. And so those are those those are some of the things that I'm really good at. And I can help, uh, athletes and also coaches around me, you know, talk about and work through a little bit. Um, I don't know. There's always stuff to learn.

Tom Kelly: [00:12:34] How young are the kids in your program at Craftsbury?

Susan Dunklee: [00:12:39] Well, with skiing, we start. We have kids that are probably. Gosh, I don't know what age we start them. Maybe six, seven, eight, somewhere in there. Maybe it's eight. Uh, biathlon. We start them around 9 or 10. Um, and then we have everything up through senior level.

Tom Kelly: [00:12:53] And are you working with those young kids much? Yeah.

Susan Dunklee: [00:12:57] Yeah. Last year I helped coach our Catamounts ski program, which is the youngest ones who are just getting on skis the first time. And that's managing a lot of tears and frustrations. You know, when they get stuck in the deep snow drifts and then, you know, they fall in the downhill, don't know how to get up and you have to coax them back onto the track. And but it's fun. And seeing them progress over the winter so quickly is is really. Is there kind.

Tom Kelly: [00:13:20] Of a dividing line somewhere where the athletes above it know Susan Dunklee, the world championship medalist, and then the ones below it just know Susan Dunklee. Yeah, she's my coach.

Susan Dunklee: [00:13:33] Yeah, it's funny actually, uh, I think last year I was working with our U14 and junior kids. So the kids who are just on the either about ready to go into high school or in high school. And halfway through the season, we were chatting about something during practice. And somehow the Olympics came up and I made some reference to to one of the Olympics, and one of the boys in the program goes, wait, wait, you're an Olympian. So, yeah, I don't know. It's a lot of the younger kids who don't, you know, they're not necessarily aware of that. And maybe I don't like to go bragging about that per se, but maybe I should do a better job of, you know, letting them know, because I think it is. There is expertise and motivation and inspiration that can come from that. And it's probably not a bad thing, too.

Tom Kelly: [00:14:16] It is, I think, good to use that. And it certainly can be motivational. But I think at the same time it's it's probably a little bit refreshing to see someone who's looking at you for your coaching skills, what you're doing now, right.

Susan Dunklee: [00:14:31] Yeah. Oh, absolutely. And it's like, how good am I at my job right now? How good am I as a coach? You know, that has absolutely nothing to do with what I did, you know, five years ago. Yeah.

Tom Kelly: [00:14:41] What are you doing to attract more young boys and girls to your program?

Susan Dunklee: [00:14:48] Um, so, I mean, biathlon kind of sells itself here. We have almost 200 kids in our ski ski club. Um, and maybe about 30 or so of those do biathlon right now. And our programs are filling up like we have people on the waitlist, and we have to turn people away, which is tough. But, you know, we're limited by staffing and, and the number of club rifles we can have and the number of points we can safely open during a practice. Um, and yeah, I don't know. We try to expose a lot of the ski kids to biathlon. So during the Bill cook, uh, day camps that we offer for skiers in the summer, we always have a day of shooting on the range. Um, I talked to John Fair a little bit about maybe getting Ahold of Ucsb's laser rifles this winter to to introduce biathlon to all the winter kids that we have doing Bill Cook League, which is, you know, eighth grade and under. Um, we have novice races that we put on. Uh, you can take a safety clinic, learn biathlon and rifle safety, and then do a race an hour later and we have 70 or 80 people. Novices do those races every time we hold them, so it makes it a way to try out the sport. You know, it's a really hard sport to get into because of the logistical constraints, but it opens the door, at least to people trying it and becoming more interested in maybe coming back and signing up for a program or a camp in the summer. We have camps we had this year. We had a U13 camp, we had a U-15 camp, we had a U-17 camp, we have a couple masters camps. So just trying to trying to create.

Tom Kelly: [00:16:24] You've talked about the popularity of the program at Craftsbury. No doubt it is. One of the things I'd love to hear from you is a little bit about the heritage of Craftsbury. What is Craftsbury mean, and how is that great heritage been created at that program?

Susan Dunklee: [00:16:43] Yeah. So Craftsbury is the place that I grew up skiing. It's been a ski center, I think, since the late 70s, in a rowing center in the summer. Um, it was, uh, it used to be like a the campus used to be an old, I think, boys boarding school. And there was this family that bought it back in the late 70s and said, oh, we're going to turn this into a sports center. And it was bumping along, doing pretty well. Um, I grew up skiing there, you know, in the 90s. Along comes 2008 and the Dreissigacker family bought it. Um, that's Hannah and Emily's parents. Uh, they also own Concept2, which makes skiers. A lot of people probably be aware of those, but they turned Craftsbury into a nonprofit and made a mission of promoting lifelong sports skiing, rowing, running, biathlon, um, protecting and preserving the surrounding landscape and promoting sustainable practices. And so this nonprofit mission, it's combining sports with sustainability in a really cool way. And I think since that 2008 era, you've seen a lot of changes at Craftsbury. You've seen the trails homologated. So we can have big high level race events. You've seen a whole bunch of solar panels go up, and a lot of the campus buildings renovated to be more energy efficient. You've seen a lot more community growth in the ski programs. When I was growing up in the 90s, as a kid in the ski program here, we had maybe a dozen, maybe 15 kids in the ski club, and now we have like 200. So there's a lot of I love history.

Tom Kelly: [00:18:07] We're going to take a quick break, and when we come back, we're going to talk a little bit more about how Craftsbury fits into the national scene, maybe a role model for other clubs. We'll be right back on Heartbeat with Susan Dunklee.

Tom Kelly: [00:18:20] We're back on Heartbeat with Susan Dunklee and Susan. We're talking about the program at Craftsbury. Certainly one of the legendary programs across the country. How do you see Craftsbury fitting into the whole U.S. biathlon program nationally?

Susan Dunklee: [00:18:38] Yeah, I think in recent years, we've supported and helped a lot of athletes as they've made it to the national team level. So we've had a lot of elite athletes coming, coming out of our club. One of the things that we haven't done so well is having a lot of juniors and younger kids in developing biathlon and helping build grassroots for USBA, and that's that's something that we're putting a lot more effort into now and I think will help pay off. But I think any the ideal club is going to be a lot of grassroots and maybe some high level biathlon. Not every club out there is going to have the potential to have an elite team and the resources to have an elite team like we do, that's pretty unique, I think. But I think if we can have a lot of clubs out there that are doing a really good job with the grassroots, we will have a strong.

Tom Kelly: [00:19:25] What are some of the challenges to doing a grassroots program? I know it's a little bit more difficult. It's a little bit more equipment-intensive than cross-country is. But how? What advice can you give to clubs as to how to get past that and how to really develop a robust entry level program?

Susan Dunklee: [00:19:42] Yeah, I think the first, the most the biggest limiting factor is knowledge. Having a staff member or a volunteer who has the right knowledge to be able to teach biathlon. I think even more so than venues, even more so than the equipment. That's what holds us back. And, you know, I think you see a lot of clubs where somebody who didn't really grow up in the sport doesn't know it that well, got interested in it because their kid is interested in it and just became the coach and has been self-taught. And I know, you know, we now have this beautiful online center that John Ferrer put a lot of effort into that has a whole bunch of coaching resources on it, so that if you've never done the sport much before, you can learn and you can help, you know, help teach people, help get them into the sport. Um, and that's that's super important. We got to be able to share knowledge, and we've got to be able to work together with other clubs in our region across the country. I think the coaching conference moving to Wisconsin this year to be able to, you know, give that opportunity to easily gather together and learn to a different region than what we've historically done, is a huge step in the right direction. Um, yeah. Just just sharing. Sharing knowledge and and finding resources for that. I mean, other barriers the limiting factor is rifles.

Susan Dunklee: [00:20:56] Rifles are expensive. They're firearms. They're dangerous if used inappropriately. Um, that's really intimidating to a lot of people. It's intimidating to me thinking about the responsibility of having a bunch of rifles. Um, knowing how to handle them safely is of utmost importance. Storing them safely. And how do you fund them? How do you how do you find enough money to get a fleet of rifles for a club, or to get every kid who wants to join to buy their own rifle? Like, that's that's challenging too. Um, we've had a fleet of rifles that has slowly grown over time. Um, that are shared by all the kids who do our programs, which worked pretty well when the kids were kind of young. And, you know, the rifle doesn't have to be fit to them. But now that we have some of our, you know, kids who are 13, when they started now at like 17 years old, that rifle really needs to be fit to that kid. So if we're sharing the rifle between 3 or 4 different athletes, it's not ideal. And so that's that's a challenge we're starting to think about now. How do we how do we get families starting to get rifles for their kids in a way that's affordable and doable? Because it's not cheap. It's not an easy sport to do. Um, but yeah, a lot of stuff. There's a lot of.

Tom Kelly: [00:21:59] Susan, do you get calls from other clubs around the country for advice or direction?

Susan Dunklee: [00:22:07] Um, sometimes I get emails. I wouldn't say I've gotten that many calls, but yeah, we had a masters camp here a few weeks ago, and, uh, the wife of one of the guys out in Wisconsin who's running a club there came to the camp, and they've been emailing me since. I actually need to reply to them, but about trying to bring some kids here to spend a week here and, and learn from our kids and from us and to just have the experience here, which I got to see if we can figure out a way to make that happen, because I'd be kind of cool.

Tom Kelly: [00:22:37] But how do you see Craftsbury, though, as maybe a role model program? I know it's probably tough, as you mentioned, to think that other clubs are going to be able to do the same thing in grassroots and elite. But but are there elements of your program that you see could be kind of role model examples around the country?

Susan Dunklee: [00:22:58] I think one of the really important things that we do that we need to be doing everywhere is that we have to have by athletes thinking of themselves as skiers and biathletes. When you start siloing biathletes into just biathlon races, just biathlon training and not training alongside skiers, not jumping into ski races, um, we're just not going to develop our ski speed very well. And so what we've tried to do with the programs at Craftsbury is at all levels, integrate our biathletes into the ski program. If you're a club, a club kid, you have to sign up for skiing and then you can choose biathlon as an add on. You can't do just biathlon. Um, and I think that's a really important.

Tom Kelly: [00:23:37] Do you see that in other countries? Is that a typical way of managing programs?

Susan Dunklee: [00:23:44] Yeah, I don't know that much to be honest. Um, a place like Norway? Absolutely. They have so many, you know, they're just flush with skiers. Um, and you've got to be able to push yourself and ski with people who are faster than you in order if you want to, in order to get better. Um, but yeah, I don't know. I can't speak to how every country out there works, but we have such a strong we have such strong skiers in the US. Right? That's you look at the World Cup results. You look at what Jesse and company have done. It's just we've got to we've got to ride that, you know. Well, it's.

Tom Kelly: [00:24:14] Been it's been interesting to me the last few years to see more and more athletes crossing over between the cross country tour and the biathlon tour. Uh, I just find that fascinating. That didn't used to happen, did it?

Susan Dunklee: [00:24:30] No, I mean, I didn't feel like that was really an option when I was going through. I felt like I had to be pretty focused on biathlon. Um, I mean, at the high level, I think you can start to specialize. Um, and I certainly did. But I think when you're developing, you absolutely have to be doing some ski races. I mean, heck, go to U.S. nationals and jump in. If you're if you're not racing in Europe, why not find the most competitive race you can on the continent?

Tom Kelly: [00:24:54] Susan, what advice do you have for a young boy or girl who wants to pursue biathlon? Finds it interesting. Maybe has a hero figure in the sport? What advice do you have to get them started?

Susan Dunklee: [00:25:07] I think it's really important to keep it fun and not take yourself too seriously. Um, finding a group of friends who also want to do it is very helpful. We have some kids from some of the other clubs around that don't really have anybody else in their ski club who does it, so they come to hang out with our kids and train with our kids. And I think it's just that social piece is so important for for sustainability in sport. Um, I think also just being able to support the people around you, this is not an easy sport. It's going to beat you up sometimes. You know, you can go from third on the results list one day to 80th the next, you know, in a big race. So you hit all your targets, then you miss, you know, 60% of them. And, uh, just always keeping, keeping. Keep in mind that biathlon giveth and biathlon takes away.

Tom Kelly: [00:25:55] That's a great that's a great way to. Put it. Uh, do you, do you have time to follow the sports still at the elite level? Do you follow what's. Going on with the with US biathlon team and with the IBU World Cup?

Susan Dunklee: [00:26:08] Yeah. I mean, I don't watch every last race, but I do I do follow results some. And I had a lot of fun last winter I went to Soldier Hollow as an assistant chief of. Course. And it was really fun to be on the ground there and cheering the team on. Um, well, you know. I was working officially, but I was also really happy to just see people and. Yeah, see the team have such good results. You saw a.

Tom Kelly: [00:26:32] Lot of old friends.

Susan Dunklee: [00:26:35] Yeah, yeah, yeah. And made a lot of new ones.

Tom Kelly: [00:26:37] The best part, isn't it?

Susan Dunklee: [00:26:38] Uh, it was cool. Yeah. You know, the officiating scene. That's something I hadn't really thought about when I was competing, But that week I had out in Utah last. Last winter was one of my favorite biathlon weeks I've ever had. I think there's something really special about being part of a team that puts on a big event like that, and the communication and the teamwork that we had in our, you know, officials group that week was incredible. And that was we had to do a lot of salting. We were dealing with some challenging conditions, but pulling something off together like that.

Tom Kelly: [00:27:07] That was really an amazing event. I would imagine you had to also be very gratified by the crowds out there and the enthusiasm of the fans.

Susan Dunklee: [00:27:16] Yeah, we're we're showing, you know, America has an amazing fan base that is starting to show up at these, these big races. And, um, I mean, Hermod's Hill, the, the flags and the people and the cheering and the energy there.

Tom Kelly: [00:27:34] It's a great culture out here. Uh, one more kind of philosophical question, then we'll get on to our closing on target. Uh, little short and quick little Q&A. But, you know, as I talk to you here today and we've talked on this podcast a lot, uh, it seems to me that you've really made this transition as a coach. You speak today with much, seemingly deeper experience than you had in the last couple of years. And I know you have a long ways to go as a coach, but how do you feel now going into your third season as a coach, as coach Susan Dunklee preparing for the season ahead, how do you feel about your experience level and what you can offer to the athletes?

Susan Dunklee: [00:28:16] Yeah, I think I'm starting to feel a little bit more confident and sure of myself when I'm trying to set a plan for a group or explain something to a group. Um, I think you have a little bit of imposter syndrome when you first start getting into anything new. And the first year or so I had that a fair amount. And now I'm feeling like I can I can impart wisdom to somebody. I can explain something in a way that is simple and makes sense. Um, and yeah, I mean, there's always more to learn and it's going to be a lifelong pursuit of learning, I guess. But yeah, just feeling. Feeling more comfortable is.

Tom Kelly: [00:28:51] An ongoing pursuit of learning. So Susan, thank you so much. We're going to close it out with a few questions. We call on target. First thing name one or tell us about one fun thing you did this summer that had nothing to do with biathlon.

Susan Dunklee: [00:29:06] Um, can I talk about spring? Yeah. Okay. I think the, um, solar eclipse was one of the coolest experiences that I didn't expect that I've ever had. Um, there had been a lot of hype about that in the news, and we were right in the path of totality here. And I was like, yeah, that's cool, but whatever. And then the day came and it was just such a magical feeling in town and so many people showing up and just such a positive thing. I was hanging out in the backyard. I could hear people from the common, which is this, this communal space, like a quarter mile away and everybody cheering when the light came back. You know, you don't have that many, uh, big gatherings where people all kind of come out and are gathering in, you know, one place where you don't have some sort of tension or some sort of drama happening. And it just it just seems so positive and hopeful and humanity is really small and experiencing all the same thing at the same time.

Tom Kelly: [00:30:03] That's that's a really good one. I would have never expected that. Did you have the proper apparatus with which to watch the eclipse?

Susan Dunklee: [00:30:12] I just had some of those little glasses they were handing out.

Tom Kelly: [00:30:16] It's pretty amazing. We, uh, we didn't have totality here in Utah, although a few years ago, we made the trek down to southern Utah to watch one. And it was a great experience. And what I remember most about it was I-15 for 200 miles, coming back to Salt Lake City, absolute total gridlock in the middle of nowhere. People travel to see these things, don't they?

Susan Dunklee: [00:30:40] I was lucky because I could be right in my backyard, but I heard a lot of stories of people being stuck in traffic for three hours afterwards on the middle of nowhere Vermont, you know, trying to get back to the interstate.

Tom Kelly: [00:30:48] I'm just going back to my house, so. Okay. Uh, next one. What's a fun night out in Craftsbury?

Susan Dunklee: [00:30:57] Oh, man. Um, I don't know. I mean, Craftsbury is a pretty quiet place, to be honest. We have on Sunday nights in the summer. We have live music on the common here, which is really fun. It's usually some local bands, kind of folk style bands. Or we also have a, like a chamber orchestra that plays a couple towns over. So some of those musicians will often, often play. Um, but yeah, everybody comes out, they bring their lawn chairs, they bring a potluck dinner and just spread a blanket out and hang out and chat, catch up with their neighbors.

Tom Kelly: [00:31:27] Sounds like fun. How about the thing that you have liked most? One thing that you've liked the most about being a coach?

Susan Dunklee: [00:31:38] Oh, man. Um, I really like it when you see a one of the kids that you're coaching who hasn't always had a lot of positive experiences in sports or in school, but really feel like they fit in socially with the kids around them on the team and feel like the sense of belonging and the sense of support. It's just it's a really powerful thing and you see them achieve things that they never thought they could achieve before. And it's it might not be anything, you know, spectacular from the perspective of a, you know, somebody who's used to racing World Cups or something. But to me it's really, really spectacular to watch that sort of stuff just unfolding on a day to day level here. And it's it's really special. And they support each other so much. It's that's, that's one of the things that I really try to help instill in our group as a is that we support each other as a culture. We cheer on whoever is having a rough day. Um, we don't tease each other, you know, we're always there for each other and wait at the finish line for your friends sort of thing. But cool.

Tom Kelly: [00:32:41] Yeah. And then the last one. And I think you've probably already answered this, but your favorite moment last season?

Susan Dunklee: [00:32:51] Yeah, I think Soldier Hollow was pretty special. Um, got some good memories from there. I remember the last day when we were cleaning up all the v boards off the course. We had these little jet sleds, and we, you know, we were mostly almost done. We'd been working pretty hard for several days, and we just all the officials, we just jumped in the jet sled at the top of the hill and rode it down the hill. And, um, yeah, I don't know. It's just a really, really cool scene in Utah.

Tom Kelly: [00:33:16] Fun stuff. Fun stuff. Susan Dunklee, thank you so much for sharing some thoughts here on Heartbeat. We hope that you have a great season ahead and appreciate all you're doing for the sport and sharing your knowledge. Thank you so much.

Susan Dunklee: [00:33:31] Thanks, Tom.