On September 1st and March 1st each year, the number of members in Sweden’s cross-country skiing clubs is measured. And it can be noted that since 2015, there have been “positive figures” every year.

“We saw a flattening of our curve during the pandemic, but we still increased during those years. But since the pandemic, the pace of development has picked up again, and in our latest measurement, we reached 68,000 members. We believe that one explanation for this development is a general trend in society where more and more adults, in particular, enjoy being active, whether it’s skiing, running, or cycling,” says Jenny Limby, responsible for children and youth at the Swedish Ski Association.

According to information presented by Expressen, the development from 2015 indicates that Sweden increased its number of registered skiers by 36 percent during the period 2015-2022; the corresponding figure in Norway was a decrease of 37 percent.

However, the Norwegian decline has explanations, if not full, then at least partial explanations. The association has tightened the requirements for who is counted as registered skiers in recent years:

“Previously, even people who were more peripheral to the activity could be counted. Like parents and those who baked waffles at the competitions,” says Brit Baldishol, development manager at the Norwegian Ski Federation, to Expressen.

Back to Sweden, is it possible to get more exact measures of how the development on the youth and junior side looks within the association’s various branches?

“No, the best measure is LOK support (state local activity support, for those aged 7-25), but that involves statistics for the ‘entire’ association, so we cannot see what changes occur within each sport. And in the association as a whole, we have actually had a slightly declining trend over the past year. But this applies, as I said, to the Swedish Ski Association’s activities as a whole, not specifically to cross-country skiing.”

How do you work to attract more children and young people to your activities?

“There are several aspects to this. An important change that occurred in 2015 was that we hired three cross-country consultants who work with physical visits to our clubs, which we have seen has had a significant impact. The cross-country consultants have also made a significant contribution to our educational activities, which have developed positively in recent years. Having well-trained leaders in the club activities is crucial for an appealing program. A welcoming atmosphere with an attractive climate where young people feel seen is highlighted in the annual youth survey that is conducted. So the excellent work of the voluntary leaders is an important part of this. In recent years, we have also conducted a competition review for children and youth (read more here), and we have taken in a lot of feedback from coaches and parents, in addition to conducting a lot of in-depth interviews with children over the past three years to get an understanding of how they view their sports participation,” says Limby, according to Langd.se, and continues:

“Cross-country skiing is a sport where a large proportion ‘just’ train, and our entire program is built on the idea that you can participate even if you don’t want to compete. There, we see that the work of the clubs is very important; we see that clubs that work with, for example, shared competition trips or shared waxing contribute to lowering the barriers and thus getting more people to participate in competitions.”

Is there inherent value in having more people compete?

“As I said, it should always be completely okay not to compete, and we should offer an environment where everyone feels that it’s up to me whether I want to compete or not. But we see in the surveys we have done that many think that the most enjoyable part of competing is the camaraderie it brings, meeting not only your clubmates but also girls and boys from neighbouring clubs and other districts. So competing offers many additional benefits that are not just about skiing fast.”

In recent years, the Swedish Ski Association has rolled out several projects to get more people to try skiing as a sport.

This includes, for example, Everyone on Snow (with a focus on fourth-grade students, all to lower the entry point for trying winter sports); Star on Skis (focus on cooperation and a positive atmosphere in the clubs where children and young people collectively earn points by completing various “missions and tasks”); Bauis Ski School (also to facilitate for children in preschool age to try skiing. Last winter, 2,500 children got to try skiing by utilizing the loaned equipment).

“In addition to this, our youth cups are very important, and here we continuously work to make them as appealing as possible for young people. Many clubs have also, through the sports funds (formerly sports lift funds) that can be applied for, seen to it to purchase equipment to make it possible for people to try skiing. All to give everyone who wants the opportunity to try skiing as a sport,” says Limby.

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