Ariens Nordic Center - Paul Schommer, Youth Programs

On this week's WHBY broadcast and Biztalk with Score podcast, hosts Rick Sense and Terry Pinch talk with guest Paul Schommer. Paul is a two-time US Olympic Biathlete and a world-class competitor who successfully treated his athletic career like a lean, aggressive business startup.  The three will discuss Paul and the rest of the team at Ariens Nordic Center's efforts in organizing and developing a world class youth programming and development program at Brillion’s internationally acclaimed venue and Olympic training facility.

Resources Mentioned:

• Ariens Nordic Center: https://ariensnordic.com/
• SCORE Northeast Wisconsin: score.org/wi/northeast-wisconsin

Thank You to Our Sponsors

We would like to thank our sponsors for their generous support of BizTalk with SCORE:

• Heling & Associates LLC: hhttps://www.helingandassociates.com/
• Johnson Financial Group: https://www.johnsonfinancialgroup.com
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• Baird: https://geenengroup.bairdwealth.com/

Transcript

BizTalk Welcome

WHBY: SCORE Northeast Wisconsin and WHBY are pleased to bring you BizTalk, a chance for you to hear from entrepreneurs and professionals as they share their experiences. From starting to sustaining growth, learn the skills needed for your business to be successful. If you miss anything, you can catch the BizTalk podcast at score.org/northeastwisconsin.

And now, from the Mery Construction Studio, it's BizTalk on WHBY. 

 Rick Sense: Good morning, and welcome to BizTalk with SCORE. I'm Rick Sense, along with Terry Pinch this weekend. Terry, how you doing? 

Terry Pinch: I'm doing very well, thank you, Rick. 

 Rick Sense: I just am really excited about our programming. 

Sports Economy Boom

 Rick Sense: For listeners, if you didn't join us last weekend, we are running, a, a special series tracking the commercial landscape of sports and recreation.

And did you know that Americans now spend a staggering $1.5 trillion annually on sports and the outdoors? To put that in perspective, let's look at a way we spend on... l- look what we spend on our other hobbies. Like for example, attending a live performance, Americans will spend $30 billion on that annually.

Going to movies, streaming, services, watching stuff on TV, programming, things like that, $150 billion. Buying books, magazines, reading material, $150 billion. Visiting a museum and going to historical sites, $200 billion. So this spending represents a massive historical shift. Over the last five decades, while the average Ameri- American family incr- income has increased by seven and a half times, spending on sports and recreation surged by more than 50 times.

Today, sports and outdoor recreation spending contributes more to the US economy than traditional pillars like agriculture, mining, and utilities. So throughout this month, we at BizTalk with SCORE will be speaking with innovators and executives working in this high-growth ex- sector to see how they are reshaping the sports experience for participants and spectators alike.

Meet Paul Schommer

 Rick Sense: So if you've ever launched a startup, you know it takes an agonizing amount of resilience, risk management, and flawless execution under pressure. Well, our guest today spent years running a high-stakes international business where a single mistake could tank his entire year's work, and he did it all while wearing skis and carrying a rifle.

Joining us on the program today is Paul Schommer. Paul is a two-time US Olympic biathlete and a world-class competitor who successfully treated his athletic career like a lean, aggressive startup, pitching corporate sponsors, managing strategic planning with world-class competitive execution, and scaling his personal brand on the global stage.

Now, Paul is taking those exact entrepreneurial lessons and stepping into organizing and developing a world-class youth programming and development program at Brilliance Ariens Nordic Center. Paul's here to talk with us today about the business of elite sports, how to manage crisis and unpredictability, and the Ariens Nordic Center's team's efforts for scaling a Wisconsin state-of-the-art venue into a massive national attraction.

Paul, welcome to the show. 

Paul Schommer: Hey, thanks for having me, guys. 

From Kimberly to Biathlon

 Rick Sense: So Paul, could you start off giving listeners maybe a, a brief bio on, on how a local kid makes it to the world stage and ends up back where he started? 

Paul Schommer: Yeah. So I grew up in Kimberly, Wisconsin. Graduated from Kimberly High School in 2010. When I was, I think, a sophomore or junior, junior year of high school is when I really got introduced to cross-country skiing and started doing my first races.

By my senior year of high school, I started to really become passionate about cross-country skiing and wanted to go ski at the NCAA level. I had a few different options, very minimal scholarship opportunities, and ultimately decided to go to the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota, which ended up being a great decision, 'cause it was there that I met my coach, Chad Salmela.

He kind of saw me, and maybe a, a diamond in the rough at that point, 'cause I was so new to skiing still, and I think he kinda took a chance on me, having me come onto the team. But then he, he kinda started to see some of my talents, and he was a biathlete himself, and so he's the one who ultimately started to put the idea of biathlon into my head and help develop me as an athlete.

And then upon graduating from St. Scholastica is when I really went full time in the sport of biathlon. W- at that time, I really didn't know what biathlon had for me. I didn't really know what my goals were or what was possible. I think when I-- Before I started biathlon, I actually had maybe more goals.

And then once I started getting into it, I was like, "Oh man, this is way harder than I thought. I don't really know if this is gonna be possible. I don't know how long I'm gonna last." And then, yeah, now it's 2026. I just finished my biathlon career this spring after the conclusion of our season, and now have moved back to Northeast Wisconsin to hopefully introduce local kids to a sport that I didn't know existed until, really until I was a senior in high school, and hopefully help those local kids know that there's opportunity in a sport that they didn't know was there and could take them around the globe.

And I, I believe that working with kids from a younger age is not only gonna give them maybe a better chance in the sport of biathlon, but just teach them important life skills that they're gonna be able to carry over into whatever they find themselves doing. 

Olympic Moments

 Rick Sense: So I have to ask you, you know, the, the traditional sports journalist question: how do you feel?

But how did it feel to, to be representing the United States at the 2022 B- uh, Beijing Olym- Beijing Olympics, and then also at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games earlier this year? What kind of things were you thinking and feeling as you were walking in and, and partic- participating and, and competing in, in biathlete- biathlon?

Paul Schommer: Yeah, I mean, I think that as a, as a biathlete, I represented the US for the first time internationally at the IBU Cup in 2016. And so, I mean, at that point it's, like, not quite the World Cup, but then from then, 2017 is when I skied my first World Cup, and skied on the World Cup pretty much every season since then.

And I think that at the beginning there is this sense of like, okay, yeah, we're representing the US, we're the best biathletes that the US has to offer at this moment, and that's why we're here representing them. Doing that on the World Cup is one thing, but when you show up to the Olympic Stadium, it's, it's a different feeling.

Everyone else's sponsors have been taken off of their uniforms, and you are representing your country, and it's this coming together of the world to, to celebrate sport and to really see who is the best at this. And it has this sense of, if anything like patriotism or like you are, you are representing the US, and you're representing the US not, in ways that maybe sometimes people wanna think, especially, there's been a lot of things that have happened in our country.

But it's like, for me, I'm representing the people that helped get me there. And so for me, it's really a time of reflection, thinking about that journey that brought me to that point. All of the ups, the downs, the people who sacrificed, to help me get to that point. I mean, really that's the cool part for me is to, to really look back on that journey and then to enjoy that experience.

To be like, "Man, I'm here because of a lot of people that have helped me along the way." And in Beijing we didn't have the ability to have spectators there, but in, in Milano Cortina it was really awesome to be able to have some friends and family there to be able to sh- share in that experience with me 

Athlete as a Brand

 Rick Sense: So how do you view the individual Olympic athlete?

You've been around many of them over the years now and, and you yourself are one. Do you view the Olympic athlete as a self-contained business or as a brand? 

Paul Schommer: Hmm. I mean, the Olympics, there's so many different layers to it. You have the, the IOC, the International Olympic Committee, and that is this giant business, is how I see it.

And then you have the individual Olympian, which who a lot of times is just, like, fighting for whatever they can to, to stay afloat. And, so there's a lot of different layers to the Olympic community, from these huge businesses that have gobs of money to the average Olympian really who's, who really doesn't have much in terms of funding and support at times.

So, I mean, I think there, that's a very complex question, and I think I've seen a lot of different aspects of that community, having been myself someone who has lived out of their car with not much money in their bank account. I say that ironically as I'm talking to you guys in my van right now, as I'm continuing to live out of my vehicle.

And so I think that... But then you look on the other side where it's like I've had really amazing opportunities where my, my lodging and my, my food and my travels and all of those things have come from support from those bigger, larger communities, or committees, through sponsorships and different things like that.

So, I think as a business it's just really unique. When I talk to athletes who are looking for sponsorship, it's all about, okay, well, how do you create value? And that's what it really comes down to. People are willing to spend money on things that are important to them. And as you said, Americans are spending a huge amount of money to get outdoors and on athletics, and I mean, outdoors in general.

We're talking skiing, biking, but also hunting, fishing, uh, going out on a boat, whatever it is. And why do people wanna spend money? Because they feel that it's important, and that they're gonna get something out of it, and that's really how you have to kind of boi- it boils down to that way with, with any business.

Sponsorship Playbook

 Rick Sense: Now, you mentioned sponsorships a couple time already, couple times already this morning. Would you be willing to talk with listeners a little bit about what's the biggest challenge that you saw in securing funding from corporate sponsors and other sponsors? 

Paul Schommer: Yeah, I mean, I think like I, I just said, it's just really trying to identify within yourself like, "Okay, where's my value?

What can I bring to a business?" And then really trying to convince or sell that business on that idea of like, "You working with me is going to benefit you." Now, it doesn't always need to be in the form of selling product or getting more followers on social media. Now, social media has definitely changed the landscape for things, especially for athletes.

But at the end of the day, it's like you gotta find value, and it might be in working with their, with their employees, working in the community, doing different projects, whatever it might be. And I think that, the other thing that a lot of athletes need to... that, that they have in their own athletic careers, but they sometimes don't always translate into that pursuit of finding sponsorships, is persistence and continuing to do the process knowing that if you do it, the results are gonna come, even if you're not seeing them in this exact moment.

So, so yeah, it's, it's something that's not always easy. It's trying to identify what's my brand. Like Paul Schommer as a biathlete, what's my brand represent? What's important to me? What skills and interests do... that I have outside of biathlon that make me unique that I can leverage for, with a company?

And then trying to take that self brand and market it, package it in a way that is sellable, that is going to have a business look at it and be like, "Hey, this is valuable. This is gonna help us. This is help- gonna... This aligns with our goals, and money that we give to this individual athlete is going to be money well spent."

 Rick Sense: So do you think that, athletes are doing that well enough in, in the, in the Olympic world right now, in the, in the amateur sport world, where they're able to go out and, and do they approach this as a business? Do they approach them, th- this opportunity as that type of an approach, or is it more of a, "I'm a really good athlete, I'm just gonna go out there and hopefully people are gonna contribute to what I'm working towards"?

Paul Schommer: Yeah, I mean, I think there's a couple different ways that people look at it. I think on, I think one way that a lot of athletes look at it, and this is my own personal opinion with absolutely no official education or background in it other than my own experience. And so I just wanna say that To start so that people aren't like, "Well, who's this guy to talk?"

It's like, this is my experience. And I think one way that a lot of athletes look at it that I don't think is the most successful way to look at it is that they're a charity. So they're looking for donations. They kind of want to do more of the sob story, pull on the heartstrings, and to get those donations maybe even from, like, wealthy individuals.

And now there's a place in ... a time and a place to do that. There is this emotion and this ability where you want to draw people in and say, "Hey, I want you to be part of my journey. If you donate, you then are joining me in my pursuit," and the potential, like, victory in that is great, and you will be part of that because you are going to donate to, to it.

Now, the way I say it is you can do bake sales when you're younger, but, like, ultimately, like, you're not gonna go buy a house by doing bake sales. And what I'm ... What I mean by that is you want to create a funding model that is going to be, like, repeating itself year after year through a strong partnership that you have.

So as an athlete, I definitely started that way at the beginning, where there was people who were donating to me. Even sometimes people just randomly would be like, "Hey, I want to support you," because they, they got to know me, we had dinner, whatever else, and they gave me a few bucks. And those people, they helped me significantly in those first couple years doing biathlon.

Now, part of that was because I didn't really have much... Uh, like, I didn't have a huge background. I didn't have results. I wasn't on the World Cup right away. I was trying to make that jump, and it's those people that you get really close to that help you make that jump. Now, when you make that jump to the international stage and you're starting to get a little bit more value in a different way, that's where I think the shift comes from, from, "Okay, I'm a charity," to now, "I'm, I'm a creating my own brand, and I am becoming more like a business."

Because then you can try to start to grow those partnerships that allow you to work with companies that are going to continue to give and help you and support you year after year. So then I think that's where it's more building that, that brand. What, what do you offer as an athlete outside of just results?

Now, results are going to be a key contributor. People know the top performers in a sport, and there's a reason why because They're at the top of the podium. They're getting eyeballs on them. That's where you can have a logo placement and, like, at the end of the day, people are going to see that logo.

Now, and then you look at social media now, and there's a lot of times where there are some people who maybe they don't have the results on the international stage in the sport, but they still have a ton of followers because they have a really great brand that they've built on social media. So you can go that route, and that's where, for me as an athlete a lot of times, it was like, okay, I have to make the decision.

Because that social media brand isn't just built on its own. Like, you have to put time into that. You have to have a consistency. You wanna have a clear, concise idea of what people, when they follow your page, what kind of content are they getting, or is it useful where they're ... You're translating your expertise to them to help them be able to reach their goals through,

An example would be, like, if somebody's trying to train for a marathon, they wanna know, oh, what do these Olympic athletes do in their training? I can then share, "Hey, this is what we do to increase our aerobic threshold," or how we get more anaerobically fit as we get towards the season. How do I deal with pressure in tough shooting situations?

How can I do that in training? Things like that. Translate that to people. That's value that they see from those posts. But again, that takes time. Or am I going to dedicate my time to I wanna become the best athlete that I can? That's my priority, and then hopefully those results are what's gonna lead to, some of that funding, whether it be through prize money or, or more sponsorship deals.

So I think that's where the business side starts to come in a little bit more, and you have to be able to, to make that distinction. And sometimes it feels like a little bit of a leap because you think like, "Oh, I'm getting some money from these people, and I don't wanna, like ... " And you should always, like, cultivate those relationships, but at some point you kind of do have to take that leap and be like, "Hey, I'm, I'm gonna look to go catch, like, one big fish rather than just, like, kind of trying to survive off of these crumbs that I'm getting."

 Rick Sense: All right. 

Break and SCORE Mentoring

 Rick Sense: With that, we're gonna take our first break. You're listening to BizTalk with SCORE on WHBY, and we'll be right back after these messages

Terry Pinch: Welcome back to BizTalk. Our guest this week is Paul Schommer from the Ariens Nordic Center. Before we get back to Paul, I want to tell you a little bit about SCORE Northeast Wisconsin. SCORE Northeast Wisconsin serves a 20 cou- nine county area, primarily in Northeast Wisconsin. With over 30 members in the re- region, and access to over 10,000 nationally, we offer entrepreneurs no-cost and confidential mentoring.

Areas of expertise include marketing, cashflow, planning, best practices, and many other specialties. In order to register for a no-cost and confidential mentoring session and learn more about Northeast Wisconsin SCORE, visit our website at score.org/wi/northeast-wisconsin. When visiting our website, you can complete an online application for a mentoring session.

Simply complete the online form and submit it to SCORE. Within a few days, a SCORE mentor will be contacting you to set up a meeting. Remember, SCORE is no cost and offers experts who can offer you assistance in many different areas your business may need assistance in. To get started, simply visit our website at score.org/wi/northeast-wisconsin.

To help small businesspeople, SCORE is always looking for new mentors. If you have experience that you would love to share with others, we'd love to talk to you. On your search engine, you can search for SCORE Northeast Wisconsin, go to the site, click on the volunteer button, and fill out a short application.

We'll get back to you to explain more. In addition to our broadcast in WHBY, BizTalk with SCORE is also available as a podcast. We bring you expert advice, impactful stories, and real-world insights from experienced entrepreneurs and business leaders. Listen and follow today. Available, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Now, back to BizTalk and Paul. 

Resilience Under Pressure

Terry Pinch: And Paul, just wrapping up on some of the discussion in the first segment, wanted to talk a little bit about resilience. And in, as an Olympic athlete and a, a athlete and a world caliber athlete, performance is so critical. How do you build the resilience if there isn't a performance up to the standard you want or you have an injury?

How do you make yourself come back from that? 

Paul Schommer: Yeah, I mean, I think that's a great question. And, and, and the, the thing is, is as an athlete, you're constantly having your results not only known, but being posted on online, and really being directly correlated. It's like if you were working a job and two or three times a week you got to see who was the best performer.

And some... It's inevitable, especially in biathlon, there's gonna be days where you don't have your best performance. But the beauty of it is, is you also can start to think, "Hey, maybe I got, I got another chance." If I stay focused, maybe I can bounce back, especially with shooting in biathlon. You can have a bad shooting day, come back the next day, and if you let it go, you can have a great performance the next day.

I think it can be really difficult, though, when you are younger and you feel like you have to be somewhere at that point. You add that pressure, and you think that if you don't capitalize on this opportunity, you're gonna basically miss the train at the station, and everyone's gonna leave without you.

And I, I definitely had that at times in my career. And you talk about injury. I've had... Since 2023, I've had three knee surgeries, and each time I had to come back full recovery and make the team again. But I think each time I did that, I showed myself, you can bounce back. You can make it back to that level.

And also that it doesn't happen overnight, that it is something that it's part of the process. It's gonna teach you something. And it takes risk, and ultimately, that risk can lead to, to reward, and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes you do come up short. But really, that's, that's just part of the process.

So I think adding that pressure sometimes, it creates that resiliency that allows you to be able to do it again. And the first time you, you, you face those difficult situations, sometimes they do feel really daunting, and you do have lots of doubt, and you don't know if you're gonna be able to make it.

But I think that every time you go through that fire, you get a little bit more refined, and, and you have that ability to do it because, I mean, especially in athletics, it's like your back's against the wall. It's like either I've, I've produced the results to stay on the team, which leads to my, my income, my health insurance, my support, or I don't.

And sometimes if you don't, it's like, okay, well then I need to figure out a different way to do it. But it comes down to every other person in the sport, they have to do the same thing, and everyone earns their place through results, and they sometimes do it in different ways, but that's just the, the nature of the, of the business.

Terry Pinch: Okay. As you look at your experiences in the athlete's worl- athletic world, do you see that it resilience you built go- as something that's going to help you in your future? 

Paul Schommer: Absolutely. As I said, there are so many ups and downs, and I think that there's one thing biathlon showed me is that there's always an opportunity ahead even after your worst days, even when you feel like you're at your low point.

And that's kind of led to one of the mottos that I have in my life is starts now. This idea that every single day is a new beginning to take a step towards that goal that you set for yourself. Regardless of what happened yesterday, maybe what happened to you, decisions other people made that affected you, or decisions that you made yourself that had...

maybe weren't that great. You get to wake up in the morning and make the decision for what are you gonna do today? That redemptive idea of, hey, there's redemption that's possible for all of us. And, and I know that inevitably there'll be times where I have failure in, in the future in no matter what I'm doing in life.

But I also know that there's a possible... there's ways to, to rebound from that or it might look a little bit different than I thought. So absolutely feel like that, that has instilled some resilience in me, in me that I hope to bring with me in whatever I find myself doing for the rest of my life.

Terry Pinch: Okay. 

Break and SCORE Learning

Terry Pinch: We're at the point where we're gonna take our second break. You're listening to Biz Talk with Score on WHBY, and we'll be right back after these messages

Welcome back. You're listening to Biz Talk with SCORE, and we're talking to Paul Schommer from the Ariens Nordic Center, and a former Olympic athlete. And before we get back to Paul, I just wanna mention quickly that there's a lot of, been a lot of changes around SCORE and how we operate, and one of them is to our educational opportunities.

So if you go to our website at score.org/wi/northeast-wisconsin, you'll see a learning tab at the top, and if you click on that, it's gonna bring up a number of different choices. And what we've done that's different from the past is we started adding some paid courses, so ones where we bring certain experts in.

There'll be a small fee s- for those. But m- the vast majority of our courses are still free. But it covers things from starting a business, to artificial intelligence, to taxes, et cetera. So there's a lot of things there you can learn from. There are more than... There are courses that are four or five, segments long, and some of those have fees, some don't, but it's a real opportunity to go pay, either pay low cost or no cost to get some real good e- learning opportunities.

So again, go, search for SCORE, Northeast Wisconsin, and you can go to our website on the learning button and see more into that. So Rick, I'll turn it back over to you. 

 Rick Sense: All right. Thank you, Terry. 

US Biathlon Evolution

 Rick Sense: Paul, I, I guess, you know, you, you, you kind of laid to the sport in your childhood, so to speak. Can you maybe give listeners a viewpoint of how the culture and the competitive nature of American biathlon has evolved since you first entered the sport back in your senior year of high school?

Paul Schommer: Yeah, I mean, for, for biathlon I would say I didn't really enter the sport of biathlon till I was probably 22. Before then I kinda knew about biathlon, but up until that point I was a cross-country skier. So I think, I mean, even if you talk about on the bigger scale cross-country skiing and biathlon, I think they both have evolved a lot since I was in high school.

I think that the, especially cross-country skiers, they, they've had a lot of success including, multiple medals at, in 2026 here. And, in biathlon we're still chasing our first medal i- at the Olympic Games, and which is also the, the last first medal, which is the, the only sport that the US has yet to medal in at the Olym- Winter Olympics is biathlon.

And so we kinda have that attached to our name, and that's something that is often talked about when the Olympics come around. And I think it's something that when I first started biathlon, it was this like big topic that a lotta, a lotta athletes were a little nervous to talk about, that they produced a lot of anxiety and stress, and it was kinda like, "Well, we don't wanna, like, recognize this."

And, and now we, we, I would say the athletes have really started to accept that. Like, "Yeah, this is a challenge, and like, we're gonna, we're gonna go for it, and we're going to do everything we can to, to, to chase that, and we're not gonna be scared of it." Because I don't think fear is a great motivator. And it's not gonna bring you the

It's not gonna allow you to be able to focus and do what you need to in order to achieve that. Beyond that, I think that there's a, there's been definitely some changes within US Biathlon and the team culture about, like, how, how we view the, our teammates, how we view competition and day-to-day training.

And I saw in my career as a biathlete things really move towards like we are teammates, and together we can get better. We, we all contribute to this training group in a specific way that allows us to all get better. And the fact that it's any athlete on any day, that it's not, "Oh, this is our golden child, and they're, we're gonna put everything into them."

But it's like, "Hey, there's gonna be days where, like, these other athletes actually have a great day." And because biathlon, there's so m- so much up and down with the shooting, and even the, the season, it goes from the end of November through the end of March- I mean, with that, you're gonna have fitness that comes and goes, and people are gonna be skiing fast at different times or course conditions or, even just the, the course itself with how the hills are and different things, that we are going to invest in all of our athletes because we don't know when that one athlete's gonna have a breakout, a breakout performance or someone's gonna rise up.

And, and I think that has been really empowering, and we're starting to see that it's not just one athlete anymore. There's multiple athletes that are going to contribute to this, and that, ultimately, that depth is continuing to grow. And I think that on, like, the grassroots level in the US, we're really starting to see more momentum with that as well, where it's like, "Hey, there, there's more support."

And like, we are gonna build this community, and it's from that community that we're gonna produce a champion, not we're gonna have this champion, and then everything else is going to get fixed. And so I think that's where Ariens Nordic Center is really gonna come into play because it's gonna be a place where we're gonna have a community of people that are all enjoying the outdoors.

And there might be some people who are like, "I wanna take this a little bit more seriously. I wanna be competitive." And it's from that community that we're going to be able to have an environment that's gonna be able to produce successful athletes, and more importantly than that, hopefully successful people that can go off into many other areas in life.

It doesn't have to be just sport, because in order to have great athletes, it takes a whole lot more than just one individual athlete. You gotta have a full support network. It really does take a community. 

Ariens Nordic Center Tour

 Rick Sense: So we've mentioned Ariens Nordic Center before during the broadcast. Can you maybe give listeners an idea of what it actually is?

Paul Schommer: Yeah, Ariens Nordic Center is in Berlin, Wisconsin. It has a full roller ski and snowmaking facility with a biathlon range. It really is a premier Nordic ski venue that is right here close to home in Nordic, or in northeast Wisconsin. So in the summer, you have the ability to go run on trails, roller ski.

They just put in a disc golf course. There's a snowmaking pond. Then we have a bunch of other activities that we're currently in the works of, creating, and it is... The focus is gonna be that it's an, it's an outdoor center for all people, all ages, and all abilities. The, the ski trails open end of November into December, depending upon when that snow, it really gets put out on the trails, and goes through, the end of February and sometimes even into March.

And, yeah, we're just really trying to build a community of people that can get outside and enjoy the outdoors and trying to keep the, those hurdles, what's really holding people back. We're trying to make it as accessible as possible. 

Youth Programs and Access

 Rick Sense: So what kind of things are you gonna be doing to make biathlon accessible and welcoming to complete beginners?

Paul Schommer: Yeah, I mean, I think that there's gonna be a lot of steps. It's, biathlon is, can be a complex sport, and so I think the first part is, one, you have the, you have a place to do it. But more than that, we have a place that you can learn how to ski, so you can get out on skis. Young kids w- hopefully creating youth programming so that that allows kids as young as four or five years old can get out and start practicing on skis, and really just enjoying it.

It's not about going out and skiing the long distance, it's about getting on skis, being able to balance. and then once you develop those skills, just helping them translate them to the higher levels. And ultimately, it's not about results, it's about just getting out, learning those skills, from a young age, and also having a fun place to be able to do that, even where parents can come.

Their kids go skiing, but they also too enjoy, enjoy the activity. 

 Rick Sense: What kind of thing, what kind of things are you gonna bring forward from your experiences on, on the world stage in biathlon? I mean, are, are there certain things that you saw at one competition that you're, you're gonna wanna see happen at Ariens Nordic Center, or a training method?

What kind of things there that you're gonna bring forward? 

Paul Schommer: Yeah, I think it's not as much about from my races. I think there are certain things, maybe how you set up the trails, venues, different things like that, to be able to have really great events. But I think culturally it's really interesting to see how different parts of the world approach sport.

I mean, specifically Scandinavian model and Norway, how do they introduce kids to the sport? What's the priority from a young age, and how do we develop great athletes? I think that's really the things that are gonna help inform me, inform what we're doing at Ariens Nordic Center, to, to produce results that aren't just about race results, but that go beyond that.

People who know how to Nordic ski, people who enjoy Nordic skiing, and people who feel like they're part of a community and are welcome in a place that, they can really make their own. 

Grassroots to World Class

Terry Pinch: You mentioned that you want to, have programs for young people to bring them into the sport, and at the same time, there's going to be, it's set up to support professionals too as they, or people that are at the top of the sport as well.

How do you balance that grassroots development and the capability to help develop g- world-class athletes? 

Paul Schommer: I mean, yeah, if we're looking at places like Norway where they have some of the top biathletes in the world, I've been to Holmenkollen, which is an iconic Nordic ski and biathlon venue right in Oslo.

And I've been there, and they have kids races on Thursday night skiing the exact same courses that they're gonna have some of the most competitive Nordic ski and biathlon races in the world. I think that it, it's really showing you can have kids go play football on Lambeau Field, and it's no different.

It's, it's really trying to dispel this idea that it needs to be something different, but really it's the same thing. We're still skiing. We're still enjoying the outdoors. And at the end of the day, any high-level athlete, they're still human, and they still, there's really not much that separates them.

There's a whole lot more in common than they have not in common. And so I think that it's working alongside, and, and sometimes it works really well when you can have those high-level athletes there that kids are seeing, and it gives them something to aspire to. It gives them that motivation to be like, "Man, I wanna go onto that team," or, "I wanna, go travel and see what those athletes are seeing."

And so I think it's actually really beneficial to have the, both of those levels seen side by side. And I think that Ariens Nordic Center is a place that is gonna be able to help local kids develop the skills that's gonna be necessary for them to, to take their, their athletic abilities around the, around the world on, onto the international stage.

 Rick Sense: How do you encourage, and what advice would you give to, junior athletes that are getting involved in the sport to, in any sport really for that matter, looking to balance the sport with their future careers? 

Paul Schommer: Yeah, I mean, I think that sport offers a lot of great things, and I think that if you make it the results the, the focus, it's gonna really detract from the things that are gonna help you learn the most.

I definitely think being process-oriented, learning how to be as... basically become as good as you can at those skills and really focusing on, like, I don't want to try to just be better than this person. I want to be the best version of myself that I can be, showing up each day, focusing on the things that help you develop those skills.

When I come onto the range, I'm not sitting there thinking, "Hit the target, hit the target, hit the target, hit the target." Because just saying hit the target is not going to help me focus on the things that are gonna actually help me hit the target. If I focus on my body position, my breathing, my sight alignment, my trigger, and my follow-through, if I do each one of those things really well, I'm giving myself the best chance to hit the target.

Whereas if I'm just thinking, "Hit the target," I'm not thinking about the things that are actually gonna build that shooting position and process to hit the target. So I think it's the same in sports, where you wanna, you wanna build the fundamentals, work on the fundamentals, because then you have the tools that are necessary to have success 

 Rick Sense: And what legacy do you hope to leave behind in the sport of biathlon?

When you get the chance to look back at your career, you've, you've done it as an actual competing athlete, now you're looking at growing the future of the sport. W- what, what's your, your hope to leave behind for the sport o- overall? 

Paul Schommer: I think my hope to leave behind would be just translating some of that knowledge and those lessons that I've learned to, to others to help them in whatever they are planning, or whatever their goals are.

And yeah, to hopefully build a, a lasting community, in Northeast Wisconsin and in the US, a- as a whole. I mean, in a lot of ways it's not, it's not about me, it's not about my results or, or what I was as an athlete. It's just now taking what I've learned and, investing in, in the future. 

 Rick Sense: And, you know, you've had opportunities to see the world in, in what you've done so far in your life.

Why did you wanna come back to Wisconsin? 

Paul Schommer: Yeah, I mean, I never thought I'd be moving back to Northeast Wisconsin. If I'm honest, I really had no plans or goals to. But with what Ariens has built in Brillion, it really wasn't, was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up. They, they've invested heavily into their community.

They want to give back, and I think the heart of that company is something that I can really get behind 'cause I feel like it really aligns with a lot of things that are important to me. And I mean, they built this amazing facility that I really want to see grow and into its full potential, and to give local kids and parents the, the opportunity to really be able to fully enjoy that facility that they built.

And so ultimately, Ariens and the Ariens Arts Center is the thing that, that did bring me back to Northeast Wisconsin. There's a ton of work to be done there. I still don't know how long of an investment it's going to be in terms of how long is it gonna take to really build the, the things that we're, and the vision that we have.

But, I think that ultimately we're trying to build something that's not currently there, and I think the result of that could be hugely beneficial for a lot of people 

Biathlon Basics Explained

 Rick Sense: Before we wrap up this segment, Paul, within the last minute and a half or so that we have in it, could you maybe give listeners just what, how the, how the sport actually works?

What are some of the rules? What are, what's the penalty situation? All that kind of stuff. Maybe just share with listeners to give them a little more of a background on the sport. 

Paul Schommer: Yeah. So biathlon combines cross-country skiing and shooting. The reasons why those two things got put together was ultimately way back in the day in Scandinavia, people would hunt on skis to provide for their family, and then that turned into a military exercise and border patrol to be able to protect the things that they loved, especially during World War II.

And so those exercises or practices that were kinda turned into these races then ultimately came to biathlon and what it is that we know today. At the end of the day, it's a race, and so the time starts when you leave the start gate, and it stops when you cross the finish line. You go ski a loop, you come into the range, and you shoot, and for every missed shot, you get penalized, whether it be skiing a penalty loop or having time added on to your race time.

So it's really all about how do you ski the course as fast as you can, just like a running race, but then in the middle of it, you have to be able to stop and focus and hit your targets and not take too much time because the more time you try to hit the targets, the more time you're wasting, while you're trying to on your race time.

But on the same account, you can't be sitting there all day or you don't wanna waste time or do it too fast and then miss shots and then have to ski a bunch of penalties as well. So, ultimately, it's all about that, finding that balance, and you have to be really fit, and you have to be focused and know that there's always new opportunities 'cause if you have one bad shooting, you can come back and maybe still have a good day.

 Rick Sense: All right. 

Final Break Sponsors

 Rick Sense: With that, we're gonna take our last break. You're listening to Biz Talk with SCORE on WHBY, and we'll be right back after these messages

Terry Pinch: Welcome back. We'd like to thank our sponsors for their generous support of BizTalk. Haling & Associates help small businesses and individuals not just prepare tax returns, but plan for the future. Haling & Associates, personal connection, positive results. Wherever you are in life or the life of your business, Johnson Financial Group works to match the banking and wealth services needed to help you complete your mission.

Thank you to the Business News for promoting our program in the bi-weekly business newspaper serving Northeast Wisconsin, covering the latest business news and topics. We are grateful for the support of Community First Credit Union. At its core, Community First is a community of member owners where people work together to improve their financial wellbeing and to help one another.

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And Rick, I'll turn it over to you to wrap up the show. 

 Rick Sense: All right. Thanks, Terry. 

Visit Ariens Nordic Center

 Rick Sense: Hey, Paul, how can people learn more about the Ariens Nordic Center, and how can they get in touch with the Ariens Nordic Center? 

Paul Schommer: Yeah, you can go to our website aaronsnordic.com, or you can come check us out in person, and we're located right next to Round Lake Farms in Berlin, Wisconsin, just south of town.

Or follow us on Instagram, aaronsnordic, and stay up to date on all the events we have going on. 

Biathlon Lessons for Business

 Rick Sense: So I can only imagine this because I'm not a world-class athlete like you are, but, you're out skiing in a, in a competition and you're going a million miles an hour in your head, and all of a sudden you get to the point where you have to stop and, and shoot your rifle and accurately hit targets.

How do you, how do you do that, and how can you apply what you do there to other areas of your life for anybody that's listening to, to maybe be able to look beyond just the moment of time and what... and focus more on the accomplishment of what you're trying to achieve? 

Paul Schommer: Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of people, they like to ask, "how do you control your heart rate?"

And my answer is very simple. You can't. You can't control your heart rate, and there's a lot of other things in life that you can't control. You can't control the wind, you can't control, what other people are doing on the range. But when you come onto the range, you have to try to hit those targets.

And so the focus needs to be doing, what can I do with what I have, where I'm at, to be able to accomplish that goal? And I think that, it's just like in business. We all have targets that we wanna be able to hit. The market might be going crazy, other businesses might be doing different things, but at the same time, you're all on the same range trying to hit your own personal targets.

And so you have to focus on the things that you have and developing those skills as best as you can to be able to hit that target, trying to find those things that are your anchor, that are gonna, help you stay focused to do it. And so, I think this is a... I think the metaphor of biathlon is a great way to be able to explain some of these things, and it's one thing that we hope to do at Aron's Nordic Center, get corporate groups to come out to be able to learn some of those skills to translate back into their life, be able to help them hit their goals.

And so hopefully people can come out, learn some of those skills, enjoy biathlon, and then be able to be more effective in whatever they are trying to accomplish in their life. 

 Rick Sense: All right. 

Closing Thanks

 Rick Sense: Paul, we really appreciate you coming on the, show this morning. Again, you wanna pay, pay attention to what's going on at Aron's Nordic Center.

A lot of exciting things happening there and, and maybe, you'll be able to get out there. Hopefully you'll be able to be out there soon and take a look for yourself to see all the great things that are taking place out there. You're listening to Biz Talk with SCORE, and I just wanna thank you for listening.

Without you, we don't have a program. So thanks again, and we'll see you next time.