Be a Scientist and an Artist in Your Ski Racing
The race season is somewhere between one-half and two-thirds over for racers, depending on their age and level of development. Racers are deep into qualifying season as the end-of-year championships are approaching rapidly. Now is the time that you have to ski your fastest. The tough question, though, is how to achieve that goal at […]
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Risk it for the Biscuit
I’ve been working with a world-ranked junior athlete over the last few months and, in exploring why she doesn’t take more chances when she competes, she told me that a big goal of hers recently has been to “risk it for the biscuit.” I had never heard this expression and I laughed hysterically for almost […]
Read MoreSeven Fs for Ski Racing Success
Hard to believe that we’re about half way through the race season. For some, you’re having a great season and want it to continue. For others, you’re having an okay season and want to improve on it. And for still others, it has been a disappointing season so far and want to turn it around. […]
Read MoreWhat Ski Racers Can Learn from George Costanza
For you to become the best ski racer you can be, you have to be darned serious about your ski racing. You must be motivated, intense, focused, and give your best effort every time you click into your skis. You have to put in the time in the gym, watch a lot of video, keep […]
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The Taylors are Officially a Ski Racing Family (at Least for Now)
In 2011, when my daughters were five and three, we joined the Sugar Bowl Ski Team. At that time, I wrote an article titled, “Momma, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be…Ski Racers.” In the article, as our family was just entering the ski racing world, I expressed considerable ambivalence about whether I wanted […]
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The Trials and Triumphs of a PG Year
For every serious ski racer who has aspirations to ski in college or get named to a national team, a PG, or gap, year is almost an inevitable these days. PG years have been around for decades; they were common even back in my day when I took two PG years between graduating from Burke […]
Read MoreAlpine Ski Racing is One Brutal Sport
I’m spending the winter at our cabin near Sugar Bowl while my daughters attend the winter-term program at Sugar Bowl Academy. I’m knee deep (literally and metaphorically) in the ski racing life as my daughters experience the many challenges that our sport presents to them. It has brought back many memories from my own days […]
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Six Attitudes Parents Should Instill in Their Ski Racers
When most people in our ski racing community think of sport psychology, they think of mental training, that is, helping racers prepare mentally to ski their fastest when it matters most. Mental muscles that help racers strengthen include motivation, confidence, intensity, and focus. And mental tools I help racers to put in their mental toolboxes […]
Read MoreWhat’s Right about U.S. Ski Racing
I’ve been involved in U.S. ski racing for—Yikes!—more than 50 years. I started as a “Chipmunk” at Mad River Glen, then moved on to the Valley Junior Racing Club (at then Glen Ellen, pre-GMVS), Burke Mountain Academy, Middlebury College, the University of Colorado, and even two seasons on the old pro tour. Since then, I’ve […]
Read MoreThe Norwegians Say Ski Racing is a Team Sport (and What the U.S. Can Learn from Them)
Who would’ve thunk it, ski racing a team sport! I always thought it was an individual sport and, on occasion, an individual sport crammed into a team sport’s body (e.g., college skiing). It certainly doesn’t fit into the usual mold of a team sport. Think about what defines a team sport. It involves a group […]
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