Ski Racing: Forced vs. Guided Participation
The journey of raising your children to become successful begins with their participation in achievement activities such as ski racing. The goal of this involvement isn’t necessarily to find success in those early activities; that’s not always possible. Rather, this participation should initiate the process of instilling the values, attitudes, and life skills that are […]
Read MoreSki Racing: Get Fired Up in the Starting Gate
In my last article directed to racers, I offered you practical techniques for lowering your intensity when you get too worked before races. Though less common, low intensity and letdowns in intensity can also prevent you from skiing your best. A decrease in intensity causes all the things that enable you to ski with fast […]
Read MoreSki Racing: Psychology of Injury
I just returned from three days of work with the Osler Bluff Ski Club in Ontario. During my visit, I met three young athletes who had sustained serious injuries. One 12-year-old suffered tib-fib fractures and was going to be in a full-length cast for eight weeks. A 15-year-old who is one of Canada’s top young […]
Read MoreSki Racing: Is Skiing the Best Family Sport?
I’m up at Sugar Bowl with my wife and two daughters for our pre-Christmas vacation and our week has been both incredibly enjoyable and challenging in some ways. Perhaps because of the indescribable joy I experience skiing with my family, plus it being the holiday season and the end of another year, I’ve been waxing […]
Read MoreSki Racing: Mama, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be…Ski Racers
That’s the song, with the modified lyrics, that has been playing in my head for the last few weeks. Why’s that, you ask? Let me explain. Unlike many of my ski racing peers whose children are now racing for Vail, attending ski academies, skiing in college, or even pursuing careers beyond our sport, I got […]
Read MoreSki Racing: Ten Lessons from an 8th Place Finish
Of course, I’m not talking about just any old 8th place finish in a ski race. After four previous World Cup starts in which she didn’t qualify for the second run, 16-year-old Mikaela Shiffrin broke through with an impressive top-10 finish (starting 37th) at the World Cup slalom in Aspen recently. Though Mikaela’s result was […]
Read MoreSki Racing: Red Flags for Over-invested Parents
One of your most essential goals in your children’s lives as ski racers is to have them gain ownership of their participation. They need to feel that ski racing is their thing. But ownership isn’t just something that they can gain on their own. Rather, it is a gift you give them that offers so […]
Read MoreSki Racing: Chill Out: Psych-down Techniques
It’s natural to feel some increase in your intensity before a race. You’re putting yourself to the test and want to ski your best. That increase in intensity means that your body is gearing up for the challenge. But when that rise in intensity turns to anxiety that can hurt your skiing, then you’ve got […]
Read MoreSki Racing: Set Your Ski Racer’s “Defaults” Early
For you to send the healthiest possible messages to your young racers requires that you fully buy into my notion that children become the messages they get the most. Though it seems to be a pretty intuitive and reasonable concept, I feel the need to thoroughly convince you of the profound value of messages to your […]
Read MoreSki Racing: Build Prime Confidence: Part I
Last season I wrote two articles in which I discussed the importance of confidence and five keys to Prime Confidence. With the new season approaching and this issue no less important, I want to return to the topic of confidence and devote my next two articles directed at racers to more practical ways you can […]
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