The Burden of Expectation: Another Lesson from Mikaela
Mikaela has certainly put herself between a rock and a hard place. Let’s start with the rock, which is the expectations she has created from her remarkable successes she has had during her short, though illustrious, career. Mikaela has, over the years, built a veritable Mt. Everest of expectations for herself by so dominating slalom […]
Read MoreThe High Cost of Youth Sports (and the Poor ROI!)
An eye-opening article in The New York Times about the high cost of youth sports these days. The biggest news of the article is the poor financial return on investment (e.g., college scholarship, professional or Olympic career) that comes from pouring $$$ into your children’s athletic experiences. Plus, the self-serving and corrupt “youth sport industrial […]
Read MoreGive Your Children Roots and Wings
A wonderful article in The New York Times about the importance of allowing your children to explore, risk, and fail. A must-read in today’s world of over-involved and fearful parents who try to protect their children from dangers that don’t exist and experiences that will actually make them more confident, capable and resilient people.
Read MoreLindsey Vonn’s Starting Gate Intensity
You want to see an aggressive mindset and intensity? Watch the first 10 seconds of this video of Lindsey’s World Cup SG victory (scroll down). Notice the pole clicking, breathing, constant movement, pole-strap-adjustment “twitch”, and attacking out of the start to the first gate.
Read MoreCompete Like You Practice or Practice Like You Compete?
One of the first questions that I ask athletes and coaches I work with is: Should you compete like you practice or practice like you compete? By far, the most frequent response is: You should compete like you practice. This answer seems perfectly reasonable if you think about it. When you practice, you’re relaxed, feel […]
Read MoreSliding Down That Slippery Slope Toward Ski Racing
Back in 2011, I wrote an article titled “Mama, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Ski Racers, in which I described my internal conflict about whether I wanted my two daughters (then ages 5 and 3, now 9 and 7) to become ski racers. Well, now as four-year veterans of the Sugar Bowl […]
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