I love ski racing. I also love winning. I’m a competitive person and one of my greatest attractions to coaching is helping aspiring athletes to avoid the same mistakes that I made as a junior racer. My distaste toward the job comes from the feeling I get when any athlete misses the mark, slips in the pursuit of a goal, or experiences failure.
The reality of this crazy, persistently relentless and also rewarding sport is that failure, at some point, is inevitable. Life has these same qualities.
I know what it feels like to be defeated and I know some of you will hate me just for writing to you in this difficult time. What I really want to say is that I hope this fuels your fire, rather than extinguishing it. Ski racing is hard. Losing is difficult. What you do next is most important.
I hope you guys hold your heads high and whatever team or race you do or do not qualify for, you move forward with humility and a good dose of fire. You didn't lose. You are all good skiers. You trained well and then raced your hearts out and you should be proud. There are going to be things you could have, and would have, done differently. Train harder next summer. Go to bed earlier. Ski with no poles. Train bigger hours. Get to know your skis. If there weren’t things that you could change to be better there’d be no sense in pursuing this path. Be tougher. Do more strength. Learn how to handle pressure to perform. Take rest and recovery more seriously.
The season is far from over and no matter what, there are still major championships to be contested. I know many of you set high goals that had a lot to do with the ECup circuit. But, making the Junior National team (in NE, in my opinion) is a difficult task. There are a lot of factors outside of your control that contribute to the outcome. You can still become a successful skier. Just imagine trying to earn your place on the US women's squad or the Norwegian World Cup team.
Ask anyone who’s ever reached the top if the road was easy? Sundby didn’t win his first 50km race. In fact, in 2005, he didn’t even finish...11 years later, he won! That’s a long road.
Running across the field at Craftsbury from one edge of the 2km lap to the other got me excited about ski racing. You guys and your fire get me excited for ski racing. I see what you can do as individuals. Put things in perspective. Re-evaluate your goals. Get pumped. This journey is far from over if you want it to be. Smile, it’s just skiing, and I hope it will always make you as happy as it makes me.
I am proud to be your coach, keep charging!
