Cookie's Corner: How to start the year off right

Cookie’s Corner: How to start the year off rightOur team sure has kicked the season off right and I hope that the success of Bode, Daron, Lindsey, Bryon, Caroline, Julia, Resi, Ted, Tom, James, Bryna, Kirsten, Jonna and Libby is helping to boost your confidence as well. All of them have achieved top-20 results so far in the young season. I don’t know for a fact, but 14 different people from the U.S. getting top twenty results on the World Cup circuit in a single season has got to come close to a record, and the season has just barely returned to Europe. It is awesome to hear the announcers say, for a change, ‘the dominant U.S. team’ instead of the ‘the Austrian powerhouse team.’ . But while everyone congratulates my teammates on their great performances, we each still have our individual goals for our own race season.

Pressure has a way of building up all summer long for the first race, and a disappointing performance in just the one race can totally throw you off track. At the same time a good first race can set you up for the year of a lifetime, so it seems. After having my first two races of the year be rather frustrating, I have to admit, my mind was filled with negative thoughts for the whole season ahead. Luckily those thoughts did not last long, and my third and forth races went rather well. Looking back though, it seems so silly that I let myself get so bummed by the results so early in the season. My first races were the two downhill World Cups in Lake Louise. While my results may not look to bad on paper (31st and 32nd) I was really hoping to be in the top 30 and get my first World Cup points. Both days I missed that goal by 0.07 of a second, and I am sure you could imagine how frustrating that could be, especially after being 13th in the training run. My third and fourth races of the year were NorAm super G’s on the same hill. I am very proud to say that I came out of those races with a double victory, and got my confidence back.

With the two NorAm wins under my belt, I headed down to Calgary and flew out the next day. For anybody that might think I am living a life of luxury, we had to be at the airport at 4:00 a.m., and flew to Denver, Washington D.C., and Munich, Germany, and then drove to Austria in the same day. Add that up and that is over twenty hours of travel. Luckily when I got to Austria I had three days off. That sounded really nice at first, but being an athlete, I was about ready to go crazy by the second day, so I made my coaches let me go skiing at the nearby resort. After the three days off, we got in the vans and our brigade of vehicles headed off for the 10-hour drive to Val d’Isere, France. We had scheduled week of three training runs and two races, but we only got the first two training runs off before the storm came in. Europe had been in somewhat of a drought; until the one weekend that we wanted to race, the only snow at the mountain was man-made.

I was really bummed that we did not get the opportunity to race at Val d’Isere. The coarse was probably the best downhill I have ever gotten to run. A lot of terrain and turns and jumps, yet still fast and technically demanding, and they had the snow in just about perfect condition. In the two training runs we did get off I placed 10th and 22nd. That does not mean anything except that my bib for the race was 8th my first time starting in the top thirty. (The start list for the race is the top thirty from the training run reversed.)

So once again we loaded the vans and this time were headed to the beautiful resort of St. Moritz, Switzerland. And for the first time all year the sun was out for the race. At St. Moritz I got my first super G World Cup start. The hill has been a very good hill for our team in the past (two world championship medals there for Kirsten and Jonna in 2003) and Lindsay kept the podium streak alive with a second-place. Other girls did very well also, Bryna moved from 42nd at start to place 25th and Jonna moved from 52nd at start to an impressive 27th finish. I did not do as well as I would have hoped, and came in 51st. After the award ceremony that evening, a few of us who were not racing the GS the next day drove back to Munich to go home for Christmas.

I hope everybody is having a happy holiday season. Don’t forget to send me your questions, and may the New Year bless you with many goals achieved and dreams come true.

Stacey

Stacey Cook is the reigning overall NorAm champion. She will update her online journal here every two weeks this season, and hopes you’ll send her your questions about life on the U.S. Ski Team. Contact her directly at cookie@insideinc.com. Make sure to include your name and a note about yourself. If you’d like to remain anonymous if Cookie answers your note, say so in your e-mail to her. Here is a reply to an anonymous letter she received recently about the importance of pole planting and what part of the body should start the turn.

Pole planting is a subject that has gone around and around, and I think you will hear different opinions about it for as long as you are in the sport. I don’t do a whole lot of slalom, but talking to some teammates that do, they seemed to agree that the pole plant is somewhat old school in most situations although still very important in other situations. You will hardly see it anymore from all of the young World Cup racers except when the course requires it to maintain the timing (such as on the steeps). Now, for sure even in those situations, a full on plant (stab into the snow) is not necessary. Mostly the movement of the pole plant that gets the arm out in front and driving is what is beneficial.

As far as where the turn starts I would defiantly have to agree with the coaches, depending on what kind of skier you want to be. Any type of arc, whether it is slalom or downhill needs to start with the knees in order to have a clean initiation. If you did start it closer to the snow, there is no way to create any angles (your ankles are locked in the boot), and you would slide the top of the turn, which generally is slow. Gravity will help you create the angles at the bottom of the turn, that is why that is the easiest part to arc, but the only way to arc the top is to create the angles with your knees first until the forces allow you to add you hip at the bottom.

Also I have to add that while a coach is never perfect, most coaches go through the training that USSA provides, and USSA gets their information from us, and from our coaches. USSA has done a very good job about getting the coaches of the junior programs all in sync and teaching them what needs to be taught. While it is great that you are looking out for your kid, the coaches in our country are doing a great job, and should be respected for what they are doing.

These were great questions, and I want you to feel encouraged to send more. You won’t know unless you ask, right!?