Cookie's Corner: To stay or not stay in the sport

Cookie’s Corner: To stay or not stay in the sportI recently received a very difficult question in my mailbox , but I felt was very important to our ski racing community. I took the challenge of answering it as best as I could and turned it into this week’s issue.

“I’m a die-hard ski racing fan and USSA coach of junior racing. My question has to do with young kids losing interest as they get older. I’ve seen several examples of successful youth racers getting bored by the time they are J4’s or J3’s. They complain that they just do the same things over & over & over. Based on a history of 20 years as a PSIA instructor/clinician, I’m also very sensitive to this and try to constantly make-up new drills & approaches…but I think you’ll agree that the core concepts are still the same year after year. I see some of the most promising kids wanting to either quit all together, or start snowboarding (Did you ever experience this?). I personally think free riding and snowboarding are great and can be very beneficial to a young athlete, but I’m clearly biased in that I feel that they are better as supplements to ski racing as opposed to the primary goal. We are at a very, very small ski hill and the free skiing experience is not all that fun. Since you’re much younger than I am, I think that your opinion on this matter is much more relevant than my own. Please help me to not turn our youth racers off to snow sliding all together!”

I will try to provide an answer here. But it is just my opinion and I am sure not everybody will agree with it. With the increased popularity of snowboarding and free riding, our sport of racing has seen many of its brightest young stars make the switch.

Why do so many talented racers become so much more intrigued with the newest genres of snow sports though? There are many reasons. As you said in your e-mail, racing, to a younger kid may seem somewhat repetitive.

Generally, racers in the J5, J4, and J3 age groups only get the chance to train slalom and GS, and race an occasional SG. And even then, they only will train on the same trail because that is all the resort will give to the race program. This probably would seem a little repetitive, even to an older racer.

Also, with skiing being such a difficult sport to master, (if anybody in the whole world has even been considered a master at it) improvement takes time and can be frustrating.

The older you get, the easier it is to overcome, or eliminate frustration. To a kid, getting frustrated with something, even once is enough to turn them off from the sport for good.

They may feel like they will never be good, or even get better, which to many is important. Even if they do not express the desire to win, or if they say they do not care about how they do, they still like to see themselves improve. Who wouldn’t?

Take a look at what kids tend to see in the sports of snowboarding or free riding that is so appealing. In free riding, you have the whole mountain. There are no rules, no timing, no ranking systems, you never have to take the same line twice, and (please don’t take this the wrong way because I don’t want to start another Tanner Hall and Daron battle) anyone who possess the skills learned in racing has the technical ability to ascend the ladder of freestyle really, really fast.

I really don’t want to put down to sport of free-riding at all, but to a young racer it may seem like a way out of working so hard to get the rewards. Free riding is so popular that there are the awards to get too.

There are ways to keep kids in our sport though without turning them off at an early age. At my level, our coaches stress the importance of setting goals.

There are many ways of setting goals though. The wrong way to have young kids set goals is to make them sit down and write them out. Talk about boring!

I think that the best way to set goals in a young kid is to let them decide what their short-term goals are. They probably know best what they are capable of doing. But how many young kids have long-term goals? Probably none. That’s because they have no idea what is beyond what their current level. This is where a coach or parent can come in. Let your kids know where they are capable of going if they put in the effort. Out-of-state races, regional races, NorAm cups, Nationals, Europa Cups, World Cups, world championships, and Olympics are all ideas that can be planted into a young brain and get them really excited about skiing.

All it takes is a hint that these exist, and that is what they are going to want to do. I remember being a J5 and a coach told me that I was capable of making the U.S. Ski Team. In those next few minutes in my mind, I decided that I wanted not only to make the U.S. team but be the youngest girl to ever make it.

Of course, that did not happen and I actually was one of the oldest girls to make it, but I never took my eye off of that goal. If kids have the desire to do something they will do it. That desire generally comes from the kids though and is not something a parent can push into a kid at that deep of a level.

To sum it up, I think that the desire to stay in the sport is not something that we can wave a magic wand at and fix it. I also think that the problem of kids dropping out of the sport is not much different from any other sport. It’s like that commercial for the NCAA that says ‘There are over 360,000 student athletes in NCAA, and just about all of them will be going pro in something other then sports.’

Sometimes that desire to continue in a sport comes from doing well, the sweet smell of success, but if everyone did well then it would not be a sport.

The help a parent can give these days to implant a true love for something in minimal because there are so many options. Of course that is coming from a 20 year old, and what do I know!

And I can ensure you that nothing about the racing I am experiencing at this stage of my career ever seems repetitive. Something different every time, especially when you have a team as close and as fun as the World Cup downhill team is.

Also, to answer your question if I ever experienced wanting to give up the sport: I did. I had two years where I really did not progress a lot, and fell behind racers that I had been beating. I did get frustrated and did not enjoy going to training every day, but I still loved the sport and had such a big desire to do well.

The next year after those two years I switched from a small resort to the Mammoth Ski Team where I was able to train just as seriously, and also learn again why I love to ski, and that was by just skiing. I free-skied more that year than I trained, and my results shot through the roof.

UPDATE: To all of my fans who may be concerned about how my recovery is coming along, I thought I would provide a short update. I am currently rehabbing at the Olympic Training Center in San Diego. I figured if I was not allowed to do anything that had to do with being on the snow that I should go somewhere warm. The training center here is equipped with just about everything including a full physical therapy staff, and plenty of food. I have been doing rehab for about six hours a day, trying to get stronger and prepare for my time back on snow soon. My right knee, which was diagnosed with a Grade 1 MCL sprain, is doing very well. It is almost pain free, and within the last week has been allowing me to do just about everything my heart desires to keep me entertained. I have been working on my soccer skills, and was even told that I remind people of Mia Hamm (yeah right, If I am ever considered in the same league as her I would be happy out of my mind). I even got to hang ten one day, and had one of the best surfing days of my life (b
esides the fact I was reminded very quickly of what cold feet feel like). My head, which took quite a beating in the crash, has returned to its normal functioning. I still won’t say that is up to par though. And my arm, finally after a month of being purple has reemerged as a normal skin color. I hope to be back on snow next week, and then I will know more about where the rest of the season will take me.