Flower Power: California, here I come!

I'm flying again. Only this time, my destination is the Californian shore. It’s now time to head to the warm beach, after a cold season. The best thing for me to do at the end of the year is to focus my mind somewhere else besides skiing. 
    You definitely should reflect on your season and move on to focusing on the coming year. However, after five months of hard training and racing, it’s absurd not to switch the mind-set for at least a few weeks.
I'M FLYING AGAIN. Only this time, my destination is the Californian shore. It’s now time to head to the warm beach, after a cold season. The best thing for me to do at the end of the year is to focus my mind somewhere else besides skiing. 
    You definitely should reflect on your season and move on to focusing on the coming year. However, after five months of hard training and racing, it’s absurd not to switch the mind-set for at least a few weeks.
    Everyone needs a break from skiing, but I do think that summer camp is necessary. But going to South America, Europe and New Zealand for months to race and train is ridiculous. To all you parents out there, give your kids a break. And to you younger ones, I swear to you the best thing for your skiing right now is to not ski. I have seen so many kids that spend their entire summer skiing and when its time for the first race, they are already burned out.  
    Just for a second, I will switch my mind back to skiing. Whistler Cup was just icing on the cake (Darlene Nolting’s words). I placed 13th in the giant slalom, but fell in my one of my best events, the super G. That was a bummer, but I know it doesn’t matter in the long run. It’s the other things — like always double checking that you have your stealth — that matter. This whole year I have learned so much, and I am just grateful for all the things I’ve been lucky enough to experience.   
    Now it’s time for dryland. I know that dryland is a huge part of skiing, and I learned that this past year. Last summer was the first time I really ever did ski-oriented conditioning. I mean, I’ve always done soccer, and stayed active, but I really noticed a difference this season when I actually worked on the muscles that I use for skiing. It makes sense.
    Summer camp-wise, I will be heading to Mount Hood in about two weeks for my first camp, and most likely I will take all of July off. After that, who knows what my plans are.
     As for now, I am heading to the shore.

Got a question for junior racer Rose Caston? E-mail info@skiracing.comThis email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it with the subject line ROSE and she may answer it in a future edition of Flower Power.