Believe = Achieve

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, it is a habit.” 

- Aristotle

The sun rises as we finish our 1st session on Day 3

A lot of the learning that is done in the environments we setup everyday is not necessarily as simple as technical ski skills. An athlete said to me as we were finishing our 2nd session this morning "I never thought I could that". There are a lot of lessons to be learned in such an innocent truthful statement. The passion and pure enjoyment for ski racing fuels our athletes. We as coaches setup environments that challenge them if they need to be challenged or that encourage them if they need good feelings (both of these happened today). What is really interesting is the evolving person. Every year we ask these athletes to commit themselves to a program that is going to change them - it is our hope that not only do the athletes become faster and improved ski racers, but also that they become stronger people and can take on challenges with confidence that they never thought possible. This skill will help make them successful in every aspect of their life.  

U16 NCOST Women & Men on Day 3 in Pano

Kat and Marty end of Day 3 - still smiling :)

We trek out everyday and ask the athletes to find something positive, even in the tough exercises. We ask them to trust us and their equipment, we ask them to commit (especially in setting up the turn and following through with good pressure on the outside ski). We ask them to be tough on themselves, analyze and reflect. These young men and women are learning new things about themselves everyday. It is our hope that as the camp progresses they continue with their healthy competitive attitudes to push the envelope, become inventive, be their best and worst critic and continue to believe in THEIR individual process.

Becca Cook writing her French quiz on my computer.
She has another to do tomorrow. 

Tonight we had a very interactive meeting with the athletes in the coaches conference room at the resort. The athletes were asked to create rules for themselves in order to maintain a safe, healthy, respectful environment for the year. They were shown our teams new disciplinary policy and the format for their report cards. We also went through our expectations for their reflection sheet. Along with their own written rules the athletes were asked to come up with expectations for the coaches as we had some expectations of them. In order to be successful I think it is fair that if we uphold their expectations they will be more inclined to uphold ours. It is an important part of their contribution to the team dynamic and opens up their ability to communicate with us. The meeting was excellent and received well by all.

We had a photo shoot from a panorama employee and he assured us that we would receive copies of the team photos they took. Those pictures will come. Through our "believe = achieve" theme I would like to extend well wishes on behalf of the group to NCOSTU16/FIS alumni Raphael Quenneville and Patrick Lynott, Chris Powers and Ryan Malmberg as they head to the US West for some speed training and racing. Safe travels boys, Good luck and I'm sure you've heard this before 'Grip it and Rip it'.

Pictured left to right Nicole, Jillian,  & Hunter