Can we have our poles BAck yet?

Most coaches can relate to a few of the comments below, most parents may be able to also associate in a different context:

Are we there yet? What time is lunch? When are we finishing today? Can we take a break?
How many more runs are we doing? Do we have to go full suit? Whens inspection? What time is pickup? ...and the most resonating recently: Can we have our poles Back?

We don't currently have any athletes from Mont Cascades on the team however both Martin and myself have strong roots at Cascades. I grew up racing Nancy Greene and U14 at Cascades before moving to the Zone/NCO ski team and Martin coached Nancy Greene (I may or may not have been an athlete of his at the age of 7) and he continued to work for their race program eventually heading the program before moving to the NCO U16 team as their head coach. After a 4 day break over Christmas the athletes were less than impressed when we continued our pole-less balance act. At the end of a 3 day stint at Mont Cascades on the 27th, 28th & 29th of December we painted the hill with some blue and red and gave the athletes their poles back to start doing what they love: bashing poles.

MSM alumni on the team consists of 3rd years Ben Beaudoin, Becca Cook, 2nd year Nora Fripp and 1st years ALexis Boivin & Jillian Lynott. We have moved into a GS block where we (much to the athletes demise) took their poles again - and they can anticipate that this cycle will continue through the rest of X0mas camp. We are at Mont Ste Marie for December 30th and 31st and return on January 3rd and 4th, 2014.

Today was a very special day. Our U16 athletes were very privileged in that they got to spend a few hours ski around with USST member Abby Ghent and MSM local, NCO alumni, current CAST member Dustin Cook. Both Dustin and Abby appreciate a longer ski so it was very fitting that they got to ski some GS with us.

Pictured from Left to Right, top to bottom: Lake K-M, Nora Fripp, Nicole Clarke, Rebecca Cook, Abby Ghent, Abby Thomas, ALexis Boivin, Hunter Watson, Jillian Lynott, Ben Beaudoin, Michael Power and Dustin Cook.

Take a look at the video below of Tiger Woods. We were hopeful that Dustin and Abby had this effect on the athletes. Turns out they did. Such an amazing opportunity. It's funny how much pressure they felt to perform and how much confidence they had in the visual picture that both these stellar athletes put on for them and how quickly they wanted to copy it. Hopefully the visual sticks.

For the session with Dustin & Abby - the athletes got their poles back :) The athletes are beginning to understand (especially with a longer turn) the importance of our slow fundamental work. We are very happy with their patience and very excited to see all their work pay off in the racing season.