Pique Magazine, Published 12.06.05

A Breakthrough in Confidence

I am writing to you this week from the beautiful town of Aspen, Colorado. I am here, along with my teammates, for the upcoming World Cup races on the weekend. We arrived Monday afternoon and have had a few days of training leading up to the races. This is my fourth time to Aspen and is definitely one of my favorite ski resorts – next to Whistler of course!

Last week, in preparation for the World Cup races here in Aspen, I raced the NorAm series in WinterPark. We had four races in total, two G.S and two Slalom, and it was at those races where myself and my teammates built our confidence up for the World Cups. The races were great. The first day was pretty cold, and then the weather changed and for the next three days of racing we had snow, snow and more snow! I felt like I was right at home training on the Dave Murray Downhill.

These races were an important step for me entering this new season. I have big goals set out for myself; I want top World Cup finishes and most of all to qualify for the Olympics in Torino. However, I am coming off of a previous season where I did not attain my goals as far as results go. So, last week I left that start gate every run with the focus of solidifying my race plan so that when I leave the start gate this weekend in Aspen I know exactly what I will do. I tried new things, changed my focus from one run to the next during my race run all in search of what would work best and most importantly what would be fastest.

In Slalom and in G.S I discovered how simple my focus needs to be. My fastest run last week was when I left the start with only two technical and tactical cues in mind and otherwise just looked ahead down the course and had my mind on going fast.

Each day I made steps forward and my confidence grew and on the final day of racing I finished with a top four placing. I was unbelievably happy and, the confidence meter went up again. Skiing is a complex sport and, if you over think it, you can become confused about what you want to accomplish. In racing over thinking what needs to be done equals slow skiing. When it comes time to race, all of your training needs to be left behind and you need to take confidence in the fact that you have worked hard and that you will know to do the right things when you leave the start gate. This is what I had been missing in my racing. Last week I realized my strengths, assessed my weaknesses and moved forward from there, with confidence! A great example of how influential confidence can be is from Eric Guay last week in Beaver Creek. He finished on the podium in the downhill race, had a top 6 the next day in the Super G, his coaches decided to start him in the Giant Slalom race and in the first run he skis into 7th place. His confidence from the previous days gave him the confidence in G.S and he had his best G.S result to date.

When it comes down to it, racing is about being the fastest from the first gate to the last gate. You take your talent, you work hard everyday and then when it’s time to race you just go!! And, of course there’s a little fun along the way, such as getting to stay and race in beautiful ski resorts like Aspen.