The first day at school

It starts today. I just dropped Scott off at the US Ski Team "Center of Excellence" for two days of physical assessments. It felt vaguely like the first day of school. He met the new Assistant Coach at the door, filled out some papers, then walked into his dream gym.

Scott is a gym rat. He's been working out since age 9 and builds a few hours of work into every day. I'm sure he'd happily put a bunk bed in here and live full time.

While Scott's working downstairs, I'll be upstairs in a two day "excellence" conference designed for program directors. It'll include insurance briefings, athlete development ideas, fund raising guidelines and other areas which might be useful to our team. As much as anything, its a convenient diversion while Scott is being tested.

The ride down here was as important as the event. I wrote him a "treatise" about the transition, and we had a long discussion about his career and what changes joining the US Ski Team might bring. Certainly there are some great advantages. He will be brought into excellent on and off snow training environments, many of which I could never create. He will also have a group of elite athletes with which to train, which is always a good thing (although he's made it this far with no "rabbits" to pull him). He'll have dedicated fitness, therapy and sports psychology staff at his disposal. He will have quality, experienced, on-snow coaches. He will also have a competition schedule carefully tailored to meet his development needs. That all sounds pretty special, except that it will be substantially different than what he had to this point..

The key word here is comprehensive. Over the past five years Scott trained in a fully integrated environment which encompassed fitness (diet, exercise and schedule), tactics and technical skills, mental strength and equipment management. Scott's success is due to his dedication, focus and hard work. However his rapid development is largely due to the program in which he trained. Two major points we discussed, and I"d outlined in the paper, were:

"Being different is one of the things which propelled you to this point. Remember, your competition isn’t XXXXX, XXXXX, XXXXX, XXXXX or XXXXX. In the end, your competition is some highly disciplined and dedicated Swiss or Austrian kid who lives and breathes his dream. Every day he’s working out 3-4 hours to get stronger. He tunes his own skis. He has highly competent coaches. He trains year around with a singular focus. He has full family support. He lives in a society where ski racers are Gods and everyone aspires to be one. You’ve watched the Swiss kids -- you know the deal. To beat them in 2014, you must work harder than them today. So don’t limit yourself to standards set for the group. Set your own performance goals, decide what needs to be done, and get after it. If others don’t understand, politely explain it to them. Offer them to join you. Lead the way."

And

"Joining the US Ski Team will be great for you. There are many experts in the organization with a lot to offer. You are at the point where you need their support. The problem with the Team is that the information is compartmentalized. The ski coach knows tactics and technical matters, but isn’t an expert in fitness, diet, sports psychology or equipment. The equipment guy knows all about edges and wax, but little about technique. The sports psychology guy knows lots about minds, but little about technique/tactics or equipment. None of them knows much about you. So you have to learn how to connect the dots. You have to take ownership of making your program comprehensive. That will be the difference between greatness and mediocrity."

I'm sure some would consider my words extreme and unfair to the US Ski Team. I admire the team and respect the staff, however I have little faith in large organizations. They do well for the majority, but often don't meet the specific needs of the individual. Scott is the youngest here and must learn to manage his own future.

The first day at school. He knows his ABC's, he's wearing clean clothes, he knows where to reach me if he needs me, he has lunch in his backpack. He'll do just fine... I remember the day.