Do You Want It?

Yesterdays practice at Libby Hill was disappointing. Jeff and I saw most of the girls and some of the boys following directions and skiing in a manner that will make them faster, better skiers. Unfortunately a large number of the boys team were playing games and goofing around. This bothers us for a number of reasons:

1. Incredible lack of respect for the coaches. - If you were on the soccer team and the coach asked you to do a drill or work on fitness would you blatantly disregard him and just play games in the middle of the soccer field? I doubt it. MCN skiers, Would you behave that way around Jordi? Also, none of you seem to realize how hard Jeff and I have worked to get us Libby Hill as a place to ski, OR how much your parents are paying to allow us to ski there.No Respect.

2. We are a Ski Racing Team, not the hide and seek club. We're not interested in babysitting you while you goof around in the woods or spend your time stopped on the trail chatting about robotics.  
3. Jeff and I put in a tremendous amount of time in planning, waxing, buying supplies, answering questions, training you and taking you to races. We do these things because we enjoy seeing you improve your technique and become faster skiers. When you waste our time, you suck the fun out of our job.

4. There are a few skiers who barely bother to show up for practice and that bothers me too. 

So what happened? At our Christmas Camp I saw a team that worked hard every day and seemed to enjoy pushing themselves to become better/faster. I also saw the boys win their first race. Now the boys are a solid 4th place team. Jeff and I cant make you want to be better/faster skiers but we are here for you if that is the path you choose. If you choose that path, make a pledge to us and we will work our butts off to teach you, to get you on good snow, to coach you to the best of our abilities, to continue to to put WAY more time into our team than we are getting paid for.

If the reason you're on the nordic team is to just goof around, play games and chit-chat with your buddies then please consider this; You have tremendous POTENTIAL to be an AMAZING skier if you work hard at it. You also have a coaching staff that will bend over backwards to HELP you. But you have to want it. Do you want it?