Miss D skis with Summit every Saturday, in a group with four kids and one coach for the whole season. Her experience in ski school last year was pretty uneven and Summit has been so much better for her!
Today was her first ever ski race. It was a YSL (Youth Ski League) race for J4, J5, and J6 kids, which means kids from age 6 up through 12 years old. Miss D's J6 division includes kids up to 9 years old (USSA does their "J" years based on the kids' age on January 1, so kids who were 8 on January 1 but have since turned 9 are still considered J6). Confusing? Kinda. But the point is that the J6 girls that Miss D was racing against were anywhere from her age up to 9 years old, pretty big spread!
She got a little nervous earlier in the week. I should mention that we weren't even going to have her race at all this year (totally optional with Summit, thank you!). But when her coach asked Daddy if she was coming to this race, he answered "no" and Miss D piped up and said she wanted to race! Ok! But as time went along, she started talking about not wanting to do it. After drilling down, I finally figured out that she knew she wasn't going to win, so she didn't want to race if she wasn't going to win! So we got to have a long talk about what ski racing was all about and that there would be 300+ kids at the race and almost none of them would win, but that it could still be fun to compete and try and get better, etc. etc. That seemed to help.
So off she went this morning, got her bib, got her ticket, went up the lift, inspected the course, and lo-and-behold she raced! And even better than that, she had fun! It really was a blast. The team set up a tent at the bottom of the race hill and the parents brought all kinds of food and drinks, even a bbq with hamburgers and hotdogs. It was really a great fun time!
As for the actual race, well, Miss D would have been last in her division, but she missed a gate and got dq'd! When the kids go up to inspect the course in the morning, it is drilled into their heads not to go through the timing gates at the finish (because it messes up the timing tests that the officials are doing, etc). Of course, when the first little kids start heading down for the race, they go where they went the last time, right off course, not through the timing gates at the finish! Miss D did exactly that (creature of habit much?!), then had to hike back up to get through the timing gates and get her time. She has also trained gates maybe 2 or 3 times total so far, so when she got out on the course, it got confusing with all the red and blue gates everywhere and she missed one about half way down. We haven't told her any of this, of course, just want her to feel a sense of accomplishment for getting out there and doing it. She had a good time and that's all that matters at 6 years old! (Though you'd never know it from how some of the kids and parents at the races were acting.. sheesh!).
No idea if she'll ever go on to continue racing or be any good at it. Our goal all along has been to make sure our kids become competent all-mountain skiers who love the sport for a lifetime, and if racing is part of that, then great! And if not, no big deal. There are so many options for kids out on the mountain these days that they will all find something to do!
Anyway, enough preaching... I have some pictures to share, but they're stuck on my phone due to technical difficulties, so I will have to come back and upload them later.
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