Lailla Matthews
On snow background:
Learned to ski at Mt. Spokane in Washington State as a small child in the 1970s, but somehow missed out on being a 10 year-old the first time around. So, after teaching my daughter to ski and watching her competitive career progress to her current position on the US Freestyle Ski Team, I joined Team Summit as a Freestyle Devo athlete in the 2010-2011 season and learned to be 10 again, blogging about my experience as a new 10 year-old on a kid’s ski team at www.lookwhosbumpinnow.blogspot.com. I retired from the competitive mogul circuit in April 2011 after an amazing career spanning nearly 6 hours.
Your history of working with youth and coaching:
I have volunteered as a certified Freestyle official with Rocky Mountain Freestyle for nearly 10 years, including 2 years as Vice Chairman. During this time, I worked closely with coaches, athletes and other officials on competitions ranging from local Devo events to international competitions including Rocky Mountain Freestyle competitive series events, US Junior Nationals and NORAMs, primarily as Chief of Competition, but also as an official in scoring, timing and starting. I have extensive knowledge of Freestyle event competition rules and have represented the coaches, athletes and officials of Rocky Mountain Freestyle at the USSA National Congress on many occasions.
A brief description about yourself that makes you stand out from the rest, and some of your coaching goals:
Having been involved with Team Summit for many years as both a parent and an athlete, I bring a unique perspective to the needs of all members of the Team Summit family. I’m taking a leave of absence from my normal job is a software business analyst to fully dedicate my time to Team Summit this season, with the goal of developing a more consistent communication and feedback system to benefit parents and athletes as well as coaches. As a coach, it is important to me to keep the FUN in fundamentals. I hope the athletes I ski with will learn something new and laugh each day I spend with them. The thing they learn may not be a new skiing skill and they may be laughing AT me instead of with me, but if we’re all laughing and learning, I can’t ask for much more.
What do you like to do outside of skiing/riding that makes you a better coach:
I enjoy extremely long walks, chocolate cake and beer. I’m not sure those things make me a better coach, but I do know the time I spend on the road at work makes me more fully appreciate every moment I spend on the hill in the winter.
Email: Laillaski@gmail.com
