Snowboard Updates - Dec. 26, 2019

Happy Holidays,

This coming weekend is sure to be busy so please plan accordingly.  To Help with your planning here is another link to the Training Calendars 101, 201, 301.  

If you missed the tuning clinic at Podium, or even if you went, I will be hosting a high end tuning clinic in our clubhouse, in Center Village across from the post office at Copper Mountain, on Jan. 4th at 3:30.  We will cover the RS-1 race wax system.  This is very useful for all racers, smaller kids who can hit larger features, and kids who are starting to travel to different parts of the country or world for contests.  We will also be taking orders for the wax if anybody wants some.  RS-1 is very nice wax and we are getting a pretty good deal on it (anywhere from 30-50% discount).

Competition season is just around the corner now.  The first Summit Foundation Cup is on Jan. 12th at Keystone.  The event is a Slalom and GS race (where they go around the flags).  
[Sign Up Here]

The Summit Foundation Cup dates are as follows:
1/12/20 at Keystone- Giant Slalom and Stubby Slalom
1/26/20 at Arapahoe Basin- Big Mountain/Moguls
2/23/20 at Breckenridge- Skiercross and Boardercross
3/1/20 at Copper Mountain- Park and Pipe

Click here for a link to the ITS calendar to find all the events. 

It is easy for us, as parents, (I am a Team Summit Parent too.) to remember our last competitive sport we were a part of.  We remember the camaraderie, passion, and wins.  Those were the things that made playing sports fun in our teenage years or even into our 20's.  It can be a little more difficult to remember why we started playing in our younger years.  It is also sometimes difficult to remember the painful losses, super hard practices, keeping up with homework, and off-season strength training sessions (we tend to remember the moments of glory a little more).  Coaches, kids, and parents generally want the same things in competitive snowboarding.  We want the kids to walk away from contests feeling successful regardless of place,  we want the kids to make friends and build confidence from their time together on Team Summit, and we want them to have a ton of fun.  These are the things that lead to those glory moments.  When it comes to competition season remember the three rules from orientation to help your snowboarder have a great season.

1.) Snowboarding is Fun-  Fun changes throughout their time on snow.  In the beginning, fun is just fun.  Then learning becomes fun; then competing becomes fun, and when snowboarding becomes a career in adulthood, winning becomes fun.  For the little guys, if it is fun then it is right.

2.) Praise the kids for their work ethic more than their results-  This encourages the kids to take on the next challenge.  as they complete more challenges the challenges keep getting more difficult.  If they know they are rewarded to try new things and work hard, the game becomes more about completing the next task and always moving forward.  The best thing a parent can say to a kid after an event is "I love to watch you ride."

3.) Practice positive talk-.  This can be more challenging than some may think.  Practice it yourself as parents and pass the habit on to your kids.  As a rule of thumb "Don't say don't, and you can't say can't."  Positive talk does not guarantee good performance, but when the pressure is on negative talk gaurantees poor performance.

We used to say that the parent's job was to drive, write checks, and cheer (it was sort of a joke).  Snowboard season works very well when the parents, kids, and coaches are all working together.  Raising little rippers takes a village.

Happy Holidays,

Matty