How Good is Great?

One funny phenomenon I find with ski instructors is how we react when asked whether someone is a good skier. We often respond with what is referred to in the communications business as a “poop sandwich”. Ok, we don’t use the word “poop”, but you get the idea. An example of a poop sandwich would be telling a student “That was great, really great. You didn’t really do what we set as our goal, but that was great.” So, when asked whether someone is a good skier, being instructors we cannot resist the urge to say yes but to qualify our affirmative response with some professorial analysis of how the person in question is deficient or needs improvement. I’ll leave it to the psychoanalysts to explain why this phenomenon occurs, but I do find it funny. Of course, there are exceptions.

This week, a number of people began to arrive at Treble Cone who would cause even the most jaded of instructors to remove the poop from the sandwich. First, Julia Mancuso, the 2006 Olympic giant slalom gold medalist among many other wins as a member of the U. S. Ski team, arrived to do some training on her own. There are some racers who we admire for their athleticism, for what they can accomplish and are willing to do on skis, and from whom we can learn a lot. Not all of them ski in a way that we can use as a visual model for our students. Julia Mancuso is the type of racer who, despite her obvious and exceptional strength, quickness and precision, skis in a manner which is a wonderful image for our students in its efficiency, balance and, well, tidiness. It’s been great watching her ski around the hill a bit.

Over the next few weeks, the amount of ski racing talent arriving at Treble Cone for training is somewhat staggering. In addition to Julia Mancuso, Bode Miller arrives here shortly. For the uninitiated, Bode is the 2008 Men’s World Cup Overall Champion. He may be just a kid from Franconia, New Hampshire, but Bode is simply one of the most talented ski racers in history. Further, the Austrian men’s and women’s alpine teams arrive over the next few days, the Norwegian men’s and women’s national teams arrive next week, and the German women’s national team shortly after that. Imagine summer league basketball with LeBron, Shaquille, Kobe, and others all playing hard on an asphalt court at the beach, and you get the picture. I try not to gawk, but sometimes I just have to stop and watch. Yes, there’s a fine line between gawking and ogling and I’m keenly aware of it.

Occasionally, one of my students or people in passing will make the mistake of referring to me or my colleagues as “great” skiers. I typically respond that I may be good enough to have skied with great skiers, I may be able to coach great skiers, and I may understand what makes for a great skier, but I have no delusions of grandeur. These athletes training at Treble Cone are truly great skiers, and it’s a pleasure to have them here to show us why.