It has certainly been a challenging 2020 for our ski racing community. In mid-March, Covid-19 through a wrench in the machinery of our sport’s plans, cancelling races and ending the season prematurely. The disruption continued through the summer as opportunities for on-snow training dwindled; in the U.S., only Mount Hood was able to accommodate racers. [...]
In my work with ski racers, from juniors up to the World Cup, I, of course, introduce them to typical mental training techniques such as goal setting, mental imagery, positive self-talk, and routines. All are invaluable tools to help racers get the most out of their training and ski their fastest on race day. Yet, [...]
In keeping with the spirit of giving for the holidays, I'm offering a 25% discount on all my online courses for ski racers, athletes, ski and sport coaches, and parents. To learn more about my courses, visit here, click on Online Courses from the top menu, and choose which courses you're interested in. To get [...]
You might be asking, “Who the heck is Parker Biele and why does she deserve hero status?” Or, you might be asking, “I know Parker Biele and why the heck does she deserve hero status?” In either case, I’ll answer your question shortly. But first, I want to explain what inspired me to write this [...]
Because ski racing isn’t a team sport in the usual sense of the word, less attention is given in our sport, compared to traditional team sports such as soccer or hockey, to the role of team culture on how individual racers perform. The simple reality of ski racing is that how you ski on race [...]
Being a ski coach is a tough job. There is everything you need to know about conditioning, technique, tactics, equipment, and, of course, the mind. There are the logistics of organizing training, travel, and races for a group of athletes, and adapting to the ever-changing conditions inherent in ski racing. There are also the not-very-fun [...]
As the winter approaches, I’ve been working with a number of racers, from U16s up to World Cuppers. Of course, I’ve introduced them to the immense value of traditional mental training tools such as self-talk, imagery, and routines. At the same time, a real emphasis in my work this summer and fall has been on [...]
It’s that time of year again. Winter is approaching (or already started) and if you’re the parent of one more ski racers, or a ski racer yourself, you can expect to spend many hours over the coming months in a tuning room or garage filing, waxing, and scraping ski after ski after ski after ski [...]
The ski racing season (and the start of other sport seasons) appear on the horizon and we all have our fingers crossed that Covid-19 won't derail all of the amazing efforts of sports organizations, from local to international. Now is a great time to offer your club's or academy's community workshops that will provide deep [...]
This article is my fourth (and, I think, final) in a series exploring Fear of Failure in ski racing. If you missed the first three articles, you may want to catch up before reading this article (Part I, II, III). In those first three articles, I examined my evolving perspective on fear of failure and [...]
