In my many years in ski racing, first as a racer, then as a sport psych consultant, I have studied and tested what I believe are the most important mental contributors to ski racing success including motivation, confidence, focus, and emotions. But there is one that I have recognized quite recently as being really important, though largely unrecognized, yet may be the foundation of everything you do in ski racing.

What is that essential mental factor: respect. Yes, as Aretha Franklin so famously sang, R-E-S-P-E-C-T! Respect plays a vital role in your ski racing at many levels. First, let’s define what respect is. You can think of respect as how you treat someone or something. Do you treat someone or something with consideration or disregard, as valuable or of little worth, well or poorly? Now you may be starting to see why respect is so important in ski racing.

Respect for Ski Racing

Respect starts with an appreciation for how wonderful the sport of ski racing is. It is worthy of high regard because of its long history (e.g., in the Olympics and the many great champions), the difficult challenges it presents to racers (e.g., terrain, snow conditions, speed), and the benefits you get from it far beyond the training and races (e.g., life lessons about how to work hard, overcome challenges, and pursue your goals).

When you tell people you are a ski racer, you bask in the reflected glory emanating from our sport. When people hear that you are a ski racer, many think of determination, discipline, confidence, courage, and focus (among other admirable attributes), all qualities that make you look pretty darned good.

Respect for Those Who Support You

Whatever experiences you have and successes you achieve as a ski racer don’t come in a vacuum. You are inevitably surrounded by people who do their part to help you get where you want to go. Parents write the checks (often big ones!) for your equipment, training, and races. They get up at 3 am to drive you to races. Parents pat you on the back when you have a great race and give you a consoling hug when you DNF’d or skied slow.

Coaches get you into shape and sharpen your technique and tactics. They set the training courses, withstand the sometimes brutal weather, work long hours on and off the hill, and much more for pay that doesn’t adequately compensate them for everything they do. And coaches work so hard to ensure that you have the best experience you can and achieve the competitive goals you set for yourself.

There are countless others who work behind the scenes to support you including ski area owners and managers, ski club and USSA administrators, and race officials. You can show respect for all of these people by taking full advantage of the opportunities they provide to you, giving your best effort, being a good sport, and showing appreciation (yes, saying thank you!) for what they do for you.

Respect for Your Competitors

If you’re at all competitive, you have a list of racers who you want to beat every race. If you have big goals for your ski racing, you may view them as obstacles in your way. We see a lot of bad behavior, such as trash talking, in other sports. Thankfully, this disrespectful behavior hasn’t seeped into ski racing yet (at least not very much). In fact, it’s great to see many racers whose greatest competitors are also their best friends. You want to remember that it is your competitors who push you to work hard and challenge you to ski your fastest. Without them, ski racing wouldn’t be very rewarding or fun. So, be sure to continue to show them the respect they deserve.

Respect the Conditions

One thing that makes ski racing so special is the wide variety of conditions that you are confronted with and that often stand in the way of your skiing fast and achieving your goals. Few sports place so many obstacles between the starting gate and the finish line including the course, terrain, snow conditions, and weather. These conditions also deserve your respect because you don’t fully appreciate the challenges, you will probably not prepare adequately for them. And if you’re not ready to meet those challenges, they will certainly beat you.

Respect Your Equipment

Ski racing is an equipment-intensive sport in which you depend on your boots, skis, bindings, and other gear to ski your best. Yet, I’m constantly dismayed to see racers who don’t prepare their equipment as well or often as they should, for both racing and training. Here’s a simple reality: if your equipment isn’t totally dialed in, you will not ski as fast as you can. So, you need to make sure you respect your equipment—and treat it really well—because then it will treat you well too.

Respect Yourself

Finally, you should respect yourself in your ski racing. What do I mean by self-respect? Giving it everything you’ve got every day in training and at races. Not doing anything that will interfere with your pursuit of your ski racing goals or that will hurt you as a racer or as a person. Self-respect also involves being kind to yourself and remaining positive and motivated in the face of struggles, setbacks, and failures.

If you show yourself this respect, you won’t experience the worst emotion you can feel at the end of a race day, season, career, or life: regret. You know you’ve shown respect for yourself when you reflect back on your training or race day and can say, “I left it all out on the hill.” When you say that, you know that you have given the appropriate respect to everyone and everything in ski racing and, though I can’t guarantee you an Olympic gold medal, I can promise you that everything you put into your ski racing will be returned to you many times over.