Taylor family at the 2014 Sugar Bowl Tiki Race

Back in 2011, I wrote an article titled “Mama, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Ski Racers, in which I described my internal conflict about whether I wanted my two daughters (then ages 5 and 3, now 9 and 7) to become ski racers.

Well, now as four-year veterans of the Sugar Bowl Ski Team, our family continues to slide down that slippery slope I mentioned (pun intended) in that earlier article. What are some of the indications? Let me count the ways. We have a winter ski lease within a five-minute drive of Sugar Bowl. I just bought Swix ski vises and a diamond stone to tune their skis. We have sacrificed a variety of winter activities (e.g., Girl Scouts, basketball) to get up to the mountains more weekends than we had planned.

Further propelling us down that slippery slope, my daughters participated in their first Tahoe League race last week at Boreal ski area. Like many others like it around the U.S., the Tahoe League is an entry-level race series in Northern California that exposes racers (and their parents) to organized alpine ski racing. There were around 200 kids ages 7-12 and that accounted for only half the young racers in the area because it was a split event, suggesting that our sport is doing just fine at the entrance to the pipeline.

The race gave me my first direct experience as a ski racing parent. It was also the first real test of whether I could practice what I preach in all of my writing and speaking about being a ski racing parent. It’s easy to tell other parents what to do; it’s a whole other thing to do the right thing myself!

The experience was, not surprisingly, filled with more internal conflict. Based on my daughters’ results from intrasquad races at Sugar Bowl, my expectations for results were very low. I just wanted them to have a good time and feel good about their first race experience. Yet, was I nervous? Absolutely! As it turns out, one daughter fell (quite a few tears and a great life lesson) and the other finished, got a medal, and had fun. So far so good. They plan to race in several more Tahoe League races this winter.

Am I ready to surrender myself to that slippery slope yet? Not by a long shot. Our girls don’t have speed suits (which many kids down to six years old have these days!), race skis, armor, or bent poles despite immense cultural pressure and begging from my kids for at least a speed suit. We’re not skipping school (yet?) to train, we haven’t joined USSA (yet?), and they aren’t skiing during the summer (yet?).

Our girls say they love to ski race and want to go to the Olympics. But, given my passion for the sport, my past racing experience (okay, I do regale them now and then with tales of my triumphs and travails), and my current work in the sport, their interest in ski racing is inevitable. Ultimately, it will be up to them to decide whether they actually want to make a commitment to our sport. And only time will tell if their efforts build toward their aspirations. Will I support them if they want to go down that slope? Like any parent, how can I not.

There is a part of me that experiences that possibility with trepidation because of the time, money, and opportunity costs that come with such a family commitment to ski racing. There is that part of me that hopes my daughters choose otherwise. For example, there is an awesome program at Sugar Bowl called the Snow Rangers in which kids ski backcountry and do winter camping; how cool is that!

When my wife and I began this journey as a skiing family I told people that all I ever wanted was for our daughters to become competent skiers, share family time that can only be experienced in skiing, and to develop a love of our sport. But, I have to admit that another part of me would really love our girls to become ski racers. Why? Because our sport gave me so much. Because ski racing is one brutal sport that will challenge them constantly and prepare them for the many challenges that lie ahead of them in life. And because of the fun, excitement, joy, and fulfillment that they will surely experience in our sport.

But, my question is not whether they can handle the challenges. The more appropriate question is whether I can. I’ll report back in another four years.