Imagine Michael Phelp's swim coach saying world-class swimmers need to spend more time swimming for fun in the ocean.
This is why we ski.... A 2005 file photo of a skier in Vail, Colorado.
Like many sports, learning how to ski takes a lot of practice.
I wish I could say you simply have to learn the right thing from the right instructor. But in my personal experience, practice makes perfect on the slopes, the same way it does on the tennis court or in the concert hall.
The New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell famously wrote in his bestselling book, "Outliers," that someone needs to do something for 10,000 hours in order to become an expert at that activity. In the case of skiing, that would mean you would need to ski six hours a days, 100 days a year for 16 and a half years to become a true expert.
That might seem like an incredible amount of time on the slopes. But if you want to be a world class, Olympic-caliber skier, get ready to put in a lot of hours.
That might sound like torture to many people. But it all depends HOW you practice.
I was reading an interview recently with former (and original) U.S. Ski Team coach Bob Beattie in the Aspen (Colorado) Daily News Online. The reporter asked Beattie what advice he would give kids involved in ski racing. The world-renowned ski racing coach's answer? Kids should free-ski more.
“Kids spend a lot of time going through gates," Beattie said. "They need to associate themselves with the mountain lifestyle - grow up as much as they can to be a mountain person and live a mountain life."
Such advice might not seem like such a big deal. But imagine former New York Yankees manager Joe Torre saying future professional baseball players need to spend more time playing catch in the backyard. Or imagine Michael Phelps' swim coach saying world-class swimmers need to spend more time swimming for fun in the ocean. All those type-A sports nuts would go mental thinking about their kids "goofing off."
But I think Beattie's onto something, especially when it comes to skiing. The more fun people have learning how to ski, the more they'll want to ski. Forget about drills. Just make learning fun.
I remember being in a ski racing program as a kid growing up in Pennsylvania. We'd spend most of our time standing at the top of a race course, waiting for our turn to ski around the gates.
Then one day, peering through the trees onto an adjacent run, I saw a group of kids my age skiing down a trail covered with moguls. Every once in a while, one of the skiers would pop up into the air off a bump and perform some acrobatic maneuver. I want to do that, I remember thinking. Pretty soon after, I was learning how to do "Daffys" and "Spread Eagles" instead of angling my skis around a stick in the ground.
Looking back, it's too bad I had to make that choice at all. I understand the need for gate training to become a better racer. But too often, I see too many kids spending too much time practicing too many drills, especially in racing programs.
I'm not a racing coach. Malcolm Gladwell's probably right. Practice, practice, practice and you'll become a true expert.
But will you still want to ski every day when you're 65 or 75 or 85 years old? Sound far fetched? Go to most ski mountains and you'll find older skiers everywhere, living the mountain lifestyle and loving it.
I'll never forget skiing down Liftline, an expert trail at Stowe, as a teenager and stopping to talk to a woman in her 80s who glided down that icy slope like she was dancing on a cloud. I want to ski like her when I'm her age, I remember thinking as she floated down below me.
Ski season's here.
Enjoy it. Have fun!
(Ken Ross is an editor at The Republican newspaper in Springfield, Mass. and a part-time, Level I certified ski instructor in Vermont.)