The four things that matter

[brettmainer]

Athletic ability. Technique. Ski set up. Strength to weight ratio.

 

I was disappointed in my ski ride at regionals yesterday. 15 years ago at regionals I got the exact same score skiing 2mph faster. How much gas have I wasted in those 15yrs? I had an 8hr drive home to think about it.

 

We are all given a natural athletic ability, some better than others and maybe drills on things like balance balls can improve it, but generally it is a static input for each individual.

 

Technique, which is the most often discussed topic on this website, is huge, but hard to change for people like me who have 40yrs of ingrained mostly bad habits. I think I need to stay at 32off and try to change things, but how many times in the last 15yrs have I done that with no noticeable difference? I will try harder. Looking at the photos of my skiing yesterday, there is a lot of room for improvement. Based on the photographic evidence, I was lucky to get as far as I got.

 

I changed my set up several weeks ago on the advice of a great coach who is a far better skier than I could ever hope to be. Was it right for me? It felt better at earlier passes, but I haven’t run 38 in those 3 weeks after running it earlier in the year. Is there a better set up? Probably. I will change things up and see.

 

I like beer, but it doesn’t help with the 5am wakeup to work out before work. If I weighed 175lbs and could do 30 pull-ups like I could 15yrs ago instead of my current 185lbs and less then 10 pull-ups, I’ve no doubts I could ski more buoys, everything else being the same. Will power and effort. No excuses, just do it.

 

I think that is all that matters.

[Cooper_Trelawney]

I'm impressed by the showing of personal accountability. That seems to be pretty rare these days. Thanks for sharing your insight.

[Andre]

You didn't waste one drop of gas.

I'm sure you enjoyed every one of those practice in the last 15 years.Can understand your deception but waterskiing is a real hard sport to master and improve,you know that.Changing old bad habits is certainly harder then to learn to do it right the first time.

Running deep 38 is already an accomplishment IMO.Life could be worst.

Smile,open up a cold beer and keep on doing what you love,skiing!

Peace.

[Jmoski]

I wish I was skiing into 38 off! Having spent time in other sports I think we skiers all neglect training to our own detriment. Doing drills to reinforce proper position burns in muscle memory of what you want, ever other sport does this. But it’s soooo hard to not run buoys and do drills!

 

Having coached HS wrestling for a decade, I have watched experienced wrestlers with no innate althetic ability absolutely smoke competitors that are tremendous athletes but are new to the sport, why? Because they have repeatedly drilled for years in practice to burn in proper position and technique. At the HS level - slick always beats muscle....

 

I think skiing is similar - great technique and body position rules.

[Buxrus]

@brettmainer. Three letters for you : HRT.

[brettmainer]

I was remiss in my my original post for not giving a shout out to Steve Grubbs, the Western Regional M4 slalom champion. He looked great out there. The best skier won. I will also say that the second and third place finishers, Darren Mason and Brent Eaton, also looked very solid. All three of them are excellent skiers.

[dvskier]

You’re also skiing at a very high level in a most difficult and unforgiving sport. You really have no reason to beat yourself up. Carry on and continue to ski well.

[paul413ski]

That’s why we go back set after set to get better - seek advice outside your normal circle it will freshen you up and give you new perspective skiing into 38 I wish

[rockdog]

Good post @brettmainer . Honest and to the point. Easy for me to say that if you’re in to 38 you should be very happy as its so difficult to push further at that line length. But I get the frustration and good for you to still be skiing at that level for such a long period of time, I’ll never get there but the want to keep improving will always be there.

[GaryWilkinson]

At 61 yrs old I was out early today with my ski buddies and great friends Pierre and Diane and the goal was to video my skiing in 2 different rope lengths and speeds to decide how I could learn connection and swing better to get past 35 off.

 

After seeing the video, well, let’s just say I was bummed that not only did the passes look the same, (they were supposed to be very different going from28 to 35 off) but they looked the same as and maybe a bit worse than 2-3 years ago. I had not advanced a bit.

 

So I have given up on my lifelong goal of running 1 ball at -38 off and will now be less frustrated and I guess more at ease at doing mid 35’s. I’m sure having only done 10 sets so far this year and not having been in the gym like previous years doesn’t help, but at 61? I guess that’s pretty good.

 

Although 38 would be great.

[OldboyII]

I started skiing at 56/200 and every year I hit new PB. Now 61/180.

:D

 

[jercrane]

Honestly you only wasted the gas if you didn’t enjoy those passes over the past 15 years. There is literally no other reason to do this sport for anyone. No one. Pro, amateur, beginner. None of us. If you aren’t having fun a majority of the time, then yeah you are wasting the gas. Otherwise smile and appreciate the fact you get to partake in this ridiculous pastime. It’s the best!

And I suck at it!

 

Ps. Written from my hammock dreaming of 2021 and trying not to beat myself up too much.

 

 

[Andre]

@jercrane

Man, i so much see myself 4 years ago...Good luck!

[Rich]

Brett, you are a talented skier with natural ability. Time on the water is all about having a good time. You have the talent to run 38 every set if you want to pay the price. That's a personal question for sure. I paid the price for a few years, and now I'm still having fun & working on technique. I'm not sure if I want to get up every day and do plyo drills and athletic movement drills, give up beer, and focus just on skiing. Its all up to each of us.

 

[braindamage]

I actually think only 3 things matter.

1) Innate Talent (you called this Athletic Ability, but I’d say the talent has to be specific to skiing)

2) Identity as a top performing skier

3) commitment to achieve

 

These feed on each other one way or another. If you have the talent, then this usually feeds the identity. The more you identify as a top performer, the higher your commitment to achieve. If you have the commitment, then you’ll figure out the details such as equipment and technique. My experience is that one of the three will plateau and cause the other 2 to follow.

 

I don’t know you, but if you have the talent then it’s just about how far you think you can go, and what you are willing to do to get there. I’m well beyond the time where I could ever achieve a fraction that you have. Maybe when I learned to ski at 12, if I’d have identified myself as a top performer instead of focusing on getting bikinis in my boat it would have been different. I’m happy with where I am, though.

 

And I agree with everyone else. I don’t believe one moment at the end of the rope on a ski behind a boat could ever be considered as “waste”.

[a_bax]

As a skier/athlete, there are only a few things we can control. So allowing other things to "matter" is a waste of energy. What you do control is: training (on and off the water), nutrition, sleep, recovery, and mindset. If you can find slight improvement in those areas, over time, I believe (and hope!) that technique and (so-called) "talent" will follow.

[Hallpass]

:) At least you still weigh 185 and can ski great. You're a stud from my chair. You have told me several times that you have three kids, and they have other interests, in addition to skiing. I'd choose great Dad over great skier 100 out of 100 times.

 

[Jmoski]

We all have a different baseline of “natural talent”, but we can all move our respective performance ceiling through many aspects mentioned above.

 

I also think that our natural talent baseline degrades with age, so for me training and diet are now about helping me hold onto what I have and minimize injury! That said, even at age 52 my success in the course is still trending up, and I hope that continues, but what more important to me is being able to ski for as many more decades as I can!

 

What’s interesting to postulate is do we all have a hard ceiling we hit even if we take full advantage of the things we do control.

[ColeGiacopuzzi]

The four things I was taught by getting to hang and ski with @Chris Rossi that have stuck with me ever since were:

 

Mental

Equipment

Physical

Technique

[jimbrake]

@ColeGiacopuzzi - I totally agree. I need new mental equipment and to keep working on my physical technique.

[ski6jones]

I was thinking about just this topic a few days ago. I think Focus/commitment along with athletic ability are the two things that really matter to reach the highest levels of sport. With the former you'll do whatever is required to acheive (get equipment, do the training, become fit, etc). Some amount of athletic ability is also required, more is better obviously.

 

I recemtly watched most of the docuseries "the Last Dance" which chronicles Michael Jordan and the Bulls dominance in the 90s. Jordan was driven, I mean DRIVEN, to succeed, to win. Absolutely whatever it took, total commitment. Clearly he had mad athletic skills but without that drive to win i don't think we'd even know his name.

[Onside135]

“Water time” should probably be on the list.

[animal]

I hate to tell all of you A type people, as you become old, your reflexes and strength decrease no matter how hard you work. That is why most professional athletes are done at 30. If you can't accept that, you will be in for great disappointment. Learn to adjust expectations as the years tick by.

[dbutcher]

@Jmoski I agree with most everything you said above. You have the right outlook in my opinon. I am a M9 slalom skier (age 76). I have never had great athletic ability in any sport, but water skiing is so much fun for me that I did (and do) it a lot. Simple repetition and desire kept me improving. About two years ago, my performance began to decline however. I used to run -35 in almost every practice session and fairly often in tournaments. That is not happening anymore. There are at least two reasons I believe. First, my age and health have decreased my stamina and energy. I now take 4 pass sets whereas formerly it was often 6 or more. Reduced stamina and reduced practice just plain hurt tournament performances and even practice performances. But you, barring some catastrophe, should be looking forward to 15 or 20 years of improving and then maintaining. The answer to your question, i.e. the last line of your today's post, is yes.

 

@animal I didn't adjust my expectations until age 75. But you are correct about reflexes and strength diminishing with age. That is why AWSA slows the boat speed for older skiers. An older skier can still get into short line for example, but at 30 mph instead of 36. The buoy count is lower, but the psychology is beefed up by the fact that one is still getting into -38 or whatever. Amateur water skiing does not have the same expectations as professional sports. Think NFL football. A 75 year old there would be carried off the field in the first quarter, maybe the first play; and most old slalom skiers would likely not make an opening pass at 36 mph. I can also tell you that lowering my expectations was and IS difficult. I hate it, and hopefully I will for years to come.

[braindamage]

@animal read the book: “fast after 50” If you want to know how to slow the effects of aging.

 

I love @dbutcher story. Inspiring!!

[brettmainer]

@onside135, my first thought was to agree with you. Captain obvious. But that is not what I was getting at. There are lots of skiers, myself included, who have plenty of time on the water. That should translate into better technique and time to optimize one's ski set up, but how often do we do that? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing expecting a different result. I, and many others, should use that time more thoughtfully, not just taking another ride.

 

And yes, this is about having fun, and we shouldn’t lose sight of that. Skiing is not just about running more buoys. But, it is more fun when we do.

 

 

[bishop8950]

@ColeGiacopuzzi I Totally agree with Rossi and focus on those 4 things. I add on tournament day there is a 5th: everything else not on that list and not within your control. The boat, the rope, the conditions, Etc. The things you may choose to tune out or to specifically adapt too. Depends on the day and the skier.

 

Mental

Equipment

Physical

Technique

Other stuff out of your control on tournament days

 

[CBR51]

For those of us that have never had the luxury of a private site, and have always had to battle the elements of a public lake, I would put private man made site way at the top of the list of must haves for improved skiing.

[jimbrake]

@brettmainer - I have been trying to formulate responses to poke fun at you since you are just starting to join the "WTF is going on with my skiing" club, but having been there for well over 10 years now, I feel for you. I agree with you - don't just take a set. Have a plan and try to execute and learn from the successes and mistakes within each pass. Time at the lake, whether one quick set or hanging out all day, should leave you feeling good physically and mentally, not bummed. I've left the lake bummed far too many times. This sport is a constant search. Enjoy the search and every little success and take each mistake as something to learn from. You're a damn good skier.

[LeonL]

I'm kinda in the same camp as @dbutcher , only not the skill level. This was discussed today after skiing. I asked, "where did my skills go?". After about 3 years of steady decline I knew it was the "years", but I still don't know specifically what went away. I still have days where it's fun, but some days, not so much fun. When you can't do what once could and can't really pinpoint the problem it's tough.