Bear has been skiing since he was two years old. He is lucky in that he has a dad who taught skiing for 25 years and a sister who currently teaches, so his skills have been honed since day one. Those skills were put to the test this year when he was part of the Snowbird Development (Devo) Race Team. What a fantastic experience for him!
Bear started the season as a newcomer, competing with kids who had been in the program for a year or two. His technical skills were sound but he had no gate training whatsoever. (Running “gates” means turning around poles set on a hill as fast as you can.) He enjoyed the training and his teammates and ranked about the middle of the pack at races. It was fun to see him cheer on his teammates but also heartbreaking to see tears in his eyes as he just missed getting a medal (they give medals to 10th place).
Early on in the program, Bear had been invited to be on the “transitional team”, which added an additional half day training and a few more race events. More training helped his confidence level and he inched up in the rankings at each event. He was still having fun – even if he spun out in a gate, he laughed and cheered his teammates. But his desire to win was strong.
At the last race of the year, his training – both with his coaches and with Dad – paid off. Bear had two clean runs and he place ninth out of 29 in his class and came out on top within his team.
It was a great to end the season with such confidence because Bear will be leaving his coach and teammates at Snowbird and entering the Park City race program next year. The Park City youth race program is nationally recognized as THE place to train for prospective future Olympians. Bear has stated that his goal is to go to the Junior Olympics. Who knows? We just want him to continue to have fun and realize his potential.
