This past weekend was the first race of the season for The Son. This year he stepped up to a new league and is racing with the “big boys.”  He is a first year U12 and hasn’t trained slalom, let alone raced it until now. My expectations were in check, not sure about the Son’s.

To see how he handled himself was an interesting study of his attitude towards racing. The first run he admitted to being nervous.

This nervousness was accompanied by a little embarrassment caused by yours truly forgetting some equipment of his at home – his race suit. It really was my fault. We borrowed a replacement from a friend, however it was a girls suit and he had to deal with a few choice commments from his friends. (Shout out to H, N & D for the assist). I thought he handled the comments well and just brushed them aside.

He got through the first run well and was visibly relieved at lunch to have put that behind him. Second run came and he skied another solid run. I watched and was proud of how he performed considering this was his first race.

The Son, however, wasn’t as content with his performance. He wanted to do better and felt slow. On one hand, I wish he’d take more pride in his performance which I thought was good given his lack of experience in the discipline. On the other hand, I’m glad he isn’t satisfied and wants to improve. I hope the fire to do better continues in both ski racing and all things in life.

We did talk about his performance after the race. I told him how proud I was of him and we also analyzed some photos of his run and he was able to understand some technique errors he was making. I think that helped things click for him and the next time he trains he’ll be a little wiser and faster.

Next race is a GS race, we’re sorted on the equipment and he is quite comfortable in the event. We’ll see how he does.

Good luck to all the racers and their moms and dads on the season.