The kids had a YSL (Youth Ski League) race this weekend at their home hill. It was a Slalom (SL) race, not their favorite, but they are starting to like it better.
Nick did real well and took home 1st place in the U12 male category, he also had the fastest time on the hill overall. He's been doing great this year and is looking to carry that momentum into the state meet later in March.
Alex had an amazing race and won 1st place in the U10 male category!! For 2 years Alex has been trying to beat another boy (Liam) on our team, and today he finally succeeded. He was so excited, he's been watching both his brothers dominate their age groups while he's been consistently 2nd or 3rd. But not today!! His smile on the podium lit up the room. Nick, Alex, Max and Liam all rat pack around together so its a friendly rivalry (well so far anyhow). Liam was extremely gracious and a model of good sportsmanship when Alex finally beat him. There is also a boy from Alyeska in the U10 class that is very competitive, so this coming weekends race at Alyeska will be very interesting. Go Alex!!
Max also has a rival in his age group, U8. Daniel is on the Alyeska Ski Team and in 4 races Max has won 2 and Daniel has won 2. Until now they've never met, just raced against each other, but as fate would have it, Saturday they sat right next to us in the chalet. It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up, so I introduced myself and had Max and Daniel meet. Daniel's parents were great and a lot of fun to talk to and they were excited to see the kids meet as well. The boys were very polite to each other and I see a friendship in the future. On the first run Max beat Daniel by .2 seconds, however on the second run Max ran into some misfortune and fell twice during the run. Daniel skied clean and came away in first place and Max still managed a second place in the U8 class. But on the podium it was very cool to see Max congratulate Daniel on his win and see Daniel tell Max that he was sorry Max fell. We've been working very hard on sportsmanship and podium etiquette and it looks like some of our efforts are paying off. Its easy to be a good sport when you win, the real character builder is when you lose.
A very successful weekend and this coming Sunday we have the final YSL race of the year at Alyeska. It promises to be challenging, we'll see how it goes. After that we have the 9 and under State Championships for Alex and Max on 16 March and then the 13 and unders on the 30th and 31st in Juneau for Nick.
As if that weren't enough skiing, we also have been racing on Thursday nights at our local hill. Its just for fun and great practice for the boys, plus I also get to race which I certainly enjoy. The boys race as a team of 3 and right now they are in third place, behind 2 teams made up of all adults. Last week Nick beat me fair and square on a SL run 33.83 to 33.84 !!! He was thrilled! I think its pretty awesome too. This week was a little rougher for Nick as Alex beat him on 2 consecutive runs!!! Alex is really coming alive and putting the pressure on. Nick hasn't had his dominance of his brothers ever tested before and the test of sportsmanship when you lose to your brother did not go as smoothly as it could have. Alex didn't gloat or rub it in, but he was definitely pretty proud of himself, as he should be. Just one more thing to really make the next race interesting.
I've been snowmobiling a bit and did get some video of that if anyone is interested. Its mostly of my buddies, I'm in the green jacket and red pants.
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