Today little boy was doing his first freestyle competition. He did the tricks he had planned to do and was satisfied. (Older boy didn't participate. He's injured and and tries to get fit for the national championship next week).
The boys have had kind of the same skiing development. They started with alpine racing at 6-7 yo. For more than 12 years, I've taken kids to the slopes for practice and races. They've always had about 60-80 days of skiing every winter (and me too of course).
The kids have found that freestyle skiing is what they really wanna do. They love it. It's the meaning of life!
It's OK with me. I decided that they should do alpine racing. It was their own choice to swap to freestyle skiing. Motivation is strongest when it comes from inside (the psychologists call it intrinsic motivation).
Alpine racing becomes very expensive if you're serious about it, with 4 pairs of specialized skis (for Slalom, Giant Slalom, Super-G and Downhill) and lots of training camps. Freestyle is much cheaper; only one pair of twin-tip skis needed. That's great.
And I don't miss the Friday and Saturday nights spending hours tuning and waxing racing skis >:)
(Picture taken before the competition today. The bibs were somewhat big for the kids.)
I definitely agree with letting THEM choose which form they want (or whether to be competitive at all). My mom signed me up for dancing as a kid and I liked tap but not ballet--she said I only got to continue ballet, so I quit both. She shoulda let me stick with tap. (and it IS a bonus that what they picked ends up cheaper.)
ReplyDeleteI've always believed in motivation from inside.
DeleteOlder boy finished high-school last spring. Last fall he worked to save up money. This winter he's living in a skiing resort, doing nothing but full.time skiing.
I used the same principle when I was a student; only took the academic courses in theoretical physics, stayed away from anything that looked like industry and technology. But then, one day, you need to make earn money ... >:)
Wow, that sounds intense but fun. Glad they've found a sport they love.
ReplyDeleteMostly fun >:)
DeleteHow nice it must be to enjoys the meaning of life. I wonder if will change for them anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy you're enjoying yourself. I think I missed a post somewhere.
The meaning of life means different things to different people. Kids have a somewhat simple view on this. Later, as you get older, the issue becomes more complex >:)
DeleteWhile you've been basking in your early spring sunshine, I've been soaking up the last of the summer sun on a perfect beach in Umdloti! And driving home we saw the first snows on the Drakensberg mountains - beautiful but cold. Really cold! :)
ReplyDelete(PS For some weird reason I've been blocked from accessing my Facebook account and for the past month can only send auto tweets to it. That explains my absence there! :)
Yes, I guess we're kind of out of phase here; my spring is your fall. I think my kids would be happy to follow the snow, moving south to Chile or New Zealand during the northern summer.
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