How to Make it to the Top 5% in Skiing
Written by Super Member: Kate Howe
This is an excerpt from a book I am writing for my figure skating clients called "Champions in Training". Oddly enough, most of the stuff in this book I learned from years of coaching competitive rock climbers! Take the "Skiing" part and trade it for the sport you love, or the job you want to succeed at, and give it a try.
All of us who have participated in a sport we loved have, at one time, wondered why and how the elite got to be that way. What makes Michelle Kwan so special? And Tiger Woods? And Andre Aggasi? And Tony Hawk?
Some will say that it is about genetics, and a propensity to do well in athletics certainly owes something to being born long lean and fast. However, not everyone at the top of his or her game is naturally, genetically gifted. In fact, in my experience as a coach, it is those with the most natural ability who have the hardest time cracking the top 25%.
Why is that? Aren’t champions born and not made? Isn’t the Olympic Village filled with those who started skiing before they could walk, were born to parents of Olympic prestige themselves, and who had nothing but the best coaching staff dedicated to their every move their entire lives? Not necessarily! Sometimes yes, but mostly, no.
Who wins, then? Who gets to be a champion? Let’s look.
Imagine this: that the triangle below represents everyone in the world who likes to ski.
What does it take to make it into the top 5%? Let's start at the bottom of the triangle with everyone. First, you have to like to ski. Then, you’ll probably take some lessons. If you do well and still enjoy it, you might start competing. If you like competing, you probably want to win. Let's be honest, even if you don't like competing (and you’d be surprised how many people don’t), you probably still like the idea of being a famous, well-loved, awesome skier who goes to the Olympics.
Making it from the group of people who compete (the top 50% of people who ski) into the group who does well enough to start training, who have Olympic dreams, who have desire to be the best, is right around where I come in.
Stepping into the top 30%, joining the group of "contenders", or people who we can seriously consider as contenders, takes something special. Most of us can guess what those things are, but let’s list them so that we know that it is hard work and not magic that gets us there.
- A love of Skiing
- Understanding that it takes work to improve
- A desire to improve
Let's stop right there. If I love to ski, and I understand that it takes work to get better, and I have a desire to get better, then I have to learn to love to work!
- A love of the work that will make you better
- Determination to keep working when it gets hard
Have you noticed that I haven’t yet said "a will to win"? That’s because it takes a lot more than a desire to win to become a champion. If I had to put “Will or Desire to Win” on the triangle above, I would have to put it down at the bottom with “Take Skiing lessons!"
- Surround yourself with people who want you to succeed.
- Get a coach you trust and listen to him/her.
This list will get you into a more elite group. The big question is... how do you get out of this group and into success? The first guess is that the people who rise to the top of this group are naturally gifted.
Let me assure you that it is not the case. I have trained people with more natural talent than anyone would know what to do with. I have trained people who had to work a hundred times harder to land a jump that came in a week to a peer. It's true that you need to have an ability to ski, and enough intuition and natural athleticism to master the moves, but what makes a champion?
Let's look at another triangle for the answer:
Here is my golden rule. It takes any combination of two of the above to succeed. That means: Timing (being in the right place at the right time, or more accurately, putting yourself in the right place at the right time) and Persistence are as likely to succeed as Timing and Talent, or Talent and Persistence. Talent alone won’t get you there. Being in the right place at the right time won’t get you there alone.
The top five percent are people who have remembered that, and are smart enough to hang their hat on persistence, keeping talent and timing in mind.
Imagine that all the competitors in the top 30% (All of whom ski double black diamonds, or are in the elite group of skiers at their hill. They can all perform under pressure, they all want to win, they all have put in the time.) are in a tree, hanging on to branches.
Let’s imagine that to make it to the top 5%, to be a real champion, all you have to do is hang on to your branch when the tree gets shaken.
What shakes the tree?
- Injury
- Failure
- Depression
- Loss of belief in yourself
You have been skiing all your life. You and your family have made sacrifices. In the last three competitions, you have placed in the bottom 5 in the field. You examine your choices and... give up? or hang on to your branch? What can you do here? Give up and never make the top five, or…
- Talk to your coach.
- Make a new strategy.
- Go back to basics.
- Learn to re-invent yourself.
- Hang on.
Crack the top 5%. In my experience, everyone in the top 30% is talented to some degree. Everyone has an almost equal chance of becoming a champion, belonging to the top 5. The only difference is that the people in the top 5% didn’t let go of their branch. They have a cantankerous desire to improve that makes them hang on, back up, and find another maze.
Want to be in the top 5? Never let go of your branch.
This Article was contributed by a Super Member:
Kate Howe - Performance Coach, Motivational Speaker, author of Hard Head: Performance in Pressure Situations. Need to get your group positive and motivated? Email Kate for a speaking engagement at katehowe@mac.com.
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