The Challange

On the face of it, we see talent and normally we can find a way to instantly develop that talent. If we see someone good at football, then we can get them into a squad and even on a pitch competing at the highest level just like that. My talent is skiing, a recently acquired talent, but none the less a talent, so as a mature adult one can imagine my frustration when finding a home to develop that talent competitively is blocked because of bureaucracy by governing bodies.

The irony in the protection afforded to ensuring nobody can just walk in and enter the discipline of Alpine skiing and particular downhill, super g and giant slalom, is that Britain has consistently failed to produce a skier of exceptional top finishing talent within the mens world cup or Europa League for...well...ages, so what's to protect, surely, if someone is good, let them race, help them to race, nurture them with pace, not over years, but within 1. I have come across so many times these recent months the following saying by many coaches and heads 'it takes 4-5 years to develop a skiing career'. Well my friends, that just isn't true, the key to doing anything well is muscle memory and the development of particular muscle memory groups. I train for 10 hours per day on average and within the first 3 weeks, a pair of 170 length carving skis felt like slippers on feet, riding the edge of my ski along a sweeping curve felt as natural as putting on my boxer shorts in the morning or brushing my teeth. The statement I make of progress in such a short term, by no means states that it has taken me such time to develop to a world class style, but quite simply, I wont, and nobody will ever know if they are world class talent, unless these compete at a world class level.

This post feels like a rambling, which in some way, it is today, but the underlying point about developing talent is non disputable, I cant help but feel some of the people I have encountered along the way so far are interested mainly in protecting there own jobs! Tomorrow's post is called, 'how I ended here', and should have been today's, but an email to a ministerial government official overseas to create a winter sports program to help support my getting a winter ride under different nationality to my British born roots, has left me perplexed that I have had to create such complicated structures to get to do something, that really should be a lot simpler, compete.

Hiho Hiho, its of to training we go - 6 hours solid skiing today, no breaks, already nutrient loaded, just waiting for the dopamine to feed through my body over a one hour warm up so I can really get this engine flying today and put any pain to the back of mind and focus on the results of pushing yourself to the very edge of every comfort zone you know.

Hasta la pronto peoples :-)