Independance

This week many people of the team were back, yet the weather was still beautiful, so luckily it was a week filled with all 3 things I came here for.

I only have one more week to train in Toulouse, next week I will end with a competition in France, after which I will fly back to the Netherlands. Luckily there are many fun things waiting for me at home too, including a very special clinic, which I can’t wait to write about. Even though it feels like the end, especially including the weeks I was here in June, I must keep focussing on skiing here and not let my mind travel back home just yet.

In the past week I have noticed a lot more how independent I have become and how that has been necessary too. This comes in two major parts, first of all, living practically alone, which means cooking, cleaning, chores, etc. But also more importantly in skiing, the past weeks I have had a lot of issues with my equipment. Many fixable things luckily, but that does mean that I have to learn how to fix them. Sadly I also learned to see when something is beyond fixable. All these have been learning experiences for when I will be skiing by myself in university and can’t give all my broken equipment to my parents and get them back fixed. Since many of my friends back home are moving into their own apartments, I realised that this is a nice way to ease into being independent and eventually live alone.

In last weeks blog, I said I hoped to run 13 coming week, since I was close back then. During this week I had a couple of really good shots to run it, but I just came a little short. Now I feel like I have to run it in my last week. I have all the tips and coaching I need, so now I just have to give everything and run it.

I am also working on some new tricks,

like a 540 in toeholds, but also the 540s over the wake in hands. These tricks won’t be ready to be in a run for this years competitions, but they are a good investment for next year. I’ve also been working on pinning other trickers, this means holding the rope when they are in toehold, and of course letting go when they fall. This is good training to see other peoples mistakes, because I make a lot of the same one, and now I see how scary they are. It emphasises the importance of making my tricks clean, so that the pinner does not get too many heart attacks. Since there are some skiers who I can’t pin yet because their tricks are too difficult, I was put back behind the wheel. I drove the boat for one skier so that Vinney could pin. My turns are getting better, but I still have some work to do driving in a straight line, but at least everyone involved made it back to the shore safe and well.

In jumping, I am working on jumping more stable with the sling. It is quite a difference, but I got used to it fast. Now it is especially important to also take advantage of it and not just learn how to land with it. Hopefully if my jumps and cuts are stable enough, I will be able to do a ¾ cut in next season’s competitions. 

I'm excited for next weeks competition and will be training towards it in the last week. I hope to ski a PB, even though it might not be as close to my trainings pb as I hope, especially because the first competition after a hard period of training can be difficult.