Second Round of Boardercross

Just last weekend, I competed in another set of boardercross events, both at Ski Cooper once again, and as I said I would do before, I improved. The first weekend, I took two 9th places, not even making it out of my heat once. But the second weekend, things changed. First, there were only 9 competitors the second weekend, compared to the 16 that raced on the first weekend. So I don’t think that 100% of the improvement in ranking was based on skill. Just wanting to put that out there. Anyways, onto the retelling.

Last Saturday, I took third in my first heat, but since there were only 9 people, and my first heat was technically the semifinal, I got to race in another round, the consolation final. In the consolation final, I took second place after two riders fell, and placed 6th overall. You can watch the video below (I’m in gate 1, closest to the camera).

Jadyn’s heat, which was just a final because there were only 4 girls, was extremely fun to watch. She tried a type of start called the pressure-start (where your board is pushed up against the start gate so that your board gets out of the starting gate as quickly as possible), which she had only practiced once, and it payed off. She took the lead right out of the gate, and held it until the second turn, where her friend Anika passed her. You can view that video below (Jadyn’s the one in the blue)

Sunday turned out even better. In the first heat, I took second place, which put me in finals. During finals, we all started super close to each other, with all four of us battling for position around the first turn. I moved into third place, and stayed that way until the end of the race, where I skidded out over the third to last turn, and ended up taking 4th, both in the heat and overall. If there’s one thing that I’m striving for in boardercross, it’s a top-3 finish on the podium. Unfortunately, that was the last Ski Cooper boardercross event, so I’m going to have to wait until next month to attempt to take a medal again. On a higher note, with that fourth place finish I am now ranked #40 in the country, and hopefully I can improve that ranking at Crested Butte later this season. But for now, it’s back to trying to land some 540’s in the park!

First races of the season!

Well, it’s Monday, and more specifically, the Monday after the first two boardercross races. It went… not as planned. I never made it out of a heat, and took 9th out of 16 on both days. On both days of racing, my heats were the exact same. The first day, I discovered that since I had the sixth seed (because I went to last year’s Nationals, I was ranked sixth at the start of the day), I got second gate choice in my heat, which was pretty cool. I also discovered that my friend Benny was racing against me in what was his very first competition ever, and he did well (even though he got last). The entire race, I was literally battling for second place against a guy I had met before the race named Lachlan, from New Zealand. He initially took the lead against me, but I passed him around the second corner. By the time we were around the third corner, he had caught up and we were basically holding onto each other while maneuvering the tight turns in an attempt to stay on our feet. On the sixth turn, we both slipped out and fell, but he got up faster and won the race against me, which was extremely disappointing. You can view the video of our start and the first turn below (I’m the one in the blue).

The first day went well for Isaac and Jadyn, with Jadyn taking the bronze medal, and Isaac beating out our friend JR to take second and make it out of the quarterfinals into semis. He lost in the semifinal, but due to an extremely weird complication where a rider raced in the semifinal where he shouldn’t have been (and that resulted in our friend Bodie not qualifying for the finals after he had qualified before), the race was re-run, but nothing changed, and he still got last. In the consolation final, the other two riders had left, so it was a 1-on-1 race between Bodie and Isaac, where Isaac lost (it was a really exciting race to watch, though). Overall, Isaac took 6th place out of 15.

The second day, I got my race board, which I had got in the mail the day before, set up and ready to go, albeit without ANY wax on it, and raced on that. The day went noticeably worse for me, taking the same placing again, but losing the race to Lachlan by a lot farther this time. Isaac didn’t make it out of his first heat and took 11th, but on two high notes, Jadyn and Bodie both took second place and got the silver medal.

Overall, it was a fun time, getting back into the swing of racing and prepared for next week’s races, in which I am sure I’ll be prepared and ready to go. My goal is to make it into the finals of a competition, and I’m going to keep racing until I do.

 

Pressure in Competition

Pressure – it’s always there, in every competition. I’ve felt it many times, right before I get put in during a soccer game, when I’m taking that third attempt in high jump, hearing “Runners, take your marks” before the start of the 100m dash, listening to a starter tell me “Racer ready” before a boardercross race, when I’m in the start gate for a slopestyle competition, or setting up to serve during a tennis tournament.

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Preparing to drop in at a Slopestyle event at the beginning of this year

It’s the same feeling every time – breathing hard, muscles tightening, mind in overdrive. I love it. Well, that’s not completely true. I love situations where I am forced to deal with pressure. It helps me train to deal with it. Sometimes, like earlier this year in track, I fail, not being able to clear the bar after tripping and hurting my leg. Other times I overcome, like yesterday during my slopestyle competition, when I fell hard before and during my first run, hurting myself all over, but still managed to pull it together and put down a good second run.

It’s not just me who’s had to deal with pressure, though. Last year, I watched my brother play in a tennis tournament against an obviously better player, but as I saw that day, skill isn’t everything. Isaac’s opponent had him 3-0 in a 4 game set, and was closing in on victory. Although his skill seemed superior, Isaac still kept fighting, mentally staying in the game, and began to work his way back, winning three straight games, making the score 3-3. It was amazing to watch Isaac, who pushed himself to his limit, muscles completely locking up to the point where he’d periodically fall over, take over the match. His opponent was obviously mentally breaking down, crying and screaming on the court when he lost 3 straight games. His mom complained to the head pro running the tournament that Isaac was making bad calls, and the pro (who was actually Isaac’s opponent’s coach), came onto the court, stopping play, and acted as a line judge. To no surprise, Isaac never made a single call that was contradicted. Isaac persevered until the end that day, but after stopping the play, he was completely spent, and unfortunately lost the match. I think we were all a bit surprised at Isaac’s mental game that day, and he definitely gained my respect.

Jadyn seems to automatically step up to the call of competition. Before every recent snowboard competition, she seems to just get in the zone, blocking out all thoughts of failure. As I watch her at every snowboard competition, I see her look at the course (the halfpipe, the slopestyle course, or the boardercross track), take a deep breath, exhale, and then perform. She’s honestly probably the most calm and consistent out of the three of us. She never complains at a failed run, or a bad fall, and if she ever does say something, she always just tells us later.

Every competition, every jump, every race, every serve. Pressure will always be there, and I know I’ll continue to get better at dealing with it. There’s many different ways that people deal with pressure, and I know that Isaac, Jadyn and I all prepare for it in different ways. Isaac listens to his playlist to get him hyped up. Jadyn hangs out with her friends, talking to them, seemingly keeping her mind off the competition. And me? I like to be alone, watch and analyze other competitors, and mentally tell myself exactly what is going to happen in the competition, visualize it, and then visualize backup plans.

I write this as I prepare for the first boardercross competitions, because firstly, writing my thoughts out on my blog somehow puts them in a place I can see and reflect on them, and secondly, I love writing. My coaches and family expect me to do well in boardercross, probably because of the fact that I love to go fast (even when I’m in the park… :P) and race. Looking forward, I hope to take home a medal sometime or another during these first four races at Ski Cooper, and if not, I’ll have more chances to take one home in the three after in Crested Butte. I know I’ll have many chances to deal with pressure in the future, and my hope for my future self is that I’ll be able to step up to the challenge.