Team Summer Adventures: Matt Boyd

Catch up with PSIA-AASI National Team members as they share their summer adventures and how it keeps them on their game for winter. Here’s how PSIA Alpine Assistant and Development Coach Matt Boyd spent his summer.

What’s been your go-to summer activity or big summer adventure?

Summers are full of waterparks and zip lines for me. In between workdays, I spent a ton of time traveling around the country watching my daughter Maggie play softball. One wouldn’t expect to see a ton of cross over from softball to skiing, but I did learn a thing or two about skiing from watching her games.

What did you learn?

First off, fundamentals matter. Just like in skiing, there are few absolutes. A pitch is never the same, a groundball can hop, spin, or roll, and the wind plays havoc on fly balls. Just like in skiing, the number of variables an athlete can expect seem daunting, yet with mastery over the basics, the athlete can fluidly adapt to almost any situation.

How can you apply this to snowsports instruction?

This concept of mastery brings me to the second crossover. Mastery is hard. The amount of time, effort, and repetition these girls put in to play with the best in the country is admirable. These girls practice when it is not practice time. They study the sport and observe other athletes. They learn to anticipate pitches and to adapt to different umpire strike zones.

Knowing that less than seven percent of high school athletes go on to play in college at any level, they extend this hard work to their studies, their work ethic, and their lives. As we continue our quest to better ourselves, whether that means a new level of certification or not, we could all take a page out of the book these young ladies write.