Summer Fun: How Team Members are Spending Their Summers
PSIA-AASI National Team members stay committed to learning, whether they’re on the snow or enjoying the summer months.
Emily Leads Cross Country Rollerski Clinics
PSIA Cross Country Team Coach Emily Lovett, with the help of PSIA Telemark Team member Jim Shaw, delivered on Emily’s vision to offer rollerski day camps for cross country skiers over the summer.
“Before the pandemic hit, I was already transitioning away from working as a hiking and biking guide over the summer months,” she said. “With zero guiding opportunities last summer, it created space for me to fully embrace new paths. One of my favorite phrases is, ‘space allows for movement,’ and I had the space!”
“I invested in a demo fleet of rollerskis, mounted them, and led a couple dryland and rollerski day camps,” Emily said. “I’ve learned from the experience, and I’m excited to do more.”
She said she’s also enjoyed being a part of several on-going conversations related to the PSIA-AASI Strategic Alignment project. “One of the things I appreciate most is learning about other disciplines,” said Emily. “I also appreciate all the creative thinking and dynamic conversations with colleagues. Being summer, I feel I have the space in my brain to reflect and learn from these experiences.”
Brain Studies Finnish and Paddleboards Remote Lakes
AASI Snowboard Team member Brian Donovan said he’s spent some time this summer flexing his brain power by reading “Radical Candor” by Kim Scott, which is helping him learn new strategies for communication
“I’m also using a language application and spending five to 10 minutes a day learning how to speak Finnish so I can – hopefully – understand all the Finish inside jokes in Levi, Finland, when I travel there for Interski 2023,” said Brian. “So far, I’m good at telling people they’re funny, I can get directions, and I can order a beer. So we’re all set!”
For physical fitness, Brian and his wife explore the USFS zones in southern and central Vermont and hike into remote lakes to paddleboard. “I’ve also been doing a silly amount of single track and downhill mountain biking, and I’m playing in a beach volleyball league.”
“I’m also working on the final pushes for the Snowboard Performance Guide and supporting projects,” Brian said.
Joshua Reads & Fly Fishes
PSIA Alpine Team member Joshua Fogg started the summer by reading Nick Winkelman’s, “The Language of Coaching,” and re-evaluating what he thought he knew about teaching skiing.
“As I worked through the ideas in the book, it pushed me to re-assess how to be technically accurate in a way that is immediately understandable and actionable,” said Joshua. “I loved how Winkelman boiled down motor-skill learning to a process of building movements into our working memory and then transferring it to our long-term memory. I’m looking forward to exploring how this can help our members’ and students’ experiences.”
Fly fishing has consumed his free time this summer. “Like skiing and riding, it is an activity that can lead you down some deep rabbit holes, including entomology, hydrology, equipment, technique, tactics, and style,” he said.
While he’s not a beginner anymore, he said finding his way fly fishing is a balance of learning about any one of those rabbit holes, without getting lost in the maze, details, and nuance.
“I love the how the snow on the mountains becomes the water in the rivers and ties my life together,” said Joshua. “Fishing has led me to explore different rivers and high alpine lakes around Colorado by foot. Like skiing, it is another way to deepen my sense of place and observe how frustrations can eventually become successes.”
