{"id":2452187,"date":"2019-12-12T21:28:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T04:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/unplugged-world-cup-skiers-find-creative-ways-to-decompress\/"},"modified":"2019-12-12T21:28:00","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T04:28:00","slug":"unplugged-world-cup-skiers-find-creative-ways-to-decompress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/unplugged-world-cup-skiers-find-creative-ways-to-decompress\/","title":{"rendered":"Unplugged: World Cup skiers find creative ways to decompress"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
When not racing, Italy’s Dominik Paris writes his own lyrics as the lead singer of a heavy power metal band. Outside passions are a way for racers to take their minds off always thinking about racing.<\/strong>
Robert F. Bukaty | Associated Press | AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

BEAVER CREEK \u2014 To unwind, Italian downhill racer Dominik Paris sometimes screams into a microphone.<\/p>\n

Not so much screams as hauntingly growls out lyrics he wrote himself.<\/p>\n

Being the lead singer of a heavy metal band called Rise of Voltage is just a way for Paris to give his mind a break from thinking about racing.<\/p>\n

Look around the World Cup tour and athletes rely on all sorts of tactics to unplug: American Travis Ganong opened a coffee business; teammate Tommy Ford is into art; Alice Merryweather gives tarot card readings when she\u2019s not strumming her ukulele; Canada\u2019s Laurence St-Germain immerses herself in college courses (she\u2019s working on her second degree) and three-time overall World Cup champion Mikaela Shiffrin does a little bit of everything (sings, plays instruments, learns new dances, even tries to juggle).<\/p>\n

All these endeavors provide a measure of stress relief as they wait days, sometimes even weeks, before going fast again in a race. That\u2019s a long time to dwell only on results.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key thing is they\u2019re able to diversify their self-identity, so they\u2019re not just ski racers,\u201d said Jim Taylor, a former ski racer who\u2019s now a sports psychologist. \u201cThe bigger piece of the pie that\u2019s devoted to the sport, the more dangerous that can be in terms of over-investment. If their athletic identity represents, say, 80% of their self-identity and they have a bad day? That\u2019s an existential threat to who they are.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if there are some other things in their life that they can fall back on, it will enable them to get over the result and move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Music strikes just the right note with Paris, who jots down song lyrics whenever inspiration hits. He and his band practice and perform whenever they can. They have an album out titled \u201cTime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fitting, since Paris\u2019 career is based on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cMusic is good for my concentration to keep calm,\u201d said Paris, who\u2019s among the favorites for the overall World Cup title this season following the retirement of Austrian great Marcel Hirscher. \u201cIt gives me a lot of inspiration and power to ski fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once a race is over \u2014 whether it\u2019s a podium finish or not \u2014 and it\u2019s analyzed, the goal is to not think about those hundredths of a second another instant.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re always thinking about ski racing it drains you mentally,\u201d Ganong said. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to have something else you can work on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ganong co-founded Pacific Crest Coffee in Truckee, California, with professional snowboarder Ralph Backstrom. When he\u2019s on the road, Ganong promotes their products (like their honey-processed coffee). And when he\u2019s home, he works behind the register to greet customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s super fun doing something completely different than what I do as a professional ski racer,\u201d Ganong said. \u201cIt\u2019s really cool seeing the company grow and morph into something pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merryweather travels with a deck of tarot cards and frequently gives readings. Always lighthearted and nothing too deep or serious.<\/p>\n

And no, she won\u2019t do a reading on herself before an event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that if I were to read the night before a race, whatever card I pulled would be in my head,\u201d Merryweather said.<\/p>\n

She also plays the ukulele, but not as much these days with teammate Laurenne Ross \u2014 a guitar player\/singer \u2014 sidelined with an injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m focused on racing and training 100% of the time, I tire out and lose my passion pretty quickly,\u201d Merryweather said. \u201cI think that putting energy into something else, like an instrument, tarot reading, or other hobby, can help maintain and reset the competition\/performance part of my brain, and actually make me more focused and productive on the hill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety has found another way to take to his mind off racing \u2014 chasing after his young son.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if that adds pressure or takes pressure away,\u201d cracked Ligety, who also runs a company called Shred that makes goggles, sunglasses and gloves. \u201cBut that\u2019s a good piece for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

For St-Germain, it\u2019s hitting the books. She has a computer science degree from Vermont and is now working toward a biomedical engineering degree through the University of Montreal. She\u2019s currently taking a chemistry class with her final set for next week while she\u2019s in Switzerland. Her ski coach will monitor her exam.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought when I was done (at Vermont), I\u2019d be free of school,\u201d she said in a phone interview. \u201cBut it just kind of seemed weird for me not to continue with school. Even if it\u2019s busy on the road and there\u2019s a lot to do, I just like how I can get my mind off skiing and zone out.\u201d<\/p>\n

A look at how some others decompress: American Bryce Bennett recently took up bow hunting (he\u2019s reading books on the subject); Ford draws, cooks and rock climbs; Ross takes photos; Steven Nyman runs Fantasy Ski Racer (think fantasy football for, well, ski racing); and Kjetil Jansrud of Norway has been known to pick up the guitar.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving other activities and interests and passions takes their mind off of the 24\/7 mindset of their sport,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cIt basically relieves them of a lot of pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When not racing, Italy’s Dominik Paris writes his own lyrics as the lead singer of a heavy power metal band. Outside passions are a way for racers to take their minds off always thinking about racing.Robert F. Bukaty | Associated Press | AP BEAVER CREEK \u2014 To unwind, Italian downhill racer Dominik Paris sometimes screams […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2452187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 02:35:07","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2452187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2452187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2452187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2452187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}