{"id":2455378,"date":"2020-03-04T22:40:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T05:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/olympians-offer-advice-on-overcoming-obstacles-parenting-young-athletes\/"},"modified":"2020-03-04T22:40:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-05T05:40:00","slug":"olympians-offer-advice-on-overcoming-obstacles-parenting-young-athletes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/olympians-offer-advice-on-overcoming-obstacles-parenting-young-athletes\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympians offer advice on overcoming obstacles, parenting young athletes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.5991189427313\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-322088-729\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/wireOLYMPICSSBT-atd-030520-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/wireOLYMPICSSBT-atd-030520-1-1024x631.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Rory Clow\/courtesy | Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club Nordic combined Director and Olympian Todd Wilson during a discussion about adversity featuring seven former Olympians at Olympian Hall at Howelsen Hill on Monday, March 2.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-0.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"10\">\n<p><strong>Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club Nordic combined Director and Olympian Todd Wilson during a discussion about adversity featuring seven former Olympians at Olympian Hall at Howelsen Hill on Monday, March 2.<\/strong><br \/>Rory Clow\/courtesy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/wireOLYMPICSSBT-atd-030520-1-1024x631.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club Nordic combined Director and Olympian Todd Wilson during a discussion about adversity featuring seven former Olympians at Olympian Hall at Howelsen Hill on Monday, March 2.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/wireOLYMPICSSBT-atd-030520-1-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/wireOLYMPICSSBT-atd-030520-1-1-1024x668.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Rory Clow\/courtesy | Snowboarder and X Games silver medalist Erin Nemec was one of seven former Olympians at a discussion about overcoming adversity at Olympian Hall at Howelsen Hill on Monday, March 2.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"9\">\n<p><strong>Snowboarder and X Games silver medalist Erin Nemec was one of seven former Olympians at a discussion about overcoming adversity at Olympian Hall at Howelsen Hill on Monday, March 2.<\/strong><br \/>Rory Clow\/courtesy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/wireOLYMPICSSBT-atd-030520-1-1-1024x668.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Snowboarder and X Games silver medalist Erin Nemec was one of seven former Olympians at a discussion about overcoming adversity at Olympian Hall at Howelsen Hill on Monday, March 2.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/olympians-offer-advice-on-overcoming-obstacles-parenting-young-athletes\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/olympians-offer-advice-on-overcoming-obstacles-parenting-young-athletes\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">STEAMBOAT SPRINGS \u2014 Sure, Steamboat Springs has produced more Olympians than any town in the U.S., but it\u2019s not often that citizens can sit down and pick these elite athletes\u2019 brains.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">On Monday, about 50 people gathered at Olympian Hall at Howelsen Hill as the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club hosted seven former Olympians for a discussion on overcoming injuries, self-doubt, staying focused and parenting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">On overcoming injury<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Olympian and moguls athlete Ann Battelle had her fair share of injuries in her career. On Sept. 10, 2001, she tore both her hamstrings in Chile. Considering she was vying for the 2002 Winter Olympics, just months away, it was devastating. Through that injury and all the others, she learned she had to give her body time to heal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cBe patient. There\u2019s nothing you can do. It\u2019s out of your control,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s so easy to get down, depressed and mad, but you have to focus on what you can control.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Battelle said it might feel like your teammates are getting farther and farther ahead as you sit and wait. It might seem like it\u2019s impossible to make up all that ground and catch up, but you will. You just have to be patient.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Battelle went on to compete in the 2002 Olympics, taking second in the qualifying round and seventh in the final in her final Olympic appearance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Olympic Alpine skier Chris Puckett said it wasn\u2019t the big injuries that bothered him as much as the little nagging ones that set him back a few weeks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI always believed I could get better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">On self-doubt and failure<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Todd Wilson, a Nordic combined Olympian and current director of the SSWSC Nordic combined and ski jumping programs, reflected on some of the best advice he received as an athlete.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cOne of the greatest things a coach ever taught me was how to get back up, how to face defeat, how to come back stronger \u2026 and to never take a failure too seriously,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Chad Fleischer, who was an Alpine skier in the 1994 and 1998 Olympics, thanked moderator Luke Brosterhous, the mental strength coach at SSWSC. Fleischer said the panel allowed former athletes to discuss things they don\u2019t typically talk about. He also added that it was nice to hear other people admit to feeling the same way he did, and that it\u2019s \u201cOK to have self doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">That part of the conversation really resonated with 13-year-old Alpine skier Lachlan Brady.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI think one of the most important things is always to get back up,\u201d Lachlan said. \u201cYou have to accept the mistakes that you make. The other thing is to count on your team, and it\u2019s OK to have self doubt. It\u2019s how you rise from that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Lachlan came with his father Adam, who suggested they attend the event.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI think it\u2019s the overcoming self-doubt,\u201d said Adam of his biggest takeaway. \u201cThat all the athletes have had to go through trying times and figure out how to pick themselves up by their boot straps. It was really helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">On what it takes to be elite<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Through their own experiences and competing against the best athletes in the world, the panel of Olympians agreed on a few traits that make elite athletes stand out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Johnny Spillane, a Nordic combined athlete with multiple Olympic silver medals, said it all comes down to work ethic, while Fleischer said the best athletes all have a deep-rooted passion for their respective sport.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI think they were a little bit more ahead of their time, maturity-wise,\u201d said moguls skier Bobby Aldighieri.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Erin Nemec, an Olympic snowboarder and X Games medalist, wanted to make sure people aren\u2019t under the illusion they have to start young. She didn\u2019t start snowboarding until 12, and she didn\u2019t start competing in snowboardcross, a sport that brought her to the 2006 Olympics, until years later.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIn Steamboat Springs, we\u2019re so competitive. We think if we didn\u2019t start at 3 or 4, we\u2019re not going to make it to the Olympics,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can catch up. You can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Having a routine came up often as well. Nemec said her routine was crying at the top of the run to release her anxiety before competing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Wilson said scrutiny and publicity make a simple task you\u2019ve done a thousand times seem more difficult, but if you have a routine to fall back on, you can just find your happy place and pretend you\u2019re back on your home course. Wilson said he always told himself he was back at Howelsen Hill in Colorado.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Battelle said she took routine a little too far, always wearing the same ski socks, tights and athletic bra.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI wore them for eight years straight,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s disgusting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">On coaching and parenting<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Every single one of the people on the panel have experience coaching, parenting or both. They offered advice on where to draw the line between the two.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Spillane said parents should leave the pushing and training to the coaches, since that\u2019s what parents are paying them to do. Instead, parents should just encourage and be supportive. If a young athlete is pushed too hard, they\u2019ll lose whatever passion they had for their sport.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Spillane said his dad was an excellent coach, but not in a technical way; rather, due to the advice he gave a young Johnny, like, \u201cIf you\u2019re not having fun, what is the point?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Everyone echoed that fun was an important aspect of any sport, and that it\u2019s up to the coach to create a challenging but enjoyable process and atmosphere for young athletes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cDo a gut check and make sure you don\u2019t want something more than they do,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cTeach them the achievement process, and let them decided where they\u2019ll apply it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Nemec said she tries to mimic her parents, who supported her endlessly. Through her long and ever-changing winter sports career, Nemec said she never felt pressured by her parents in any way.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI knew I would never let them down,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:sreardon@steamboatpilot.com\">sreardon@steamboatpilot.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/olympians-offer-advice-on-overcoming-obstacles-parenting-young-athletes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club Nordic combined Director and Olympian Todd Wilson during a discussion about adversity featuring seven former Olympians at Olympian Hall at Howelsen Hill on Monday, March 2.Rory Clow\/courtesy Snowboarder and X Games silver medalist Erin Nemec was one of seven former Olympians at a discussion about overcoming adversity at Olympian Hall [&hellip;]<\/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-2455378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 12:15:13","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&#039;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\/2455378","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=2455378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455378\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2455378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2455378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2455378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}