I was thinking the other day. Talking about various junior skiers with other coaches. We have some kids with a lot of potential, who just aren't that fast yet, and we have some kids who I never thought would be able to go as fast as they can. It's a club skiing program, I guess it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things how fast you go on your skis, unless of course you're obsessed about it like I am. I've always wanted people to say, "oh, Alex Jospe? I know her. Yeah, that girl is just immensely talented". Not, "eh, shes just a hard worker". What is talent, anyway? Lucky genes? How come my brother was a varsity runner within two days of being on the cross country team while it took me a month to be able to run three miles without stopping? I guess I'll take work ethic over pure genetic talent; you learn to work hard and it applies to all of life, but still, you can't be fast without some of both.

Despite all this talk about hard workers versus talented people, I've come to realize that I like doing the hard work. Rollerskiing in a thunderstorm is a far preferable way to spend my time than watching tv. Whether or not I am ever super fast, I have made this sport into something that I want to do my whole life, although maybe not at this level. I like rollerskiing, hill bounding, skiing in circles at Weston. And if I can just somehow share that enjoyment of this work, these kids are going to keep skiing.

At the strength workout with CSU last night, Hannah's mom came up to me, and told me that Olivia, one of the girls at the practice on Wednesday, had told her - "That was so much fun! I can't wait to do it again!" Now THAT is the attitude I'm trying to cultivate!