Sunday, January 29, 2012

Meet Dawn Meckem!



Dawn is also becoming part of the Babe Force Team to help head up some of the Jackson Ladies! She was one of the first woman to receive a Jackson Hole Air Force Patch. I am excited to have somebody helping us that is so passionate about womens skiing and knows a ton of the Jackson women!



I'm a lucky girl who grew up in a ski racing family in JH, we lived on the village road and pretty much camped at the king or the village. I was pretty much an edge-head until my 20s, when I began following my JHAF brothers around and I discovered all the little sweet pockets at the village...then I was forever converted to the Pow! I taught race clinics and steep camps in the late 80s and early 90s, on the skinny long boards, I wonder if any babes remember hop turns, ha! I've raised my boys here too and I'm proud to say they are both shredders, nordic and alpine! I'm thrilled to be invited to join the JH Babe Force and I'll be all over it getting my generation out there to RIP it!

Dawn

Friday, January 6, 2012

Karissas recollection of her first Big Mountain Competition!!



Karissa in the finish after her first run!!


The Revelstoke Freeskiing/Freeride World Tour was Karissas first ever big mountain competition! She is recovering from some very serious injuries sustained while mountain biking and falling into a river off an embankment. She competed in Mogul skiing and diving for a number of years, so she is no stranger to competing. For her to come back with very little skiing and compete in a large big mountain competition is a huge feat!! Congrats Karissa and thanks for adding to the blog!



Competing in a new sport for the first time is often a challenge. You are not only venturing into unknown territory for many of us women we are also battling our at times biggest nemesis…ourselves. Coming into today’s competition I had been battling myself on the following….

- Am I good enough?
- Am I ready to be doing this?
- Am I strong enough?
- Will I make a fool out of myself?
- Am I going to get reinjured?
- Is going through all this worth it?

With Crystal’s encouragement I continued on with my trip to Revelstoke and my plan to compete. I am so thankful for her encouragement and help preparing me for today and choosing a line to ski. Her coaching and my boyfriend’s simple advice “It’s just skiing, you know how to do that!” helped get me into the start gate.

Before my run I used a couple of techniques that help get me ready. First I know that I compete best when my energy is at about a 6 on my own scale of 1 to 10. So I danced with a few other female competitors at the top to keep my mind off competing and help bring my energy level up. Five girls before I raced I spent a minute bringing my energy level down to where I need it to perform at my best through breathing techniques and muscle relaxation (flexing your muscles for several seconds then relaxing them).

I visualized once before I dropped in by standing near a competitor that was dropping in and pretended it was my turn when he said dropping, I visualized my line and how I would ski it. Finally, to avoid overloading my mind with allthe things I needed to do to prove to myself I could do this, I controlled my focus to two things …ski strong and aggressive.

In a judged sport with several variable factors I try to remind myself that I can only control how I perform and how I handle all the other “stuff”. So I stayed in the moment as I went through my run and hit the features planned. My focus slipped for a second and I threw the brakes on, but it quickly brought me back into the moment and I skied through the rest of the venue without looking back at my mistake. I don’t think there is anything that matches the feeling of coming through the finish after you have skied hard and known you did your best. It is a feeling that always reminds my sometimes cruel inner self, hell ya…this is why you do this!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Hadley Hammer telling us about her 2nd competition!



Hadley and Karissa Jackson locals and awesome ladies at the bottom of their competition in Revelstoke!


The wind was howling...and my stomach seemed to be doing the same thing. Standing on top of the qualifiers at the Freeskiing World Tour in Revelstoke Canada, I was doing my best to focus purely on taking deep breaths. If I've learned one thing from my first year on the tour is that your nerves will take over if you're not careful. It's a totally different feeling than when ripping around with friends. My guess is that the best way to succeed at this game is to be able to control your mind so you can ski the way you know how. I turned my music up a little louder to try to get back in the zone. Build Me Up Buttercup came through my earbuds and instantly put a smile onto my face (my second guess during this experience is that I'm probably one of the few athletes to ever use the Foundations to get in the zone). After a very random discussion with the event starter about the housing market in Jackson, I did two air squats to wake my legs up and dropped in. I skied my line like I rehearsed in my mind hundreds of times the night and morning before. After hitting my first two airs I was able to open it up a bit and finally take a full breath. I came turning into the finish line and couldn't be more relieved to see Crystal, Jess, Matt, Casey and Tim aka the best road team possible. Looking back there were areas where I would have liked to been tighter, gone bigger, etc...but I think it will all come with experience (and 10,000 hours of practice). Now all that's left to do is wait another hour before the results are released and see if I get to play with the big girls tomorrow!

Hadley

Monday, January 2, 2012

Ladies skiing Jackson!

A group of us skiing on Sublette chair, Hannah , Brigid, Sierra and myself! Finally snowed in Jackson and we got to ski some soft snow. Hoping to get a designated Babe Force ski day soon!