Articles for Student-Athlete Families

Articles byJulie Glusker originally published in Ski Racing Media. Click on each title to read the full article.

Developing the Whole Athlete

“Most individual athletes leading lives enriched and balanced with physical, intellectual, emotional, and social activities and interests (parts) will ultimately have greater opportunities to achieve optimal performance (whole).”

A Case for School and Several Strategies to Sustain Study within Sport

“Implement and utilize these strategies and identify personal time-saving tips and techniques to succeed academically as well as athletically.”

Finding Funds for your Dreams

“Although it takes time, effort, and consideration (like most things worth doing in life), there are several ways for athletes and families to find funds for a ski racing season. One of the best ways to start is to brainstorm a support list. Athletes should consider their network and write down any and all friends, family, and supporters from their community, hometown, home resort, and club. This list will be the most impactful way to seek funding.”

How Inspection Skills Help Beyond the Race Course

“As skiers develop valuable and transferable personal and life skills through the sport, including goal-setting, visualization, memorization, planning, focus, and executing a plan, they also develop healthy doses of confidence, determination, resilience, and grit. Although initially inspection might be regarded as a tedious and mundane task, the art of timely, targeted examination is an important and directly meaningful and transferable skill to life off snow.”

Where Ski Racing Character and Career Development Intersect

“There is a plethora of information from various experts and all kinds of sources on how participation in sport inspires and forges positive and valuable character traits in developing, competitive, and elite athletes. Athletes possess these character traits in spades, even if by individual degree or within a spectrum: competitiveness, motivation, drive, goal-setting, focus, determination, listening, coachability, communication, teamwork, tenacity, understanding, integration, organization, time-management, resilience, self-awareness, confidence, grit, creativity, courage, passion, and intensity. And even more. Much research (for example, from the International Positive Psychology Association or VIA Institute on Character) shows “that character strength can be used to address a variety of life challenges and achieve positive personal and professional outcomes.””

Looking Back to Race Ahead

“Self-reflection allows athletes to more deeply understand their results. By “looking in the mirror”, they can develop and hone improved skills, polish training practices and processes in a constructive way, and create a plan that leverages experience and encourages growth.”