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Ski Moms - A Mother's Thoughts on Skiing.
By:  Darlene Zylberberg   (2003/10/05)

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Canadian skiers are largely funded by the Bank of Mom and Dad. If you aren’t a ski racer or parent of one, you may wonder why it is that parents allow their children to spend hundreds of hours gliding on skis at their expense. Seems silly, almost as crazy as those racing suits they wear. Well XC Ottawa athletes asked their mothers to share their thoughts on having a ski racer in the family. Maybe the advice of these experienced Ski Moms will encourage parents to enroll their kids in a Jackrabbit or Junior racing program.

The skis moved out last week - accompanied by a smiling young athlete happily anticipating another season. Pieces of worn roller ski wheels, worn pole tips and roller board remain. Fall must be here and fond thoughts of ski seasons past come to mind.......

  • Smiling boys on the front step beside a withering jack-o-lantern wistfully assuring me that they could "smell the snow coming".
  • The team van full of eager young racers "chasing early snow" in Timmins. This was of course preceded by laundry and followed by laundry!! Love that washing machine!!!
  • Winter friends: other parents lined up in the snow banks to watch another race - a mobile parent support group as we move through the ups and downs of another busy ski season.
  • Getting up VERY EARLY on Saturday and Sunday mornings to volunteer on race day and arriving in the quiet pre-dawn to a glistening race site that quietly awaits the hustle and bustle of arriving racers and coaches .
  • Bleary-eyed coaches who waxed skis through the night so race skis can handle the ice/ snow/ slush .......whatever comes along.
  • Going to the restaruant supply store to investigate commercial size pots because nothing else is big enough to cook dinner for these "eating machines"!!!
  • Watching a long line of skiers in bright blue ski suits skate up a hill on the Gatineau Fire Tower Trail as graceful as any chorus of dancers only to have them stop at the top of the hill all smiles - and they know us!! WOW!! (made my day).
  • Watching racers with seeming ease scamper up hills with the likes of names such as: "the Grunt", "Heartbreak", "the Wall"........

Now I must go to the basement and check on my equipment. I know where my skis are but I must make sure that my skidoo boots, warmest parka, and mitts are ready so I can join the other mothers (and fathers) cheering along the trails this winter, and, in between, maybe if I am lucky I will get to ski a few of the slower trails.

Gotta love winter.........

 
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