Hello Everyone,
I hope you are all having a great summer, getting as much sunshine as possible and enjoying time with family and friends.
I am excited to start my weekly blogs up again as I am about to launch into the 2022/23 season with my first on-snow summer training camp in Chile in less than two weeks!
But first I wanted to share what I have been up to and more about my plans for this coming season. (If you like pictures more than words, I will be sending out a post right after this that is a photo update!)
My last blog post was in May when I was in the midst of a very busy spring! I spent most of April and May living in Vail, CO and training at Loveland, Copper, and Vail where the snow was amazing. In fact, I think the last week of May was some of the best training I had all year. So even though I was mentally and physically pretty whooped, I dug deep and tried to take advantage of every last turn before dryland (gym) season.
During these two months I also traveled to the east coast twice; once for Team USA week in Washington DC, which was an awesome experience (see photos below), and once for the All-In Podcast Summit (an economic, tech, political, social & poker podcast my family is a huge fan of), which consisted of three days of incredible talks/discussion, meeting great people at some very fun themed parties, and getting inspired to work harder at creating meaningful products and being more intentional with how I’m spending my time. Both the All-In Summit and Team USA Week were great opportunities to take a step back from the competitive aspects of skiing and think about the bigger picture in terms of my potential to have an impact and the goals I still want to accomplish on and off the slopes.
I also took a week-long trip to the west coast to help coach the American Downhiller Camp for the second year in a row. Marco and Anna Sullivan do such a good job organizing and running this camp and it was so much fun to be a part of it again. I not only had a blast coaching the younger athletes and watching them absolutely rip, but I also learned so much from the rest of the epic coaching staff who were so generous with their skiing knowledge and advice.
The American Downhiller coaching staff’s knowledge was appreciated even more this year as my friend and teammate Stef Fleck and I have decided to team up and create our own independent team this season. Together, with the help of many mentors, we have created an Independent Program that we feel will best provide the support we need to achieve World Cup success. We plan to commit full time to the World Cup Speed Circuit again this season and are eager to take the knowledge and experience from our first WC Speed season last year to work our way up the ranks.
Our goals for this season are to qualify for World Championships in February in Courchevel, France, end the season ranked in the top 30 World Cup Start List, and use our platform to give back to the ski racing community as much as possible in addition to helping support and encourage young athletes in sport.
I’ve learned a lot though skiing, much of which I’ve talked about in this blog, and I think there is a lot of potential for me to share my experiences and lessons with the next generation to encourage them to work hard at their goals, to demonstrate that there is not one set path to success, and to inspire them to dream big! I also plan to work more with existing non-profit organizations and grass root programs to help increase youth, particularly female, participation in sport and help others find the empowerment and confidence I have through sport.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to help support the WNY Girls in Sport event that Mary Wilson (Ralph Wilson’s wife) hosts twice a year to empower girls and young women to be healthy, confident, and self-aware through their participation in sport and physical activity. The event was a huge success and it made me even more excited to work hard to create these opportunities for as many girls as possible.
The last two months have been equally as busy as April and May, but I have been primarily home in Buffalo, which was a very nice treat. I am currently working two exciting part-time internships that keep me very busy in between working out twice a day, planning and organizing our team with Stef, helping Mary run Camp Mangan, fundraising, and thinking about how I can best use my platform to give back while at the same time doing everything I can to crush it on the World Cup this season! But lucky for me, I really like being busy, and the last couple months have felt very productive and are making me very very excited for everything to come!
I am very eager to start my blog up again to continue to bring you all along for the ride! Thank you as always for all the support, encouragement, and words of wisdom :)
Photo update coming in the next post!
Hi Trish,
You have a very busy, overwhelming & fun schedule. So what is Camp Mangan?