People are often surprised when I share that my husband Jay who is over 65 is learning to ski. When you think about it though, it makes perfect sense. Your mid-sixties is a great time to learn a new sport, like skiing!
Sometimes going back to an old sport can be frustrating. When Jay was in high school he was a scratch golfer. Then he didn’t play for many years. When he did rekindle his desire to play golf it didn’t go so well for him.
In his “mind’s eye” he saw himself as his younger self who hit the ball far, straight down the fairway or curved on demand. He was an excellent chipper and read the greens fully expecting to make his putts.
Sometimes in real life, when you haven’t played a sport in a long time and you are 15 years older, you don’t live up to the mental picture from your youth. When Jay shot an 80, he became frustrated and disappointed.
He was completely supportive of me when all I did was hit the ball in the air 50 yards at a time.
“Great shot” he’d say (when it really wasn’t so great).
Once we were playing with my father who remarked, “That was a terrible shot [Nancy made]. Why did you say it was good?”
Jay said, “She got it up in the air.” (Implying that I’d been essentially rolling the ball on the ground 20 yards at a time in previous shots.)
I was excited since I was making progress even though the ball was not even close to my target. When Jay would hit a drive four times as far as me and then grumble under his breath, I couldn’t understand. The shot sure looked fantastic to me!
Skiing is different.
Since Jay had never strapped on a pair of skis until two years ago, he didn’t have a high performance mental picture in his head to live up to. He had an appropriate expectation — gain some skills, build on them and have a ton of fun. While the grandkids are young, learn to ski to be able to be on the slopes with them. Create memories that will last a lifetime.
To reinforce his skills and set him up for a successful ski season, he started the season with a Max 4 lesson. One thing Jay did learn from golf, was to take lessons early and often in order to improve quickly.
Here’s what he said about his Max 4 Ski Lesson at Deer Valley Resort.
“What I love about skiing is you can become relatively competent pretty quickly.”
“I can get good enough to enjoy myself and have fun – skiing is essentially sliding in the snow, right? Sliding down the hill is fun.”
“Skiing is an individual sport so no matter your level, you can have a great time.”
Jay’s instructor reinforced what he’d learned last year and focused on the fundamentals. She also gave him some skills to practice to improve his control. He is excited, having fun and making progress. Who could ask for more?
Jay’s instructor also reinforced the idea that Jay is exactly where he needs to be in his skiing skills development and he should enjoy every step of his skiing journey.
Which is a lot more than he can say for his golf game. For more information on Deer Valley’s Max 4 Ski Lessons – click here.
