Today we had qualifiers for the China Winter Games competition. Overcast throughout the entire day and with a cold chill through our feet. For these competitions, the foreign coaches don’t end up doing too much & for this reason, I spent my morning at the bottom of the course, watching the event. Since I spent the morning down at the bottom, it was used to watch, walk around, hang out with the kids, and try my best to stay warm.

It’s interesting watching an event such as the World Cup this past week to a youth event now. I’ve learned a lot in the past year of being a coach, it’s fascinating to me when I watch a competition and see how so many kids don’t have any idea of a strategy during their runs. While I realize these kids are very young, they all have coaches and yet not much strategy. As an athlete, if a kid didn’t have a coach I always assumed they had some kind of idea on what would score well & would go after it. I’m realizing that was indeed not the case and can see a need for more and more coaches to help inform the kids on ways that will actually score properly