Ski Racing - October 31, 2011

STRENGTH
Raw
Learning to manage a sticky situation
with teammates By Emily Cook

Scrambled or fried? Emily Cook feels the heat.

Winter is in the air here in Park City, and fall, with its propensity for transition, has teams around the globe working for that edge that will propel them to the top. Though we always hope for a straight line to success, we know that unexpected change is one of the most predictable factors in sport. Over the summer, our coaches used this knowledge to create a surprise workout that left us covered in egg temporarily, but better prepared for anything.

My teammates and I arrived at the Center of Excellence gym one Sunday ready for our normal strength session, but were instead ambushed by coaches bearing sly grins, a sealed envelope with instructions for a series of special challenges and a pile of partially assembled mountain bikes. A key component was a carton of eggs, and our strength coach, Tschana Breslin, distributed one to each of us as we gathered to read the contents of our envelope. The rules of the game were simple — or so we thought. First, the entire team had to finish each challenge together. And second, we had to keep our eggs in one piece. We put our pile of bikes together and took off toward a successful completion of challenge No. 1.

But before we had the chance to celebrate, we learned that each challenge would become increasingly more difficult. Every time we thought we had it figured out, we were presented with a new surprise. After our successful first phase, we learned that one teammate would no longer be allowed to use his legs. In another, a “thief” stole our shoes, bike seats and wheels. True to life and sport, each challenge provided us with something new — and required perseverance, mental toughness and the ability to work together as a team.