Vicarious awesomeness

So today my amused vicarious enjoyment of life achieved a new level. Richness to me is having the opportunity to inspire growth and success in others, and today I was rich indeed.
Just got off the phone with kid who I coached at Sun Peaks a couple years ago. Seems he is buying my bike this Friday with a little help from his parents. Super nice kid, can totally picture where I was at as a young guy purchasing my first full on downhill bike. So much excitement in his voice, makes me super pumped. Gonna help him to set it up proper and then coach him on it in the summer as well, as he is all keen to get into racing. A little bit melancholie over letting the old girl go… ah well, vicariousness.
The other freakin sweet part of my day was coaching ski racing. This is my 8th year coaching ski racing at Sun Peaks and I absolutely love it. This morning we mixed the groups up to do this group race, and I had a couple little 6 and 7 year olds who stole my heart. So much energy and trust, just stoked on racing with the older kids… unbelievably cute. In the afternoon we went back to our usual groups (I have a group of seven ripping 9-11 yr old girls who I coach 2 days a week) and I took out a couple older girls who I used to coach as well. I have been pairing my girls up with the older kids a lot to give them a little inspiration and bring them up into the next level where a lot of them will be next season. We ended up freeskiing all afternoon and doing a ton of park, and my little girls were KILLING IT popping little spread eagles off the small sized large jumps… like 9 years old at waist height…big smiles… too cool. And then the older girls came out of nowhere and wanted to learn how to do showcase (the largest jump in the park). One of them used to be pretty daring but it was pretty unique to have a group of them wanting to all step it up in that way, especially in the park. So I had these 14 year old girls with me that my girls super look up to, all like seriously committed to learning how to push their limits… what a wicked example for my girls. I believe young girls have an equal ability to objectively approach risk, just needing the right environment to work in, and this was it. So we stepped up the size of the jumps one at a time, analyzing what to do and then committing, and the girls were absolutely perfect. Like a bit nervous and excited beforehand but when the time came to get it done acting totally committed. Two of the girls ended up hitting showcase twice, and they were so stoked at triumphing over their perceived limitations and discovering their own inner strength it was unreal. Like I remember the first time I went really big on a bike and suddenly everything was attainable, that was the look that was written all over their faces. Those looks pretty much sum up my love for life, and I was gleeful. The fact that I coached them when they were little, taught them to think objectively in sport, watched them grow up into serious athletes and now get work with them side by side as a friend and mentor as they use everything they have learned to push their limits and find themselves… very special. So afterwards we went back to the clubhouse to get our awards from the race and the club was buzzing. All the little boys attitudes had vanished, replaced with equal parts respect and determination, and all of the limiting excuses anyone held had fallen to the floor. The girls didn’t hold their accomplishments over any of the others, just wanting to get back to do the jumps again, encouraging others to push themselves and actively setting goals and timelines on how they wanted to do other things. Rediculous. Now for the hard part, I have to teach them the respect that needs to hold hands with the temporary invincibility they hold so they don’t hurt themselves like me.
All the best,
J