The Team Dynamic: Why We Are Stronger Together

Nordic ski racing often feels like a very singular and selfish thing. You go out and race your race and it’s all on you. In a perfect world, those who are the most prepared for the race and put in the most effort are the ones who do the best. This includes everything from: that days warm up, to how well you rested leading up to the race, to how well you have trained for the last year, five years and so on. The problem is that we all have good days and bad days. Even an individual who has worked their tail off for years can have a bad race, and that sucks. It’s even harder when you see others enjoying the fruits of their labor and you feel like you’re struggling to even make it around the course. It all comes down to the fact that cross-country ski racing is hard and you won’t find anyone who will tell you differently.

Now this may seem all doom and gloom, but we have to remember that some of the most satisfying victories come out of hardship and struggle. If everything was easy about skiing, I would get bored and ultimately unhappy and eventually just quit. So the question becomes, how do we endure the hardships of ski racing to get through to our own victories? In my opinion, the answer to that question is: through a team. Let me tell you, we here at University of Wyoming are certainly lucky to have one badass freaking team. It is hard to put into words the ability this team has to get me through a really tough race or even just a bad day. I think this is best through an example that I experienced just this week.

On the day of the classic 10km here at WUG I hitched a ride on the struggle bus. After weeks of building successes and good racing, I felt like I flat lined. After the race was over, I was devastated but did my best to put on a good face and talked with the rest of the team. A few people had had good days and I could feel their good spirits life my own. Now this doesn’t mean I was suddenly was happier with my race or that I won’t use this day for motivation in the future, but as a whole I was in a better mood. Without my teammates positive day to outweigh my negative one I would have brooded for a much longer time. By dinner that night I was almost crying from laughing so hard. It seems corny to say some greater team force connects us all but I think we are.

I think a quote from Sierra puts it pretty well, “we are the teamliest team.” Even though we have ups and downs we always seem to make it through. Today our men’s team got pulled out of the relay and it was no doubt a very tough day. However, once we recollect ourselves I have confidence we will come out of this strong and ready to rip it up.

Sindre and a beautiful view of the mountains and stadium on our ski yesterday. It was one of my favorite skis this year.