“Pushing Myself”

Dev just started a ski team here in Seattle called “SkiHawks”.   We have skied for awhile.  First just Sean and I, then on vacations.  Now here in Seattle we can ski almost every weekend!  It has been a lot of fun for most of the family….  Dev has always been our “reluctant” skier.  She would go, and be in a class in the morning then ski with me in the afternoon, but she has never been a “big fan”

We knew about the “SkiHawks” through a friend that works with Sean.  We were hesitant because the team races…  Dev has amazing control on skis, but she has never cared for speed, be in skis, on a bike, on a boat, in general.  So we did not think it would be a great fit, but the work mate encouraged us.  We gave in with the thought if she did not like it we would let her out of it…

As with so many things, Dev surprised us.  She LOVED her coach (an amazing person and skier). After her first lesson she was looking forward to the next weekend with a fever!  She would mention skiing at dinner, on the way home from school, just counting down the days.  The next week (just last weekend) the race course was set up.  She has never been near gates let alone want to go down them.  But…  when we met up at lunch, she said “I did the race course twice!”

We asked her coach how it went and she said there was an invitational coming up and if Dev wanted to be in it they could try the course again, but she might have to push herself a little to go faster…  We told Dev it was up to her and her coach and we would support what ever she chose.  They headed out for the afternoon part of the lesson.

We met her coach at the end of the day.  She was impressed with the change in Dev, but did not get the chance to say more before Dev interjected, “I went FAST!!”,  “I’m going to race next week”.  We were excited for her and glad she was having such a great time with her coach, but did not give it too much more thought.

Then, Dev and I were in the car heading to gymnastics practice.  She had clearly been thinking about things.  She said “you know mom, I had a great time skiing with Galynn.  I think I’m going to push my self in gymnastics today, just like when I was skiing…”  She thought again for a while then added “and in Cheer practice“.  I thought this was great and remarked that when you push your self it may be difficult, but it is a way to get better at what your working on.  Again she thought for a second or to then added “I’m going to push myself in long division too”

I love this kid.  She is determined, persistent, and usually happy about it.

Here is the video of her first Race with the SkiHawks program.  She did 3 runs and improved her time on each one!  Sean was snowboarding while filming too!

 

Thanks for watch, I’ll let you know about the improvements in long division too