Hey World!
The 2012 Western Regional Championships has come to an end. They were held at Bel Acqua Lakes in Rio Linda (Sacramento), California. I skied on day one where there were 8 of us skiing in open men slalom. I was seeded 4th and I ran 2 1/2@39. I felt very comfortable and had a great start at 39; I just got a little too anxious at 3 and jumped on it. Doing a superman again; similar to the one at University Worlds. I ended up tied for 3rd and found myself in a run off (with Tyler Yager) for the 2nd year in a row. Tyler went out first and ran 38 off the dock and got 4 1/2@39. Going into the run off, I tried telling myself to calm down out of the turn but that didn’t seem to help. At 38, I ended up turning 2 harder than I have ever turned. The entire right side of my body was in the water and I thought it was over. But for those who know me, I NEVER GIVE UP!! I now use a saying I got from the Greenwood family…. “I play for keeps”. For my body, this isn’t always the best. So I decided to hang on for dear life and found myself with a lot of speed, separated, too far on the front of the ski, very narrow into 3 and my board shorts were extremely high. Not to mention my eyes were the size of watermelons. I stayed patient throughout the pass and was able to run it. After all of the work that went in to run 38 cold, I decided to kill 1 ball at 39 and fell in. After the first crash and the 2 ball that should have been a crash, my back was definitely not happy with my decisions. I have spent the last couple of days trying to recover and get ready for Malibu Open.
Here are the photos of the unbelievable 2 ball at 38 during the runoff. Photos were taken by LMP Photography. I am in the process of getting photos from the “superman” at 3 ball at 39 and video from the boat.
A lot of my junior students skied on day 2 and 3 so I went out to support them, give them words of encouragement and try to help calm their nerves. It was exciting to see my students ski so well on the big stage! Most skied to their ability/average and a handful of them had tournament pb’s! 2 of my students won…B2 (Ryan Canepa – 1@35) & B3 (Danny Goldman – 2@39) and a handful of others took home medals. It is a great feeling being a coach and seeing so many of your students succeed!! All of the junior development camps we had this summer definitely paid off.
Contact me (brian.c.detrick@gmail.com) if you are interested in having a junior development camp next summer (2013) in your area!!