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Psychology and skiing

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itsssyourboy
Posts: 255 - Karma: 10
Im working on a semester long psychology project that relates to sports and completion, and in particular why people push themselves as hard as they do. i was hoping to get some responses with your answers to any or all parts of the following questions:

1. why do you want to become better and progress? what rewards are there in pregression, not including monetary gains like winning comps and sponsorship?

2. why do the positive aspects of skiing outweigh the dangerous and deadly aspects? i know C.R.'s death is still raw but it illustrates an important point in my research. think of his quote from EDIAS... what makes skiing worth dying for?

3. if you have suffered a serious injury what has driven you to get back on snow? Almost every where else in life we learn to avoid things that cause pain and danger, but with skiing and sports in general it seems that injuries dont deter us from trying again. if you burned yourself in a campfire, you would probably become more cautious around fires in the future... why does this seemingly common sense not apply to skiing?

please try to give me honest answers about your personal views only... why you think someone else might do some of these things doesnt help me because it is really only a guess. also dont fell like you need to limit yourself to skiing, anything sports related is cool.

thanks
Mar 1 2010 3:02PM
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I_Am_Mod
Posts: 13214 - Karma: 3,753
threads for when i have time to formulate something decent....
Mar 1 2010 3:14PM
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Fischer-Addicted
Posts: 1064 - Karma: 30
Watch Refresh, that voice in the sky of Warren Miller that WME was so pissed about Level 1 for answers all your questions.
Mar 1 2010 3:25PM
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.Roockley.
Posts: 3866 - Karma: 4,089
for the sense of accomplishment when you stomp something that you have been wanting to learn

like it says in EDIAS you wanna be the best and when you learn one thing you wanna learn something else
Mar 1 2010 3:32PM
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greenman
Posts: 945 - Karma: 27
will do when i have more time, cool idea though
Mar 1 2010 4:22PM
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popNfresh44
Posts: 3757 - Karma: 44
because skiing is the most fun thing in the world, hands down. what would stop me from putting my heart and soul into the best part of my life? pretty much nothing.
Mar 1 2010 4:30PM
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skiminnesota
Posts: 9093 - Karma: 429
"a lot of people their first taste of freedom is when they traverse across a hill and make a turn.... there is something about putting those slippery sticks on your feet that gives you freedom.... everyone that makes it down the hill with a smile on their face, we're the same"

the reason i risk getting hurt skiing is because simply enough, skiing is pure freedom and fun for me. while i have slowed down after experiencing a back injury, (or maybe shifted focuses is a better way to put it) i can safely say ill be skiing until i die.

the law of diminishing returns is the exact opposite in skiing for me. the more i get of it, the more i want.
Mar 1 2010 4:34PM
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SlurbnBeef
Posts: 1462 - Karma: 321
Well prob because you know you've acomplished something amazing, especially when you look at your run time and you acomplish a speed you never have before. Winning is nice also but not the only reason I like it.
Mar 1 2010 4:39PM
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amo2le86
Posts: 131 - Karma: 10
I cant speak much for the tricks side of it given that Im starting to learn it all but as for speed there is nothign more exhilarating than flying down the mountain at 50+ mph to make you feel alive being on the edge of control. Just gets the adrenaline pumping
Mar 1 2010 5:06PM
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CTD
Posts: 6301 - Karma: 349
ive actually really been wanting to write an article or post about something like this, thats sweet about your project, definitely post results when your done. my threadin it for when im off work. Ive been skiing for 13 years (primarily out of ohio of all places), and have been through a number of injuries, and have been thinking about this for some time. needless to say, i too am really interested to find out how skiing has come to be the biggest influence in my life, cause i never expected it to be.
Mar 1 2010 5:16PM
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itsssyourboy
Posts: 255 - Karma: 10
to the top. thanks to every one who has already replied
Mar 3 2010 7:45PM
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itsssyourboy
Posts: 255 - Karma: 10
im gonna bump this again probably the last time... Please help me out!
Mar 8 2010 10:33PM
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Trashpuppet
Posts: 529 - Karma: 123
I think a big reason I was pulled into skiing is that of how much thought goes into my runs, I think constantly about doing something that would just look super killer. Unlike in basketball when you can shoot the ball hundreds of time in maybe just one hour I only get a few good runs in a day on my average day of skiing. Cause of that I ski like 7 hours on most days.. I dont know of any1 who goes to bball practice for that long. There is just so much down time (chairlift rides, hiking,) in skiing that you hype yourself so much for the perfect run, its the mixture of being progressive, that since of accomplishment, the "freedom" feeling that you get, the adrenaline rush that you get after sticking something super scary when you reach that moment its priceless. I think of skiing as a stress reliever, relieves you from stress in the real world also.

thats the best I could come up with cause I dont really know myself ha. I'm 18, graduated from highschool a semester early in West Virginia and within 3 days got my drivers, a van, packed and left for CO. 3 months of living in van I started Feb the 1st, I go at 10:30am tomorrow to get MRI's done on my thumb for a bad case of skiers thumb, and received a small concussion 2 weeks ago, and sent a knee to myself in the eye really hard tearing tissue in my eye now where I see Floaters ( shadows of the torn tissue) on a white background ( I them constantly when skiing). But I'm still camping in the parking lot every night, I dont get it my self trying to get in as many days as I can before I gotta go back to walk for graduation. Then off to hood for the summer in the van!
Mar 8 2010 11:45PM
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jca
Posts: 4172 - Karma: 6,310
I ski because I have lots of fun doing so.  I enjoy adventures, being outside, and meeting new people.
Mar 8 2010 11:50PM
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ohpatti
Posts: 745 - Karma: 25
1. why do you want to become better and progress? what rewards are there in progression, not including monetary gains like winning comps and sponsorship?

For me, with progression comes confidence, and with confidence comes more progression. By progressing I feel the confidence boost, which overall makes me a more confident person on and off of the slopes. I love the sport and I want to be good and do what i love to the best of my ability at all times. I want to become better for myself, to built my confidence to try new things. I just love it.

2. why do the positive aspects of skiing outweigh the dangerous and deadly aspects? i know C.R.'s death is still raw but it illustrates an important point in my research. think of his quote from EDIAS... what makes skiing worth dying for?

The positive aspects outweigh the negatives in skiing because of how dedicated and how much skiers love what they do. C.R (RIP) probably woke up every morning stoked to go shred the mountain, he didn't think think about getting hurt, this probably applies to all skiers. Also, when I'm skiing I don't think about getting hurt or messing up, I think about stomping anything new that I try.  We all know our limits and we all know our abilities, and in skiing you have to take everything step by step, by being smart about what your doing the dangerous aspects don't even cross your mind. Everything about skiing makes it worth dying for.

3. if you have suffered a serious injury what has driven you to get back on snow? Almost every where else in life we learn to avoid things that cause pain and danger, but with skiing and sports in general it seems that injuries dont deter us from trying again. if you burned yourself in a campfire, you would probably become more cautious around fires in the future... why does this seemingly common sense not apply to skiing?

I dislocated my shoulder two weeks ago, not a serious injury at all. But I wont be able to finish off the season. Every day since the dislocation I've missed sking and I can't want to recover and go skiing again. I feel that when I do ski again after the injury I will be a bit more cautious, but when you suffer a serious injury you know what you did wrong and you learn from your mistakes. With skiing i feel that the dedication and thirst for progression makes one never want to stop and to keep trying and getting better no matter what the consequences are.




i'm 16, it's 2:56 a.m, can't sleep, i don't know if anything I wrote make sense, hopefully it does because it took me like 10 minutes.
Mar 9 2010 3:56AM
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