by Cate Siegle

Created on: February 26, 2007   Last Updated: March 15, 2007

I started to ski at a young age and have turned to the competition side of the sport. This year I really decided to step it up a notch and started to attend an academy for skiing.
My mom started working with athletes in the 90's. She is well known around Vermont and in the skiing world. She has been since 1972, the year she won the slalom in the Olympics.
I try to take advantage of every opportunity. For a long time, I felt like I didn't need to work with my mom, up until the beginning of this year. I was so frustrated and overwhelmed with my head. It had become my worst enemy. I knew exactly what I needed to do to perform, and I knew I could do it because I did it before in training but I couldn't put it all together when I saw that wand in the start.

I had this horrible anxiety that kept me from performing my best. It started in the start and continued all the way down the course. "You're thinking too much!" my coach would yell at me at the end of every run.
I knew it too. When I started thinking, thoughts would just flow into my head that I couldn't stop, thoughts that weren't supposed to be allowed into my head. I believed that the only way to stop them was not to think but then I would start thinking about not thinking. And the thoughts would once again start coming into my head.
For a long time, I wouldn't work with my mom. I refused to, I can be quoted more then once on saying, "Can you just find someone that does what you do but isn't you?" I knew that I really needed help on the mental side, but I didn't want it to be from someone that knew where my birthmark was, or someone that knew I drove into my barn with my parents Mercedes when I was two. I didn't want someone that knew me so well, maybe knew me better then I knew myself.
After a bad race day, I called my mom broken down by all the mistakes I had made that day. She barely had time to pick up the phone. I cried into it, "I need your help." She was thrilled that I had come to her, finally. She knew that I needed to for a long time but as normally she just stood by my decision.
I knew what my mom did. I had worked in groups and watched her before. I had gotten to the point that I memorized pieces of her speech. I can tell other athletes what they need to hear so they can perform great but I can't make myself listen to the advice that I give.
My mom has a way with everyone. They all want to meet her and once they meet her, there expectations continue to rise. People will wait in a line to say goodbye to

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