Jack Finn & Ian Avery-Leaf's 'SHADOWPLAY'

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December, 2020

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How do I overcome fear?

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DrewSkis17
Posts: 4 - Karma: 28
I ski park and love it! I struggle with overcoming my fear. I see something I wanna hit and will spend the rest of the day just chickening right by the feature. I was wondering if you had any tips? I don’t really get intimidated by other riders.
Jan 10 2021 1:38PM 13 0
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ezav
Posts: 175 - Karma: 542
Im a huge pussy when it comes to trying new stuff. Ive found that the more time i spend thinking about what im about to try before dropping in the worse the fear is. I tend to just overthink it and psych myself out. Not sure its even possible to fully overcome fear but you can def mitigate it quite a bit. Dont spend all day eyeing the feature and worrying about how scary it looks. Chances are eating shit on it isnt as bad as it might seem in your head. Scout it out a bit, get your boys to hype you up and then just send it.

Ive also found that once i eat shit a few times trying something new a lot of stress is taken out of the equation. Once you experience what has you all worked up the mental barrier starts to disappear (unless you actually injure yourself but thats a possibility with almost anything). Different people have different methods but this generally does the trick for me
Jan 10 2021 2:54PM 11 0
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swagmasterflex
Posts: 296 - Karma: 1,625
As cliche as it sounds, most of the time you gotta just go for it, no regrets. A lot of features seem so intimidating and in your head it's either "I stomp this or gonna hurt myself" when in reality there certainly is a middle ground. One thing I cannot stress enough though is commitment, it is EVERYTHING in park skiing. Not to scare you nor should it, but for example, I broke my collar bone last night 99% because I failed to fully commit, I bailed midway through a nose butter 3 and slammed into ice. If you don't your best to maintain control over your body while doing a trick, the momentum and laws of this world will take you where it feels like it. You gotta have full control of the physics of skiing to ensure your success snd safety. This will certainly take a little bit of trial and error but that's why you start small and work your way up as you become more skilled and in control of your actions at a slowly increasing risk. Know what is in your current limits, and go for it, the risk of injury is far less than you'd think, you got this man.
Jan 10 2021 3:12PM 7 0
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TheronGustafson
Posts: 142 - Karma: 151
Hey Drewski I remember being extremely terrified of crashing especially with flips and spins on to rails. What I found to be the 100% solution is to practice on something really small and work your way up and practice how to crash safely. I know it's boring and you want to progress quickly but the more practice you can get without getting hurt the better. If you try something out of your league and get hurt that could be weeks of no practice at all. I like to ski just hard enough so I can still ski tomorrow! I remember my first double attempt I was shitting my pants looking at a massive kicker and really what helped me drop in and commit to the trick was thinking back to every step I took to get there. Every tramp session, every jump trick, every squat in the gym. I had to reassure myself that my body knew what to do from all my practice. Practice = confidence = less fear.
Jan 10 2021 3:27PM 8 0
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WoFlowz
Posts: 455 - Karma: 2,404
We live on a floating rock....
Jan 10 2021 3:29PM 14 0
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b0ss
Posts: 418 - Karma: 2,046
Find someone to ski with who will give you the magic "go for it" motivation.
Jan 10 2021 3:51PM 5 0
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Jems
Posts: 874 - Karma: 2,418
Fear on jumps, rails or both? It’s a lot easier to send something terrifying on a jump compared to a rail
Jan 10 2021 3:54PM 6 0
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ericforman
Posts: 156 - Karma: 1,246
If you are truly terrified it’s likely best not to hit it imo. Fear = crash. I’m also a scardy cat in the park and kind of older so crashing isn’t as ideal as it used to be.

My method: practice smaller stuff until it feels incredibly natural every time, bump tunes, wear a back protector / helmet, drink 2 beers (old guy move), try new stuff on really soft days.
Jan 10 2021 4:51PM 8 0
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ReturnToMonkey
Posts: 1097 - Karma: 5,872
ericformanIf you are truly terrified it’s likely best not to hit it imo. Fear = crash. I’m also a scardy cat in the park and kind of older so crashing isn’t as ideal as it used to be.

My method: practice smaller stuff until it feels incredibly natural every time, bump tunes, wear a back protector / helmet, drink 2 beers (old guy move), try new stuff on really soft days.

Yeah, if you're dominated by fear, you can't be confident which is the most important thing. Just visualize the trick and imagine your body making the movement. Better yet, do a quick mock up, twist your body, get your lean and pop, grabs, etc. Then before you have any more time to think, just drop. You should know the speed. Then confidently mimic what you just imagined.
It probably won't be pretty. Maybe you land at least. Or it's a crash. But either way you should be way more confident next time. The most important things are you know the right speed and commit!
Jan 10 2021 6:44PM 2 0
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mitchey
Posts: 78 - Karma: 805
If you can, make friends with people who are better than you. Most of the things that I've been afraid to send, I sent after a better skier told me "it's not as hard as you think" or just some general motivation-y stuff. They can give you tips on how to hit the feature which is super helpful. Even if you don't become tight with them, most people are down to give advice if you ask for it. If you see someone hit a feature you want to hit but are lowkey afraid of, ask them if they have any tips and tell them what other kinda stuff you already can do.

ex. "do you have any advice on how to hit this dfd? I can hit a flat-down but keep getting screwed by the up kink" idk that kind of thing. Park skiers can be intimidating especially in a group, but more often than not they're super down to give you some tips
Jan 10 2021 6:57PM 3 0
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DrewSkis17
Posts: 4 - Karma: 28
Thanks for all the tips I’ll try them next time I go.
Jan 10 2021 9:53PM 1 0
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Schoess
Posts: 789 - Karma: 7,958
Long story short.... Overcoming fear is like a muscle, the more you exercise it the easier it gets. Don't overthink it, focus on having the most fun and that will motivate you. Best tip is to session the rail or jump with a homie or 2 who also wants to try a trick. That social interaction will drive you to do things you never thought you could!
Jan 10 2021 10:35PM 3 0
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katrina
Posts: 1960 - Karma: 10,797
Peer pressure works wonders on me.
Jan 11 2021 9:53AM 7 0
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NateDude
Posts: 89 - Karma: 399
Think about how awesome it would be later when you're back home on your couch thinking back to how sick it was sending that huge jump. Would you rather feel like that? or would you rather be sitting in shame thinking about how you couldn't bring yourself to send it when you had the chance.....

Oh also, it's always most scary when you're at the bottom of the run-in looking up at the jump because you're going max speed and staring up at it, but you're going to lose a lot of speed going up the jump and then you launch and everythings fine

**This post was edited on Jan 11th 2021 at 1:40:12pm
Jan 11 2021 1:39PM 3 0
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Clark91
Posts: 39 - Karma: 129
I feel this in my bones.
Just send it. Dont stop at the top, to check it out or nothin.
I feel way better following someone in on a feature I'm scared of.
Jan 11 2021 10:28PM 2 0
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Sebastianbowler
Posts: 25 - Karma: 236
It May seem corny but how I get myself to commit I think about the loading of a roller coaster. for example, when the overhead strap gets locked on you can't take it off till the end of the ride so before I drop in for I trick I put the imaginary harness on and go from there.
Jan 11 2021 11:50PM 3 0
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Clark91
Posts: 39 - Karma: 129
JemsFear on jumps, rails or both? It’s a lot easier to send something terrifying on a jump compared to a rail


Preferably someone with a cute face and slut strands lol
Jan 12 2021 12:44AM 1 1
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Jems
Posts: 874 - Karma: 2,418
Clark91Preferably someone with a cute face and slut strands lol

????
Jan 12 2021 9:14AM 4 0
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Skiing247
Posts: 109 - Karma: 1,078
don't be a pussy
Jan 13 2021 11:11PM 1 1
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CrunnchyVanMan
Posts: 566 - Karma: 3,437
I was in your place before this season where im really kinda just sending it and having confidence in shit ive never done before. heres what helped me...

look at the feature, visualize yourself hitting it, like legit close your eyes and get a good picture in your head of how it would go if you stomped it.

then when you go to do it, bring that picture up (dont close your eyes this time), and fully commit to it,, be confident in yourself, like u know u made it this far and are hella capable to do what you wanna do. you might fuck up the first time but once you do it the first time, just lap and repeat until what you do looks like the picture in your head of you stomping it
Jan 14 2021 12:13PM 2 0
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