Jenn Saugen: A Different Kind of Sports Mom

AMBASSADÖRK Jenn Saugen spends her winters supporting, learning and challenging herself - and her kiddos - during race season. And that after almost a decade of cheering from the sidelines, Jenn found her community, her fun and her joy.

With that, let's get to it.

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ambassadörks

Jenn: Different Kind of Sports Mom

Youth and junior cross country skiing, and competitive junior ski racing, is a whole experience that I fell headlong into when my oldest son joined the local (brand new) team in Plain, WA back in ~2014. I had been skiing old three-pins with my dad in the hills when I was a kid, but racing on classic and skate skis was something else entirely. I didn’t know the rules (there are many); I didn’t know the difference between fish-scales and waxables; I didn’t know about Junior Nationals or how to qualify, or how to calculate NRL points, or how best to encourage a kid on a race course. (spoiler alert - it’s not yelling technique pointers at them!) I know all those things now, some because I watched and observed, some because I asked questions, and some because I am both a Nordic dork AND a spreadsheet geek that likes to know the rules.

I find watching youth ski racing to be many things: Joyful, exciting, energetic, and fun! And also: Competitive, intimidating, complicated, and freaking cold! I spent the first few years feeling quite out of place at races. The other parents seemed to all know each other, coached kids out on the course, were decked out in USSA bibs, Solomon and Madshus and Fischer and SPANDEX. I was too embarrassed to even put my skis on in that crowd since I knew I was not a great skier. (My children continually offered me technique tips, ha!) I don’t know if the intimidation was actually due to the highly specialized sport, or due to not having much knowledge of it in general, or because of my own internalization of not being cool enough to be part of the in-crowd; a nice leftover from high school years.

However, after many years of observation, I started to realize that the kids get so good at skiing merely by just always having their skis on. They sometimes zoom past in pairs, each wearing one ski, holding hands like they are in a three-legged race. They ski up the steep bumpy pile of snow left behind after parking lot plowing just to zoom down and try to catch some air. They lay in the snow, eating snow, staring at the sky with skis still strapped on their feet, just so they can jump back up again and zoom wherever they are going. I wanted to be like that!

So a few years back on the kid’s race circuit I decided to leave MY skis on too. I’m not a

coach, so I am not supposed to be out on the courses with kids, so why do I leave my skis on?

I was banking on my own simple research that told me I will have more fun at races if I was on skinny skis, and while I am having fun, I am also learning balance, gaining core strength.

And setting an example for other parents that it’s okay to be a total dork who falls down in front of everyone by simply turning my head and throwing my weight in the back seat. It really is okay. As our old team coach said, we should challenge ourselves, learn from it, and then repeat with another challenge. Challenge, learn, repeat. Challenge, learn, repeat.

Now that I put in the practice of wearing my skis everywhere, I am simply a mom, sometimes on skis, with a cowbell in each pocket, zooming around on my own to get to all the good spots to cheer on my kids and everyone else’s kids too. After about a decade of ski race watching from the sides of the trail, I know many of the other parents quite well. Many of them also strap on their skis to tool around with me at events. I know their kids’ names and which technique they prefer. I know who wants to continue to ski in college and who is itching to leave the classic tracks in favor of terrain parks. I know my favorite double poler to watch, and my favorite “jump skater” up skate hills. I know my favorite gritty grimace on the sprint track and my favorite skier attitude on race days to try and try again, results be damned.

And then there are my own three boys who I just couldn’t be prouder of. This season my oldest will leave the set track behind in favor of other high school senior-year pursuits, my middle will try their hand at working to qualify for JN’s for the first time as a second-year U-16, and the youngest jumps up a level to start training with more competitive young friends, while also pursuing other interests like Rubiks Cube competitions. And I look forward to being a dork on the sidelines of all their pursuits, cowbell in hand! (Side note – cowbells are not encouraged in school gyms or Rubik’s cubing competitions, much to my dismay. However, football games seem to be acceptable so far) This sport is about so much more than exercise or racing, and is about the incredible community I hope you all find out there.

So what kind of ski mom am I? Hopefully one that is encouraging, not intimidating, loud,

awkward, and fun.

And if I get it wrong I’ll just try, try, again.

Authors Note: Come hang out with me on the Plain Valley Nordic Ski Trails www.skiplain.com OR give me a holler if you’ll be at Silverstar in BC for Thanksgiving week, or any PNW juniors race, or the SOHO Super Qualifier in January. I’d love to meet up and have a ski or a coffee together! My Instagram handle is @jennsog

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the closer What We're Thinking About.

That Jenn found something special in her Plain community and think she's a pretty kick-a*s Mom.