Our Philosophy
Why competitiveness?
It is often too easily stated that children should play even when wearing skis. Many newspaper articles insisted on this theory by proposing essays on recreational activities to be carried out on the snow. Slopes for kids are full of coloured balloons and plastic bears, the little ones have had to put up with endless obliged circuits, more similar to city playgrounds than to snow fields; ski schools have sometimes become car parks and some of our instructors have been forced to take on the role of baby sitters.
Looking into the problem in depth, we will find out that the true game on snow is speed; the same feeling that makes young people prefer running to walking and seek challenge in every group activity.
The grounding of this statement is easily demonstrated by letting the child be the one who chooses: what do you prefer, playing with skis on your feet walking among cute toys or chasing your father or ski instructor with all speed, even if you do not control your little skis completely yet?
Running a good slalom in front of your coach (stopwatch at hand) or skiing freely outside the track? Diving into a slope, at 80 km/h following your best mate’s traces or skiing around on every slope of the ski station? Racing down a circuit competing with a friend measuring even the tenths of a second or going down a slope of fresh snow?
The answer is often in favour of the most competitive of the two possibilities: the same attitude can be observed in class, when children get the possibility to choose the activities for a certain time span themselves. They will immediately establish a competitive atmosphere, organizing a football or volleyball match, or a high jumping or wrestling competition.
The reasons that push a child to continuously compete with someone or something are so deep-rooted in the human nature that they are difficult to explain.
Competitive skiing is one of the activities that children love most; it contains all the most fascinating ingredients : speed, acrobatics, competition, individual and group assertion.
We could say that competitive skiing is a recreational activity that is educational at the same time: the variables offered by snow and circuits as well as the atmosphere in which it is practised are a great encouragement for the preparation and commitment of young people.
In particular, the constant psychological work requested by some situations, such as the concentration needed when studying the circuit and its peculiarities, as well as the ability to prevail over fear, creates in the young athlete the habit to face the problems of life coming up for example at work or during his/her studies. This ability is very useful for the fulfilment of the athlete’s personality.
In a student’s normal routine, it is difficult to encounter similar educational situations that require concentration and self-confidence like in the seconds before pushing through the starting gate in an important and challenging competition. How many times will life be similar to a starting gate, beyond which is the unknown?