Presence
In sports and in life, presence plays a significant role in how we react and respond to situations. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, presence is defined as, “someone or something that is seen or noticed in a particular place, area, etc.” People with presence can effect the outcome of an event just by showing up.
How does PRESENCE present itself in ski racing, which is a very individual type of sport?
Athletes like Lindsey Vonn, Ted Ligety, Mikaela Shiffrin, and Marcel Hirscher can change the competitive landscape by just being present. Their ability and history begin to get into the minds of their competitors before they even run the first race. Their competitors know that they need to be on the top of their game. This causes them to press and take chances that they may otherwise not take. This causes them to look over their shoulder more. This causes them to have doubt. This causes them to change their routine. For others, this advances the sport. It advances the sport because people work harder to not only catch, but to become the next people with presence.
However, even in a very individual sport like ski racing, team play and presence are also very real elements. When the Austrian Team shows up to an event, they have presence because any one of them or all of them could dominate. On December 6, 2014 the US Women’s Ski Team lead by Lindsey Vonn swept the podium at Lake Louise along with Julia Mancuso and Stacey Cook. The individual presence of Lindsey Vonn gave her teammates confidence to perform better and seize the moment. People with presence make those around them better.
At XLR8 Alpine Racing, we have presence. When we go to events, people know us because of the way that we act in the venue; because of the way that we treat everyone; because of the way that we compete. We compete as individuals but we represent as a Team. We change the race dynamics when other clubs know that XLR8 Alpine Racing is coming.
We work hard and play harder. We remain humble. We live loud. We have PRESENCE!