There are few things Molly Garcia of Plymouth savors more than a day out on skis with her 11-year old son James.
They grabbed first tracks on opening day at Bretton Woods this season – a family favorite – and they intend on getting many more days in.
That said, Garcia shares, her decision to carve out time for skiing sometimes gets pushback from others. In the current parenting world of busy, busy and dedicated to teams, she said, many of her fellow parents question her choices.
But she’s solid with those decisions, she said, and the proof comes via her son, who loves skiing with her and in general.
It’s not that she’s not a team sport person. She ran track and played field hockey – even playing for Colgate in college. But even with that, the world allowed time for other things, like skiing for her. She’s thankful for that history. Her son plays basketball (as well as golf) on teams with schedules that allow space for other things. While many of his friends are on regional travel teams, her son is not, by choice.
“I find it so funny,” she said. “Parents are so concerned with getting their kids into team sports and yet, my best memories of my childhood are of ski trips, not of running a winning sprint on the track team – though I did both.”
That’s why, she said, she put her son on skis at three, built up his knowledge and ability of the sport and then – and this is where she’s not like most of her friends – created a schedule of sports and life that allowed for the powder day here and there.
“I feel like the new ‘normal’ is hyper-scheduling and I just don’t buy into it,” she said. “I get a lot of pushback on this but I feel good about the choices. You know, the old days of school spirit around teams isn’t what you see a lot of today. Today it’s all these traveling teams and this pushing to make newer and more intense teams; not a lot about school spirit. I’m just not buying into it.”
Buying into it, she said, is also something she thinks other parents may be not understanding. Often, she said, other parents wonder how she can afford to take him skiing (they make smart choices like purchasing season passes).
“They all say ‘it’s too expensive’ as I watch them pay thousands of dollars to enroll them in these teams and I think I’m actually saving money,” she said.
Garcia feels finding balance with local sports and skiing for her son will bring him balance, and avoid the burnout – both mentally and physically– that can come with intense focus on one sport for a growing child.
It’s also brought her, she said, a sports element that’s rare: True bonding in every moment of a day out taking part in the sport.
“When you’re out there skiing, it’s you, your family and nature for the most part,” she said. “We talk about and then take on trails; we laugh on the chairlift and we just love it.
“We sit and highlight the trail map and make a plan and then out there, we use it or change it as we ski all day,” she said. “We do it together, and we just love it. That’s priceless if you ask me.”