My earliest memories are either on the ski hill or in the water.  Growing up, my father was a ski patrol at a ski hill (we have hills, not mountains in the Midwest), so every Friday or Saturday during the winter we’d go ski for about 8 hours.  And my father was also a water skiing aficionado, so we’d spend every summer water skiing.  Then when I was a 9th grader, I picked up cross country skiing.

I <3 skiing.

My earliest memories also involve ski accidents: my sister skiing over my face at age 4 (10 stitches and scar to remember it on my chin), slamming into the dock at age 7 while slaloming and forgetting to let go of the rope (bruise the size of China), and knee, elbow and shin scars from falling while training for cross country skiing.

Since they strapped me into my first pair of skis when I was about three, it’s a running joke in the family that I was “born with skis on my feet.”  But I believe it actually might be true.

As such, it is then no surprise, that I spent every morning except the first two days I was in Minnesota, on the lake.  I slalomed

wake boarded

and then, because my father is a world-class trick skiier, I decided to finally try my hand at the sport.    First things first, this is what a good trick skier (my father) looks like:

He competes, and loves trick skiing.  And he earns about 3000 points for his two runs (a hand pass and toe pass).  So when I told him I would try his sport, we was ecstatic.  So they decked me out with a trick ski (basically an oblong shaped ski without an fins – a banana peel)

source: www.waterskimag.com

And then they sent me on my merry way.  I was able to ‘tackle’ two tricks – side slide (turning the ski to be perpendicular to the boat) on both sides, which are each worth 40 points – 80 points!

And then turning around backwards on the ski – 120 points!

So, at the end of the day, I could have earned 200 points in a tournament, granted I didn’t fall…

Which brings me to the reason you’ve been reading this post.  This, my friends, is how you learn how to trick ski:

Let’s just say my sinuses got flushed out a few times…

What is your funniest sport/exercise snafu?  Me?  Well there are lots, but for now, see above