I’ve worked with Resi Stiegler nearly 3 years now.
One of just 8 women on the US Alpine Ski “A” Team, I’ve worked with Resi in the Summer for her off-season dryland training, and intensely a couple years ago helping her recover from an ACL injury.
We’ve all heard of high level athletes so talented they don’t train hard. Resi isn’t one of those.
A 14-year US Ski Team vet, in 2015, fresh off her knee injury, Resi didn’t make the team. She did however, have enough competition points to ski on the World Cup Tour. This meant she could race, but wouldn’t have US Ski Team financial and other support. The summer before the season, Resi spent time in Jackson training with us, and fundraising so she could compete.
The 2015 season was her best comeback year ever, …. 7x top 15 finishes in her specialty, slalom, and 2x top 10 finishes.
The best “comeback” year is important. Resi has had several “comeback” years. She’s suffered multiple broken legs and knee injuries – 14 operations overall.
How about that for a definition of resilience?
It’s been so long that Resi hasn’t been “coming back” from injury, early this Spring she felt great physically, but mentally was searching for another type of motivation. In the past, she’s always been driven by proving she could come back from injury, but in 2016, for the first time she could remember, she had no injury to come back from.
So this year Resi just wants to win, as well as expand beyond her slalom specialty to competing at the world cup level in the giant slalom (GS).
Resi has a lightness about her and a fun-loving disposition which hide her sizzling competitive fire, incredible appetite for work hard, and terrific stubborn spirit.
She completed a professional mentorship in our office shortly after her last injury and fought with me on every suggestion and task. This professional stubbornness and Resi’s refusal to quit her injury-ridden ski career caused me to nickname her “SF” – short the “Stubborn Fucker.”
Next week Resi departs for Europe to prove to the US Ski Team coaches she’s ready for the GS. For the past month I’ve been hammering her and a handful of pro freeskiers with a focused cycle to get her ready.
It’s been my honor.
– Rob Shaul