Photo By Alexandra Shea | Evans Army Community Hospital hosted Lucas Foster, U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team member,...... read more read more
Lucas Foster, U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team member, visited Evans Army Community Hospital on Nov. 19, 2018, in support of Fort Carson’s Mountain Post Living initiative.
“A big goal in my life is to share what I have learned in my athletic career with people,” said Foster. “Soldiers and U.S. athletes have so much in common-similar motivations, preparations and principles.”
The hospital’s Cochrane Hall was filled to capacity as Foster took the podium to share what it takes to be an athlete and the importance of resiliency. At just 19 years old, Foster has risen through the ranks of rookie athletes to earn a spot on the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team, who will be representing the U.S. this winter.
Foster spoke about how he lives his daily life balancing four planes-emotional, physical, mental and spiritual. He explained how each plane complements each other and how through healthy eating, team work, treating others with dignity and respect, and mentorship helps achieve balance across these planes. Foster claims this balance enables him to be a better performer in his sport and helps him find more joy in life.
He recalled a story of how he allowed his ego and sudden rise to fame within the competitive snowboarding community led him to fail during a few competitions.
“I was living my dream life, then I got very caught up in the whirlwind of glory,” said Foster. “I was turning my back on what was getting me to where I wanted to be.”
By turning his back on clean eating, working out and putting effort into his school studies, he said he started dropping the ball. This failure was costing him his dream life of being a professional snowboarder. Foster stated that by stepping back for a few months to regain balance across the four planes centered his focus. Doing this helped him to graduate high school and become physically stronger. This helped him obtain several sponsorships, which allowed him to travel and compete in various competitions across the nation.
Failures are something Foster says isn’t to be embarrassed of and a tool to be used to learn and grow from. He encouraged the audience to embrace failure and learn from mistakes made, then trust the process of working through failures to emerge stronger and smarter for the effort.
“Failures come up,” said Foster. “Utilize it, learn from it and then move on.”
During the meet and greet, Foster spoke to the audience about injuries and not allowing them to control his life. He spoke of an ankle injury that left him unable to compete for a few months. During this time, Foster created an opportunity to learn about his injury and the damages to the area. He then studied on ways to strengthen the area to prevent future injuries.
“I have a choice, stay on the couch and do nothing or learn from this,” said Foster.
As the session came to an end, Foster took questions from the audience and thanked them for allowing him the chance to share the things he has learned to live a fulfilling, resilient-based life.
As a chance to give back to Soldiers, Foster and his team of organizers filled a table with U.S. Ski and Snowboard stickers, one of Fosters favorite snowboards and a chance to talk one-on-one with Foster and pose for selfies while he autographed photos.
“It’s very humbling being up there in front those Soldiers,” said Foster. “Thank you, you’re making it possible for me to do what I do. All my love, respect and gratitude.”
Foster will be competing this winter in the Rocky Mountain Series with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team, he can be followed through his Instagram page at @lucasfoster_.
| Date Taken: | 11.19.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 11.26.2018 16:45 |
| Story ID: | 301255 |
| Location: | FORT CARSON, CO, US |
| Web Views: | 157 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Resilient-based living, Lucas Foster, by Alexandra Shea, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT