Drive
Al Merrill
Skiing (1957-1983)
Al Merrill was the one we skiers were with day in and day ont for five months of the year. We were a very tight group of friends, and he was intensely loyal to us. But he was not one of the guys. He was definitely our coach. Compared to the coaches we competed against Bobo Sheehan atMiddlebury, Bob Beatti in Colorado, Willy Sheffler in Denver Al was not a stern diciplinarian. Instead of imposing discipline from the outside, he taught us how to seek that discipline, that strength, that competitive urge within ourselves. He asked us, without ordering us, without beating us, to give it the very best we could. That was the fundamental lesson. We didn't win it for Al we won it because we wanted to win it, and because we were good.
Now, the truth is, we didn't always win. I never beat Billy Kidd or Bill Marolt from the time we were five years old on. They were better than me. And there was no way in hell that we were going to touch the Norwegian jumpers. They were just plain too good. It's hard to measure the factor of talent. But it may also be that Al's style of coaching wasn't as effective in terms of wins and losses as the hard-driving approaches of a Beatti or a Sheffler. You see, Al cared a great deal about winning, but he cared more about developing human beings. And I think that, under Al Merrill, I was as good as I would ever be.
The discipline and the drive I learned from Al have stayed with me from that time. As a photographer I have to compete intensely for work, and it was on the ski team that I learned how to bring out the best that I have. Photography is a performance activity. Light and circumstance dictate when I shoot, and I have to be at my best at those moments, on demand. In my field, I don t see a lot of people who take the same approach to that competition. That's when I realize how much Al had to do with shaping the way I go about doing things.
"He taught ushow to seek thatdiscipline withinourselves."
"She wasbusinesslike andeasygoing at thesame time."
