Author: rsederquist

My name is Ryan Sederquist. I am a man of many passions and dreams, and this website is the outlet for many of them. I am currently teaching 5th grade remotely in the Adams12 school district in Colorado. I have been an elementary music teacher in Alamosa, Colorado, as well as a 7-12 band director at Lake County High School in Leadville, Colorado. I am also in the final, final stages of acquiring my M.S. in Exercise Science from Adams State University. In 2018-2019, we spent a year in Presque Isle, Maine as I coached the UMPI Nordic ski team. I currently live in Leadville, Colorado with my wife Christie, a special education teacher, and our border collie-German shepherd mix, Ajee. Even though it is not my full-time job, ever since I was a child, I had the desire to do one of three things professionally - pro sports, writing about pro sports, or being a radio talk show host. This website is where I pretend to do the latter two, and when I'm out pretending to do the former, I listen to podcasts, think about topics, and pursue my wild dream of someday, at some event, in either running, biking, or skiing, wearing a team USA uniform. This website contains articles, podcasts, pictures, and journal entries that have to do with my passion and involvement in endurance sports. Our flagship project is the Seder Skier Podcast, which talks mostly about nordic skiing and attempts to interview influential individuals in the ski world. I also rant about the Big 4 sports, with a lean towards Minnesota teams (Vikings, Twins, Twolves, and MN Distance Running). I sometimes try to write Sports Illustrated like 'feature' articles about athletes as well. In addition to a focus on sports, you will find the occasional article or show that discusses the intersection of theology and society ...which is ...obviously everywhere. We place these in our Skieologians podcast. The heading at the top of my homepage reads, "Search for Truth. Play with purpose. Strive for success." It is the underlying theme for my coaching philosophy, which can be downloaded from this site. Basically, I'm always looking to search for the truth in my pursuit of knowledge, whether that is knowledge regarding the best methods for waxing skis, training a quarter miler, or defending my Christian apologetic. Searching implies a dedicated pursuit for knowledge, and that is what I'm about and what this site is about, even if it is simply for providing viewers with an accurate description of a product. Play with purpose has to do with living out our passions because they are fun. I ski because its fun. I play music and teach young kids because there is joy in it. This blog is about celebrating the joy and fun that inherently exists in the pursuit of excellence and in the activities themselves. Finally, strive for success is built on the principle that true success is the realization that we gave 100% effort to become the best that we could possible be. It requires 100% in preparation, competition, reflection, mental effort, etc. If something is worth doing, I believe it is worth doing with that level of effort. Someday, I hope to race the Visma Classics - the entire season, wear a Team USA singlet, and have a job that involves writing or talking about sports or theology all day. If you know of any body I can reach out to to help me accomplish these goals, please email me at sederquistrd@grizzlies.adams.edu

Athlete Burnout

Suggestions for coaches in managing the physical and mental variables of overtraining in a uniquely modern environment Managing mental and physical burnout and overtraining requires coaches to teach their athletes to be their best monitors, weighing the known physiological principles with their individual mental and physical stressors “When you are not practicing, remember someone, somewhere […]

left out of the conversation

…..but with good reason Words matter. Definitions matter. Science Daily published an article last February about research demonstrating that the use of jargon by scientists communicating with the general public kills people’s interest in the content. In the study, participants who were exposed to jargon when reading about topics like self-driving cars and surgical robots […]

I’m From

Inspired by NPR, Sederquist takes a crack at poetry…. I’m from viking ships and churches, heartbreaking losses and hotdish laden potlucks. I’m from backyard sports, treehouses, and itchy mosquito bites. I’m from windchills and worries, harsh weather and endurance, from simplicity and priorities. I’m from drab winter skies and duck hunters ushering them in. I’m […]

Social Media Cred

Sports, Social Media, and Identity The Column – By Ryan Sederquist Olympian at 16. Olympic gold medalist and world record holder at 21. The first ever two-time Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year. If all 700 of my words were dedicated to list Sydney McLaughlin’s accomplishments, I’d still be forced to cut out monumental […]

New Normal

In a grim classroom, a little boy fidgets at an empty table. He steals a glance at his friend – six feet away and plugged into a chromebook – instantly realizing the incommunicable state of affairs. His restless soul, taut with a quickly diminishing supply of boyish energy, depleted from habitual restraint, betrays his weary […]

“My Sweet Embraceable You”

Failure Forges – The Depths of Defeat need to be walked thru… Ryan Sederquist – The Column – September 4, 2021 Ray Bradbury’s futuristic, time traveling short story, The Sound of Thunder, provides the inspiration for today’s column. My English class was prepped for reading with this journal question: “If you could go back in […]

A Labor of Love

August 30, 2021 The misplaced sense of an experiential complexity unique to my life, which I routinely and sinfully posture, was exposed to the fullest extent last Wednesday at about 7:00 PM. As the agony of my wife’s labor – our first child – gradually escalated, even someone as self absorbed as me understood the […]

A school assignment that you will use later in life…

This the edited version of a longer form story of the same subject matter. We’ve submitted this work to various publications and wanted to share it with our readers first. Life’s training ground needs true competition The skills necessary for pursuing true success are often honed outside the classroom, but only when they are defined […]

Life’s training ground

In this first week of school, don’t neglect the arena where much of life’s purest lessons are honed Take out a pencil and paper. (Summer is officially over…..) Put your hand-held computers, which double as a communication device, away. (No cell phones? This really feels like school now.) At the top, write out the winner […]

SederSkier Seven

Thoughts for the week ending on August 14th, 2021 USSPC for the Czech Republic? In doing some research for future articles, I came across this brand. Cool name, cool concept – seems like a ‘little guy’ company that is trying to make quality poles. Everything is made in the Czech Republic. Reminded me of a […]