Julie Prochaska cannot stop smiling. She is tall, blond, attractive, athletic and very happy. At 30 years of age she is the picture of success. Despite a college education and several lucrative career options; she choose to live on Maui, work in a surf shop and KITE SURF. While you may have no interest in flying a kite, much less surfing behind one on Maui's North Shore, the same principles that have allowed Julie to have so much fun could work for you. Julie Prochaska is the best female kite surfer in Hawaii and one of the best in the world. She won this year's prestigious RED BULL "KING OF THE AIR" contest held at Ho'okipa and is currently in some exotic country for a kite surfing competition. In her words, "I have the best life possible, I absolutely love to kite surf; my drive to excel is a pure-passion for getting air, jumping as high and far as possible and riding waves."
The moral of Julie's story; train hard, learn to focus and have fun. Julie learned the value of hard work as an outstanding student/ athlete. In high school and at the University of Puget Sound, she was a hard working student and a dedicated athlete who loved speed. The speed of downhill skiing and then snowboarding. After college she followed her passion of windsurfing to Oregon and then to Maui, taking a few years off to compete on the professional windsurfing tour. Once on Maui she discovered her boyfriend, Chris and kite surfing and the rest as the saying goes, "is history." Hard work and her love for the wind and water allowed Julie to master kite surfing in less than a year. Today, she and Chris are an item; he is one of the best kite surfers in the world and together they are having more than their share of fun.
To focus as an athlete is to combine a thought and feeling to produce a specific physical state. Julie has learned how to monitor her thoughts and feelings to produce just the level of intensity. "I perform best when my thoughts and feelings are balanced. When I let my mind tell me when to push harder and when not to push as hard and I feel my performance. When I think too much, I have a tendency to become negative, critical of my performance, or too focused on other people's performances. When I rely too much on my feelings, I find myself trying too hard...not relaxing. I push myself too hard...or not hard enough. I also get stuck in ruts when I rely too much on my feelings...for instance, I keep performing moves that feel good and I know I can complete, rather than trying new moves." Julie is a very intelligent athlete; she has become her own coach.
Julie understands the importance of balance in every area of her life. Speaking of her performance, "When my thoughts are in balance with my feelings, I keep striving to improve...saying, "Okay...let's up the ante and I find myself constantly in a state of progression... a state of excitement and I'm having fun. It's my checks and balances program. A way of striving to have more fun and yet feeling good about my performance and myself." Speaking of her life, "I need to feel the wind blowing through my hair, I need the freedom to kite surf when the wind and waves are good, I need to express my passion. Moving to Maui, was a choice for less success in terms of income, job status and security. The result, however, is that I have experienced more success than I ever dreamed possible." Julie is a very intelligent person; she has created the life of her dreams.
