My bother is telling me it's mustache March and I should grow back the epic stash I was sporting in the hospital. I'm thinking its a good idea.

My trip to Europe was awesome. I was only there for five days, but it was great to be back. Usually I spend November - March in Europe, so it has been strange for me to be away for so long. It was cool to be at a world cup in Europe again, so much energy and excitement. Ted and Nolan made it especially exciting for the US team. Ted was on the podium again in the GS, keeping him comfortably in the lead of the overall GS standings. And Nolan skied insanely fast and landed his first world cup podium in the SL. Mike Day, the head tech coach, asked me to stick around for the rest of the season because he thought I was good luck.

I'm back in Utah now. Enjoying some lovely warm weather and getting excited for the summer. Chelsea is back in town too. She had to stop skiing for the season because of consistent back problems. It finally got to a point where she couldn't ski anymore. She's back in Park City to focus on rehab, so she can get back at it again next season. A good call I think. So its a bummer for Chels, but it's nice to be hanging out with her again. If you guys want to check up on her you can follow her by going to her new blog at chelseascookies.blogspot.com. It's really cool and I highly recommend a visit.

Draven has been back in town too. He is only here for a short visit and it has been great to hang out with him a little while he is here. Draven still manages my website. Actually he designed it and is still the one who has to post this blog after I email it to him. So if you guys can say hi to Draven bellow and tell him how much we appreciate him helping me with this awesome site, that would be sweet.

Other than that not much to report. Class has been going well. I have been enjoying being in school, it gives me something else to do, which is nice. I got a 90 on my last essay, which was about my injury and how it affected me as a person.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to check up on Chelsea at

http://chelseascookies.blogspot.com/

Cody

I know I promised to be more involved with the blog this winter, and that I have been less than frequent with my posts. Let me fill you in on what I have been up to since thanksgiving.

Where to start?

I have been coaching for Park City Ski Team since November. It is definitely different to be on the other side of things, but I have been enjoying working with my athletes and trying to help them with their skiing. It has been frustrating at times, but I know what I was like at that age, and if the last year has taught me anything, it is to be patient and to know that the work you put in will make a difference.

I have also been taking a class at Westminster college, in Salt Lake. USSA has a program set up for athletes that want to attend classes at Westminster, when it is convenient for them. There is also a grant that covers the cost, so it makes it easy for injured athletes to start their education. I thought it would be a great way for me to continue my recovery, and have enjoyed being back in school for the first time in eighteen years.

Since we are on spring break from school, I have decided to head over to Europe for a little vacation next week. I am flying over to Munich tomorrow and driving to Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, to meet up with the US team and watch the World Cup GS and SL on the 5, 6, of March. I'm going to be up on the hill a little, to inspect the courses and be around the environment that I have been missing the last two years. Kranjska Gora, was the last World Cup I raced before my injury, so it will be cool for me to be back there again. Ted Ligety has also won on that hill for the last three years, so it will be fun to watch him do it again.

When Im not in school, or working, I have been loving the winter out here in Utah. Best snow and skiing in the world. I have had a chance to train some gates with my athletes, which has been a blast. Hopefully, I can track down some video of my training and put it up here soon.

Thanks for reading, let me know if you have any questions,  I'll re-post when I get back from Europe next week.

Cody

 The first day back in gates in twenty-two months, eight days

I want to share some exciting news with everyone. Draven and I have completely re-done everything on www.thinkcody.com So please check out the new site. New Photo's, Video, and updates on whats going on today. We will be adding more photo's and video soon and will keep you in the loop on how things are going during the season!

P.S. Hover over Cody Marshall to make it snow.

If you don't have Adobe flash player installed you can install it in seconds for your browser here

http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/

Have Fun

Hi all,

After yesterdays announcement  of the US ski team I have received a number of emails congratulating me on being named to the 10/11 team. There are some misunderstandings  that I want to clear up.

I want to thank those of you that have contacted me and congratulated me on "making the team" I was named to the team this season, let me explain why and what that means. After an injury that happens before March 1 of the year that you are on the team you will be named to next years team whether you have qualified or not. It gives you a chance to come back to skiing the next winter when you're healthy enough to race. As you can imagine a lot of athletes injure themselves in ski racing.  With knees, backs, ankles, legs, you name it and someone has probably missed half a season or more due to an injury. It is difficult to come back after an injury, but it happens every year. This year Jimmy Cochran hasn't been able to ski since July because of an ankle fracture. He tried to ski last month in Austria but had to go home early because he was in too much pain. My injury is a little different. Like I wrote about in pervious posts I have worked very hard to get myself from where I was a year ago to where I am now. I knew in September 09 that it would be very difficult for me to make a return to sport. Not only was I a tiny little guy with less muscle mass then I had when I was 15 but I would have to get clearance from USSA before I could return. Staying motivated to work your way through rehab is always difficult and when you have no clear idea of if you will ever be able to return it makes it that much harder. I had my moments of weakness through my long winter of training and rehab but always pushed on knowing that I could only worry about what I could control at the time.

I was never worried about not being named to the team this season, it was whether I would be allowed to train or race again. Like I talked about a week ago I was not given clearance from USSA to return to sport. I am technically apart of this seasons "team" but will not be allowed to train (on or off snow) with USSA athletes. As much as I would love to get back to doing what I was before the injury, in this case I wont be able to.

Thank you all for the support. I will update later in the month about my first camp as a coach.

Cody

It's snowing in Utah now. As I get ready for the winter I thought it would be nice for me to update everyone on exactly what I am up to this winter and what has happened since I last updated five months ago.  Sorry for the long absence, I really have no excuse. My long absence was actually brought to my attention today by a facebook message I received. And I quote "Dude, It's been five MONTHS since you've updated. Are you doin' ok these days???" To answer your question Renate, and everyone else out there that cares, I'm doing great. I'll try to fill you in on the last five months and be as concise as possible.

Since May I have been living out in Utah with hopes of getting back to training with the US team. I have been in the gym everyday focussing on one aspect of the challenge- strength training. Thats the easy part. As some of you know I lost most of my strength last summer while I was in the hospital, weighing only 137lbs. when I finally moved back home in September 09. It was a long, painful, and sometimes hopeless journey back, but after 15 months of rehab and training I am in the best shape of my life. I'm weighing 168lbs now, just a little bit heavier than I was before.

The other aspect of the challenge was getting clearance from USSA to return to sport. I will try to explain this as well as I can. USSA (like most professional sport teams) has a committee of doctors in place to review and approve, or deny a return to sport after an injury like mine. When I first met with USSA in May I was told to improve my impact score, and have my doctor (who has cleared me to return to competition) get in touch with the committee about my return. Over the next four months I did as we agreed and waited for a decision to be made. I improved my impact score to an acceptable range, scoring nearly as high as I did before the injury and had my doctor contact the committee. Finally after four months I had a meeting with Sasha, the head coach of the mens team about my return to skiing. So, here is what you have all been waiting for, am I going to be able to ski this season, or not?? Sadly the meeting didn't go as well as I had hoped. At this point I will not be cleared to return to ski racing or training with the US team. I could try to explain why, but it mostly comes down to USSA not wanting to deal with the liability if I were to injure myself again. There is not very much information on what would happen if I were to sustain another serious head injury. One thing they know is that I would not recover from a second TBI as well as I did this time. Am I at a higher risk? Well, sort of... It's tough to understand, and for the most part at this point I'm unsure of what the outcome of a concussion or a more serious head injury would be. So as it stands I will not be making a return to racing this season.

However, I do have plans to stay involved in the sport. I was offered a number of coaching jobs for the winter and I have decided it will be a great way for me to use my knowledge of skiing to help others and give back to the sport that has been so great to me over the years. I will be working with the Park City Ski Team primarily, coaching J1's and PG's. I will also be working with the NDS group of athletes, traveling to two week camps over the winter. NDS stands for National Development System. It is a group of younger, talented skiers from around the country that are trying to make the national team. My first camp with NDS will be in November in Colorado. My younger brother will be at that camp so I'm looking forward to working with him and the other athletes.

So thats about it. If you guys have any questions please leave a comment and I promise to be more involved with the blog this winter. I will be training with the athletes I'm coaching in Park City a little so I should be able to get some video of my first day back in gates up here in a few months.

Cody

Last week I had a meeting with USSA about where I am in the process of being cleared to ski and compete with the ski team. I met with my head coach, the vice president of athletics, our sports psychologist, and our medical director Richard Quincy.

Three weeks ago I started the process of being cleared to ski, hoping that I could get back on snow for training camps in August. First thing I had to do was see Doctor Chuck Rich in Salt Lake. After talking to him for thirty minutes and running through a few tests he told me "I cant find anything wrong with you." The next thing USSA  needed was for me to take an impact test. Which is designed for people who have had a concussion. It tests processing speed, memory, and cognitive thought. I  took the test back in 08 and that is my 'baseline' score. Now I have to score very close to my baseline score before I am cleared. My thought was to wait another month before taking the impact test again so I could be at a point where I knew I would be in a 'acceptable range' of my baseline score. I explained this to Richard Quincy and he didn't have a problem with my decision.

In my meeting today I was told that I will not be cleared to compete for USSA . The reasons they stated are "current impact testing scores, and clinical evaluation by expert physicians."

The impact scores Richard sent to the expert physicians were from a test that I took in October of last year three months after my severe traumatic brain injury. When I took the impact test last October it was to see where I was at with my cognitive thought and processing speed. The reason I was taking it was to help me with my therapy at the time so later on I could get to a point where I could get to an 'acceptable range' of my baseline score. We were told it would be an 'off the record test' and I would be tested again at a later date.

The meeting lasted about an hour and at the end of it we came to an agreement to meet again under these conditions. I take the impact test again and we send the current information to the ski team physicians to review. I am also going to get some other opinions from Doctors who believe I can compete in skiing again without a high risk of injury.

Not the best news from USSA but I will continue to fight and keep you informed on my progress.

Cody

I Just arrived home last night from a week long trip in Whistler. Originally I was hoping to go to the Olympics as a competitor but this time around I was there as a supporter and spectator. The US team did a great job making the spectating part fun, so far they have won eight medals, making it the most successful Olympic team in US history. It was really great for me to be up there and watch not only the success of the US team but to see athletes put themselves on the line and give it everything they have to achieve their goals. It was inspiring to to see Bode come down and win the combined event. I haven't seen him ski Slalom like that in a long time and to watch people do things they have to for the win is inspiring. I know he wanted the Olympic  gold for a long time, even if he pretends he doesn't. Julia Mancuso was another athlete who skied well above where she has been in the last couple seasons during the Olympics. To be able to move yourself to a different place mentally and just go out there and preform that well is something only a few athletes can do. And I have never seen anything like what Julia has done this last week.

My sister was also racing in the Super G. Chelsea helped me so much in my recovery so it was time for me to show whatever support I could for her in her big day. Chelsea started off having a great run but her skis hooked up and she skied through a gate ending her run. It was too bad she went off course but she was safe with no injuries and she won best crash of the day by NBC! Ha, so not all bad news. If you guys want to check out the crash you can see the top 5 crashes here

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/assetid=11e00cd1-23bc-46d3-9426-04eb0f68dc3e.html#womens%20super%20g%20best%20crashes

After catching my 3am bus to Vancouver, flying to Seattle, Washington, Burlington, then driving home I am certainly glad to be back. It was awesome to see everyone up in Whistler. It helped remind me of where I want to go and what I am fighting to get back to.

Cody

When I talked to my good friend Mikkel about a month ago about helping me drive my car back to Vermont from Utah he was all for it. I waited a couple weeks and called him and asked him again. This time he wasn't quite as excited with the plan. He was on break from school in Vermont and had one week left before school started. Being the amazing friend that he is he agreed to help me out. We only had a week to drive back so it wasn't the leisure trip cross country that I usually take, but we did have time to see some people in Utah and Vail before the long drive begun.

Once we arrived in Salt Lake TJ Lanning picked us up at the airport. TJ is doing well, and on the path of recovery as well. He crashed in his first race this season breaking vertebrae in his neck and dislocating his knee. He is wearing a neck brace full time which will be coming off in a week or so. I had to wear one of those for a little while in the hospital as well. I hated that thing, I kept trying to rip it off! I think TJ was actually one of the guys around that would make sure I wouldn't pull off my neck brace. He is doing full rehab for his knee and things seem to be going well. He is in good spirits and I'm sure he will be back on snow next season doing what he loves. We spent the night in Salt Lake with the Lanning's before heading on to Vail...

The first day of driving was pretty short and easy. About seven hours to Vail from Salt Lake. Thats really what my pace is usually like when I'm driving across country anyway. My friend Kate lives and works in Vail and Mikkel's brother lives down in Denver so it was a great place for us to stop for a night. I had a nice visit with Kate. We were thinking about going skiing in the morning but slept in and made a pancake breakfast instead..... Ha, I had to write about it, it was awesome! She made the pancakes but I made some delicious  hashbrowns! After a late breakfast I picked up Mikkel in Denver and the real driving started....

I drove for about four hours through Colorado and in to Nebraska before Mikkel took over. At some point I fell a sleep so I could get some rest and drive a little later. Everything was going smoothly at this point, or so I thought. At about 2am  Mikkel pulled off an exit to go to the bathroom. We were in the middle of no where Nebraska off  some random exit. When Mikkel was about to get back into the car a police car comes up behind him with his lights on. The cop comes out and yells "GET AWAY FROM THE CAR, HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM"  Mikkel at this point is just thinking oh my god what is going on? I'm just starting to wake up in the passenger seat and see Mikkel getting questioned by the police. Apparently in the town we were in there were two businesses that had just been robbed and the police wanted to see if we were involved. After looking at me half a sleep in the passenger seat and running our ID's they turned out to be really cool and let us on our way.

Other then our one run in with the police we had a smooth trip back. I am glad I have my car back home now. Makes life a little easier. For now I plan to be home for a while..... I have been talking to Warner Nickerson about a possible trip over to Europe in February to travel with the guys and watch some racing and be around the scene. I'm not sure if that will happen or not.

Thats all for now,

Cody

P.S. You easterners will be happy to know that there is more snow in Vermont then there is in Utah!

It's time Blogger's to send out all the positive energy we can. As you may know Kevin Pearce a US Snowboarder and fellow Vermonter has been in a serious accident. He is currently at the same hospital as Cody and in critical condition. We want to extend ourselves to the family and let them know if there is anything they need we are here. Having been through this with Cody for 6 months I/we know what you are going through.

If there is anything you may need at all or if you have any questions we are here for you. Being the main caregiver for Cody I know all the Dr.'s and the routine so please feel free to use me and/or us as needed. I will tell you he is in very good hands! Please don't hesitate if there is anything you may need.

I cannot express how sorry I/we are to hear about this. I know there have been a lot of people there showing their support and we are with you as well and as available as you need us to be by phone.

The people that have been following this blog are incredible and we ask all of you to send all of your energy to the Pearce family now, please send your wishes, thoughts and energy out to the Pearce family in this time of need.

Candles lit, positive energy and all the love for the Pearce family!!

Hugs and Best Wishes,

Draven, Cody and The Marshall Family.