What I Learned From Being a Ski Racer

Skiing was the first sport I was really serious about. I love the way my edges carve lines in the snow, the adrenaline rush I get when tucking down a slope, the sense of power right before starting down a trail.

My first team was at the mountain Gunstock in New Hampshire, and after my family moved to Maine we raced at Saddleback.

Unfortunately, my career was cut short when my mountain shut down, the team dispersed, and my family couldn’t find a new mountain. However, there is little doubt in my mind that if I could have found a way back onto the slopes in time, I would be teaching skiing instead of tennis.

Regardless of what sport I’m in now, the lessons I learned skiing I don’t think I’d have learned anywhere else.

You Can Catch Up

When I joined a ski team for the first time at Gunstock, I had taken four lessons. I was unskilled, insecure, and slow.

I had no friends to begin with, and later I only had one or two friends I stuck with. In my eyes, the racers who were respected, the ones who were “popular,” were the ones with the best skills. Therefore, in order to gain the respect I wanted, I had to catch up.

I wasn’t very talkative or rowdy, and I listened intently to what the coaches said. I often listened to what they said to other people, and carefully watched other racers and the coaches. Slowly, slowly, I improved.

By the last couple years at Sugarloaf, I was the skier the coach always pointed to when he wanted something demonstrated.

“I want you guys to work on rolling your ankles and getting up on your edges. Watch Sam.”

It was a good feeling.

You Have to Find Your Area of Expertise

Even though my technique was great and the coach was pointing to me as an example on the open slopes, I struggled on the courses. I was not the fastest. At races, my best times were close to the top of the middle. I was still a long way off from winning any awards.

The races I struggled with the most were slalom. Those are tiny turns, when the gates are closest together. I found it really hard to make all the quick movements I needed to make the turns well.

The races I did much better at were GS, or giant slalom, and super G. GS is when the gates are much farther apart, and super G even farther. I could do those quite well, especially super G, even though I only got to do that one weekend at a camp. I was recorded going 56 MPH at that camp.

You Have to Suffer For What You Love

It’s cold on the slopes. Ski boots hurt your feet. You crash, you can get hurt. Gates can hit you in the face, other skiers can either get in your way or run into you.

One year I had a particular pair of ski boots that were so painful I’m convinced the damage they did didn’t heal for at least a year afterward.

Another time a fully grown man ran into 13-year-old me from behind, knocking me down. It was one of the few times I cried on the slopes.

Once I ran headfirst into a tree. Thankfully I was wearing a helmet.

Two of my teammates have gone to the hospital on the same day.

One day it was especially cold. The coaches set up a course for us to run for practice. The lift was slow, my many layers did little against weather this bad, and my toes were freezing. We were supposed to radio in at the top of the course to let our coaches know we were about to head down so they could watch. After only about three runs, I radioed in to find out that not only were all of my teammates warming up in the lodge, but my coaches were, too.

None of this was enough to scare me away.

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Any sport will teach you important lessons. Skiing is especially challenging. We race in harsh weather, the competition is fierce, and we have to cram in all the training we can in the months there is snow.

The lessons I learned racing are ones I’ll carry with me forever. Determination, persistence, the ability to get back up when you fall. If I’d never raced I don’t think I’d be the person I am today.