Cross
country skiing is demanding. It’s one of the hardest, if not the hardest, sport
in the world. To be the best you need to train full time. That means training
twice a day, every day. This means your whole day is consumed with training,
fueling, and recovering. That’s a huge commitment. Most people can’t grasp the
level of commitment needed to be competitive. Few, if any, other sports can
match the cardiovascular, strength and fitness needed for cross country ski
racing. Skiing full time for the past six years has taught me many valuable
life lessons. It’s taught me a lot about my body, nutrition and the mental
aspect of pushing myself to the absolute limit. It’s taken me around the world,
racing in many different countries, and I have made many great friendships. I’m
only 23 and have already achieved many lifelong goals, some of my highlights
are: winning a silver medal in the 15km classic race this past season, and
three silver medals in the Team Sprint Events (2009, 2012, 2013) at the
Canadian National Championships as a senior, representing Canada at the World
Junior (2009) and U23 (2012) Championships, achieving Canadian Junior and U23
Champion, several podium results at NorAm races as a senior, and winning a gold
medal at the Canada Winter Games. Like any sport, eventually there will come a
time when you have to leave full time competition. That time for me is now.
After
getting word that I did not make the National Team, and will no longer be
getting a development carding (funding), I’ve decided to “retire” from the life
of full time cross country ski racing. “Retiring”, “quitting”….. call it what
you want, I’m done. From the start I knew it was going to be a make or break
season, and I guess it “broke”... even though I had by far the best season of my
life. It is difficult for me to accept that after four years of Cross Country
Canada’s support and my consistent improvement, Cross Country Canada no longer
has faith in my potential. Without their funding, it is not realistic for me to
continue. It is hard mostly because I know I still have lots of potential to
improve. It’s not like I’m at the end of a long and prosperous skiing career
and have given it everything I have...not even close. At 23, I’m just entering
my prime years. I know that if I were to stick with it, I would keep improving,
I could make National Team, maybe compete at World Championships, maybe even
qualify for the Olympics. But that is over….
In some
ways I’m glad I’m done. There are things that I will not miss. I will not miss
the politics and drama of athlete selection from Cross Country Canada. I
sometimes wonder if the people running the show are in it for the wrong
reasons. The system seems broken and no one wants to fix it. Look at what our
new team, the “Yukon Elite Squad”, accomplished this season. If a group of five
guys with minimal coaching, support, and zero funding can compete with, and
even better, some of the training center results on their own, something is
wrong with the National program. Having spent many years in the training centre
program, I have some ideas on how it could run more efficiently, but as I don’t
want this post to sound bitter, I am going to post my “improvement” suggestions
later…
Wherever
I go from here, it will be a big change from what I’ve done the past six years.
Skiing has been my whole life; it’s all I ever thought about. It’s all I know.
It is going to be difficult just to drop everything I’ve worked towards. I am
however, looking forward to getting on with the rest of my life. This is a new
chapter in my life and there are so many opportunities. When I take a step back
and look at the bigger picture, the skiing world seems so small. Over the years
I’ve learned that if you stick around in the skiing world long enough, you are
bound to have some doors open for you eventually. Yet I’ve come to realize that
I don’t want to spend my whole life ski racing. There are many people still
racing in their late twenties/early thirties and skiing is all they have known.
I can understand how this happens; you get in a groove and just keep going. To
be competitive you need to be willing to put the rest of your life on hold, to
sacrifice a timely education/career, or even getting a good start on the
purchase of a house. The older you get, the more time you’ve invested, and the
more you want to see it pay off. For most of us, that just won’t happen in the
way we hope it will. By the time you retire you’re so far behind your high
school classmates career wise and financially, the costs may be questionable??
To close,
I am happy with the choices I made; I don’t regret the time I invested skiing.
I would highly encourage people to try racing and see where it can take you.
Dream big and set standards and goals for yourself to make sure you keep on
track. For younger athletes out there just getting out of high school and not
sure if jumping right into full time skiing is the right choice for you, I
would recommend looking into the NCAA. Unfortunately, Canada does not support
sports scholarships in x-c skiing at university level, but many US universities
do. Many American universities have good
ski programs in the NCAA circuit. The level of competition is very competitive,
not quite as competitive as the Canadian NorAm circuit, but pretty close. I
know many people who have taken this route and have thoroughly enjoyed their
experiences. This could be a good way to get a taste of high level racing and
get a better idea if you would like to do it full time. If you know for sure
that you want to race full time, go for it! Just realize that you are putting
all your eggs in one basket and be prepared for ups and downs throughout your
career. If you do make it to the top, it could definitely be worth it!
I hope
my story and experiences may help younger skiers see the bigger picture so they
can make a more educated decision about what they want to do with their career
in sport. No matter what direction you choose, strive to make the best of
yourself, accomplishing that goal will grant you valuable confidence to tackle
life’s challenges ahead.
I would like
to thank my sponsors who have supported me along the way. Without my
private sponsors I could not have stayed in the sport and made it to this
level. Without your support I would not have enjoyed the world wide racing
experiences I did. Your logos are on my website and I am truly grateful for
your donations. Again, a sincere thank you! I will always promote your
businesses.
