Skiing Before You Can Walk

When you ask Upper Sixth Former, TJ how old he was when he first started skiing, a broad grin emanates.

 

“I think I went on my first ski trip when I was two months old. Obviously, I wasn’t skiing at that point, but I think I got my first pair of skis before I could even walk… Actually, I took my first steps on a ski slope.”

 

It’s no surprise then, that once he finishes at LWC for the Christmas break, TJ will be heading to the mountains for the Italian Alpine Skiing Nationals , ahead of competing in the Welsh National and Swiss National ski events a month later.

 

“One of our family friends has a home in France and so I spent a lot of time skiing there when I was younger,” he explains. “I went to ski school from the age of about 4.” Since those first, tentative steps on the white stuff, 17-year-old TJ has gone from strength to strength. He competed in Downhill, Super G, Giant Slalom and Slalom at the GB Alpine Championships earlier this year, against some of the world’s best skiers. He came away with five top ten finishes in the U18 British Male category – not bad for someone trying at least one of the events for the first time.

 

“I’d never done downhill before,” he smiles. “I put the skis on for the very first time in the start gate and it was a whiteout – I couldn’t really see. I was so excited, though. You need longer skis for downhill; it’s a longer course than the others and more dangerous. If you make even the smallest mistake, you can get badly hurt.”

 

Fortunately for TJ, the experience saw him swerve injury and become hungry for more. “I was absolutely buzzing at the end of it. I just wanted to do it all over again.”

 

TJ’s love of skiing is practically in the blood. “My mum and dad met through skiing at Swansea University. My dad was captain of the Swansea Ski Team and taught my mum,” he reveals. “I don’t think they’d have been very happy if I hadn’t learned to ski!”

 

TJ’s parents have followed him all over the world with his sport: “My dad films every one of my runs. My coaches film them aswell and I can always hear them in the videos, cheering me on. It’s really cute.”

 

“I’ve learned how to lose… A lot of the time I’m racing against people who live out there and ski all the time – of course they’re going to beat me. But it’s valuable to learn how to get beaten. I’ve crashed out of races, made mistakes or not done as well as I should have and have learned to keep going and get better. It’s about dealing with failure and turning it around”

— TJ

 

Naturally, skiing is a discipline that requires serious commitment. Living in the relatively temperate climate of North Hampshire means that TJ gets fewer chances to train on snow than many of the peers he competes against. “Some of my friends in Switzerland ski with their school every day. Their school sport is skiing and they do it in the same way we play rugby or hockey.”

 

In order to keep up, TJ attends regular training camps with his club, CDC, which involve some tiring days.

 

“Sometimes we get up at half three in the morning, get to the lift for six and spend the morning skiing solidly before having lunch and going to bed.”

 

But of course, any seasoned skier knows that this is a sport for which you need high levels of fitness, maintained beyond the slopes and throughout the year. “I’m in the gym three times a week,” TJ continues. “You need to do a lot of work on your legs and your core, but you still need to keep up with the upper body strength. The Barn (LWC’s new Strength and Conditioning Suite) is amazing for this.”

 

This commitment to fitness and willingness to travel would suggest that TJ’s love of skiing is strong…

 

“I’m always so excited to get out there and do it,” he admits. “I’m literally smiling in the start gates. When I’m going, it’s slightly terrifying but at the same time, everything seems to slow down. The environment is just amazing too. When I go out training in the early morning and see the sun rise over the mountains, it’s just incredible.”

 

TJ has learned how to (more than) hold his own across a number of different ski disciplines, but he’s also adamant that the sport has taught him much more than skill. “I’ve learned how to lose,” he reveals. “A lot of the time I’m racing against people who live out there and ski all the time – of course they’re going to beat me. But it’s valuable to learn how to get beaten. I’ve crashed out of races, made mistakes or not done as well as I should have and have learned to keep going and get better. It’s about dealing with failure and turning it around.”

   

When it comes to the future, TJ who also loves competing on the rugby field as part of the LWC 2^nd XV and on the athletics track, is keen to explore all of his options…as long as skiing is in the mix.

 

“I got the opportunity when I was younger to go to Italy and train with the British team,” he reveals. “But I turned it down because I didn’t want to put all of my eggs in one basket. I won’t be in the Olympics because there are so many good skiers who are able to train on snow all of the time and it’s their whole life.”

 

Instead, TJ is looking forward to (unsurprisingly) completing a ski season during his gap year, before heading to university. “My frontrunner at the moment is Exeter to study Finance with Business,” he reveals.

 

“The Exeter Ski Team is also really good.”