Another Great Camp

October camp 2015 was a real learning experience and a big step forward. For the past two weeks I have been adapting to a new set of coaches, new skis and boots and a new lifestyle as an athlete without education commitments.

Although the camp was only just over the two weeks long I feel like I made a lot of progress and kicked on again from where I found myself at the end of summer. The first week in Tignes was great. We spent a few days at BSA base in Les Houches meeting our new coaches Kip Harrington and Duane Baird before heading over to Tignes to start working with them. It was really good just to get to know them both before getting on the hill because I've always felt that a good relationship with coaches off the hill is arguably more important than the one on the hill. We all spend too long in apartments and vans to not get on.

On arrival at Tignes we got told the lift queues were empty because lots of teams had reconsidered their plans after the poor state of the glacier in summer. I think it's fair to say that most would have rued those plans had they have trained with us during that week. Perfect conditions all week, and whilst it may have got choppy and a bit rutty as the day progressed, its perfect training for us in my opinion because any FIS race we enter this year won’t be perfect conditions. It also gives me a good chance to work on keeping my form and technique well drilled even when I'm having to fight to stay on line and not get thrown around all over the place.

My main focus in slalom that week was to simply try and get on the new ski as early as possible, build a strong platform and then drive through every turn to generate as much speed as possible. This is something which I feel I achieved more often than not and towards the back end of the week I could feel a lot of progress. However the ruts did cause me some problems, mainly when just two days into the camp I paid the price for never bothering with a chin guard and took a gate full on into the face. My lip exploded and our lane almost instantly became a genuine red run. Later I had to get my lip glued (yes glued) back together by some French doctors but that was pretty much the only real low point of my week.

There were a lot of long days during that first week. Kip's up first, down last philosophy afforded us maximum time to work on what he asked and I felt I really improved. On each run I had a clear focus which I feel helped me a lot as Kip's coaching style encouraged us to think for ourselves a lot more on the hill and not just rely what I was being told every run.

It was fair to say Tignes was going so well and the conditions were that good that we didn’t want to leave. However we had to move on to Les Deux Alpes for a week of GS. Giant Slalom is always quite tough in Deux Alpes particularly because of the flattish gradient there. It is constantly difficult to build the speed to turn the 195cm skis like is needed. It was a good first few days with the older FIS guys like me, Laurie Taylor and Euan Kick helping the younger kids get up to speed with some technical slow drill demonstrations, brush work and general technique refinement.

Like I noted in my last blog it is always good just to take a few days to strip everything back and just work on basic positioning, movement patterns and simple skills like the pole plant. It also makes it a lot easier when you eventually go back into the gates, even if it is a bit tedious at the time you're doing it.

After these few days Kip decided that Deux Alpes was simply just too busy to get the lanes and ski space we wanted. Huge credit goes to Malcolm who re-planned, pulled a few strings and got us back to Tignes. Thanks also Jo Ryding & Dave Tee for letting us apartment share with them for a few days.

When we got back to Tignes it wasn’t quite as we expected. Powder days are generally the best however they can be a pain when we're trying to train gates. Never mind, after a lot of sliding snow out of our line we turned what could've been a wasted day into near perfect training conditions. Similar to the first week things got a bit rutty but that makes us work to set the rut in the correct place, something which I have come to learn is essential in GS. Any chance of generating speed through the turn with such a long ski means the pressure points and line has got to be bang on. Therefore it was good practice to set that right from the start of the day, otherwise our training sessions may not have been so good.

This was a common theme throughout the week and as the snow got more packed down we were more able to start ripping some good turns off more frequently. It was a great few days training which I think was necessary to boost confidence before my trip to Canada next week. Canada is something I’m really excited for as I’ve never been outside of Europe to ski before. We're back in Kip and Duane’s homeland so I’m sure they'll be able to maximise local knowledge and opportunities to get us the best quality of training. I’m especially looking forward to racing out there. We have quite a busy race schedule planned so hopefully we can pull a few early results out the bag, which is something I'm aware I’ve not done enough of in the previous 2 years.

Finally, I'm honoured to note that on last Friday evening I was presented with 2015 Black Country Young Sportsperson of the Year at the Black Country BeActive Partnership Awards.
This is something that I'm extremely proud of, especially as skiing is hardly a mainstream sport in the Black Country. Sharing a stage with multiple gold medallist at London's 2012 Paralympic Games David Weir, Midlands cycling icon Hugh Porter and a host of massively talented athletes from the Black Country was a great experience. Obviously I can't achieve awards like this on my own I’d like to thank all my sponsors for their support; Head, Ski Bartlett, Leki, X-Bionic, Chill Factore, Fitness First, Sterling Health and Fitness, BSA and Telford Ski Club. Also thanks to Wood Green Academy for nominating me. Every time I go ski racing wouldn’t be possible without any of you guys.

 

October Camp - Week 1

An Awesome Summer Camp

For the past 4 weeks I've been out in the Alps preparing for the winter campaign. This was my longest block of summer training I've ever done, so I was aware that I had to make every second of it count on and off the hill.

Summer training is always important because it gives us time to strip everything back down to basics without worrying when the next race is, and make the small adjustments that help to find that extra tenth of a second. Its simple and sometimes really tedious but I also know it's essential, all those hours of looping on the flatter slopes taking things back to basics will sure help at some point next season. It also gives us a great opportunity to blast some fitness whilst reaping the rewards of altitude.

For all the above things to happen however you need to find a glacier with some snow, something that France has found hard to provide this summer due to their biggest heat wave in decades. This forced our original plans to spend 2 weeks in Tignes to be switched with Malcolm Erskine pulling an inspired last minute rabbit out of his hat to find us accommodation and training lanes in Les Deux Alps instead. 

However before all that we had a fitness week in the not so snowy Les Houches. It was great to go back to our winter base for a week of fitness because its genuinely a second home for some of us. It was brilliant to get the opportunity to work with Steve Cooper from Sterling Health and Fitness who put together a fantastic week where all our sessions were purposeful, challenging and beneficial. It was awesome being trained by someone whose life is sports performance and has the best up to date knowledge of the science behind it. We started off with some general cardiovascular conditioning; hiking, running and cycling. It was great to get out on the bikes with Laurie and also enable us to crush some metres on our Make-a-Champ sponsored hike.


Alongside the weight lifting sessions and the stretching we were able to do some really cool actives like rafting. It was such a good laugh especially as it was flash flooding the night before and the rivers were at an annual high making it even better. For adrenaline junkies this was a fantastic experience.

 

As the fitness week concluded we packed up the vans, waxed up the skis and rolled out to Les Deux Alpes. The short & mid length weather forecasts were pretty suspect so it was essential we made sure we were fully prepared for long days on the hill and maximal intensity while we had the access to training pistes. It was a great week and a excellent opportunity to do some good work with Dave Morris. We had lot of time just to re programme skills and refine the basics. The FIS group all split off to help out a coach with another group, the idea being as well as doing the exercises yourself you could relay information and demonstrate them, therefore consolidating our own knowledge. It was a really great week to just be able to loop round with some of the new and fresh talent coming through BSA and not have to worry about the pressures of racing.

Unlike a lot of the photos I'd seen conditions were very good, the Deux Alps piste crew had done a cracking job of making sure any snow was spot on up high where the training lanes were and we worked in perfect snow every day until around 11am. Yes it meant taking the train up to the very top and another half hour longer before we got to train but when you are awake at 5:30 time just becomes a blur anyway. We were working a lot and getting our alignment square in the hips and once getting that strong position the pressure can start to be built into quicker turns. We managed to get lots of video footage which helped us really analyse where we can improve. Dave has a sharp eye and can pick out even the finest of errors in the basics, which really helps us understand what's going on.

We moved onto the second week where Salt Lake bronze medalist Alain Baxter took over coaching duties. Which was great as we had a slalom lane all week. It was interesting getting coached from someone who had achieved at the very highest level because there is a mentality where by everything can be done better and improved upon. There was definitely a great ethos in the FIS group that week and everyone knuckled down, never settling for a "good" run and always pushing for more. Even though we had a training lane with gates up we still made sure we were working on our basic positions and muscle tensions but this time we were concentrating on line and timing too.

It was a solid week of progression for me personally. Slalom is the weakest of my disciplines, however I know I can perform so much better than my points suggest. One of my early season goals is to put some respectable scores on the board and then build from there. At present my woeful start positions are killing me, courses are trashed before I've even started. Early scores might just give me the freedom to go race as hard as I want in search of lower points and would contrast to last season where injury meant I was scrambling around the April slush looking to minimise FIS point damage.

The week with Alain allowed me to develop good discipline with line and timing whilst adding some decent levels of consistency. Only coming out 2 times in the whole 3 weeks of skiing was a big confidence booster because i knew the line was there or there about on every gate. At the end of the week we had a BSA combi head to head which was really fun for all involved! Laurie Taylor beat me to the line in a close final which saw him take the BSA FIS Men's Cup home aka (Super U medals).

After the week of skiing was done it was time for the childrens group to leave for home which meant we had a BSA awards evening/skit night. It was a really cool idea from new coach Lyndsey Strange which eventually led to me, Charles Rankin and Euan Robertson singing "Let It Go" from Frozen. Let's just say none of us will be auditioning for The X Factor any time soon! All in all it was a great laugh and some well deserved prizes went out to some great people, so well done for all involved. Team 2 - we absolutely have to win next year (you know who you are).

After Deux Alpes we headed straight out to Zermatt for a final few days where again the conditions looked a bit suspect. Despite sharing a great camp with the younger racers, it was great to have just the FIS guys there as we could really get the best training in for us with Natalia and Lyndsey. We were also introduced to our first Canadian racer after our new coaching team took over. Jeff Frisch was a great lad who skis off 6 points in DH (ranked #36 in the world) and 10.6 in Super-G. He was great in showing me and Laurie how the pros do it and we learnt a lot of secrets that week from a top guy. It was also great training next to the Canadian women's team ladies, not least because our breaks on the top of the course were regularly eye catchingly brilliant. The already impressive natural scenery was certainly enhanced when Marie Michelle Gagnon arrived.

On a more serious note it was brilliant final few days skiing. I put together some really good GS turns and the glimmers of a promising start to the season looked like they were starting to take form.

Throughout the camp I was inspired by something one of the BSA coaches said to me in the opening days of training - "You know how to make one world cup turn, you've just got to make 60 of those in every run." No one can pull off 60 world cup turns every time but the point is persistency and consistency. I feel like during this camp, especially now in slalom, I have started to develop the ethic of consistency in my skiing. Perhaps not nailing every turn but certainly within line and movement patterns. The discipline is there and so is the will and intention to execute this. It was a brilliant four weeks where I improved just about every aspect of what I do.

Hopefully from the platform we've worked hard to put down we're ready to go again and build on my technique both in October and when the season starts.

Tignes (part 2)

For Tignes (Part 1) please click here

The national championship Giant Slalom was a goal of mine to win at the start of the season. GS is the discipline I've enjoyed my strongest results over the years and I really wanted to win the U18 GS races. I'd sat down at the very start of the season with Ruslan and identified winning both the NC and the NJC GS races at the British as my season aims. 

In the National Championships things were going really well. I knew I was fast and I was pushing myself hard all the way, however I got too greedy in the line coming off of a very technical section in the slope and unfortunately missed the next gate. I was both disappointed and massively annoyed at myself immediately after however I was also glad that I was pushing myself to the extent I was. To go that hard takes confidence and belief and I feel like my GS skiing has come on a lot this season even if the results up until this point didn't really give a true reflection. In a season decimated by injury and illness I was proud I had the courage and ability to attack a GS like this.

I wasn't going to dwell on the past as it was a hard week of racing and there is no time for mental weakness at the national championships. The slalom was next and I think that everyone will agree that it was a very tough set for the first run. It was hard to get into the rhythm of the course at first and then when you did it was ever changing due to the several combinations and constant changing terrain. A lot of people succumbed to the traps in the course however I got past a lot of these and then my binding pre-released and I lost a ski half way down the steep coming into the finish area. I was again really disappointed because a lot of my rivauuls for the title had came out in the tricky parts of the course and I'd dealt with these pretty well from a long way back. It essentially summed up my season in slalom in one run. Lots of promise, zero luck. 

That was the end of the national championships but the national junior championships were following the day after. 

In the NJC GS I was really motivated to challenge for the win after the disappointment of the previous race. I had a good start bib number and this offered me a very good chance to make it into the top 30 flip and attack the 2nd run. However I knew that I needed a solid first run before thinking about any of that. My first run was great. I was leading U18 and had indeed made the top 30 so I could attack the 2nd run and I had a good chance to make my first points of the season.

One of this season's aims achieved

I started the 2nd run at bib 5 so for once I had a clean course that offered a good chance to extend my lead for the 2nd run. My 2nd run was solid without being spectacular and whilst some of my rivals made up a small amount of time on me I managed to hold on to my lead and take the win! I was extremely happy not only had I achieved one of the goals I set out at the start of the season I had also scored a PB of 61 points which was both good for me and a huge relief. It was a good response to all of my injures and setbacks in the months before. I also had a trophy to take back to England with me which was a great reward for my efforts and will provide motivation going forward.

The final day of the championships was the NJC slalom. I had a lot of hopes for slalom as I only had a limited number of races until the end of the season and I had a lot of points to make up on the other lads I consider my competitors. Because my slalom points were a bit higher than the rest of the guys I started a lot of big numbers after them and the course cut up quite badly in the soft conditions. However I had to move on from that and give it my best shot. 

Again it was another tough set in the slalom for the first run and I was a long way off the leader however I did manage to squeeze into the top 30 flip again and had a clean course for the second run. My 2nd run was probably the best I have ever skied slalom in my life. I came 10th on that run only 0.7 seconds behind the winner meaning I had made up a big chunk of time and I was hoping to score some good points. I also finished 3rd under 18 in the slalom which was good for me especially I didn’t have any serious goals for the slalom, I just wanted to ski well and score points. In the end, that 3rd place was an added bonus to go with a season's best FIS score in slalom, however given I was unable to ski slalom for 9 weeks the latter wasn't exactly difficult to achieve.

Overall, despite it feeling at the time like a mixed week, I would say it was pretty good in hindsight. I'd made the podium every time I finished, I won a GS and scored my best points of the season. In addition, had I been in Tignes for the Super G I know I'd have been good enough to be in with a shout of the overall U18 NJC, something that fills me with confidence moving forward. 

However, I'm not naive enough to know that I also needed to back up some solid skiing with some good scores for my FIS page and whilst DH, SG & GS points are solid and more or less reflect where I am there is still a huge differential between my FIS points in slalom and what I can do. Given the season I've had however, the ugly numbers next to my name in slalom can't really be helped right now. 

In hindsight, the Delancy British Championships have been pretty kind for me for another year. I podiumed every time I completed, I was competitive every day and would've fancied my chances of taking the NJC U18 overall had I raced the SG.

Looking ahead, I now have the chance to go on from here and score hopefully score some points in the Citizen races I have lined up on my programme. I've learned much this season, it's just a pity that so much of it revolved around dealing with injury and illness.

Thanks to Ruslan, Ali & the BSA team for coaching me and Chris back in Telford for advice & support. Thanks also to everyone who has supported me this year - Head, Ski Bartlett, Velocity Health & Fitness, The Winter Sports Foundation, The British Ski Academy, Telford Ski Club, Uvex and the great press coverage I've had from the Walsall Advertiser. Roll on 2015/16.

Tignes (part 1)

The British Championships has usually been pretty kind to me. A win in the Super Combined last year, 2nd overall the year before and lots of podiums in earlier years. Meribel was certainly a happy hunting ground. This year with the races in Tignes, things would be a different challenge.

A change of venue made it tough for everyone. No one really knew the slopes and how the sets would be, the timings for races were new and it was all a bit of a stab in the dark for the first few days. 

That once in a lifetime moment

Strangely, my British Championships started off in London, at Wembley to be precise. Missing the Super G races, arguably my strongest discipline, to watch my football team Walsall was unquestionably a huge sacrifice. However it was a sacrifice I was always going to make. My skiing is hugely important to me and Super G offers me genuine podium opportunities but with a team like Walsall you only get one chance to go to a place like that. Seeing them walk out into the National Stadium in front of 72000 people was a truly spine tingling experience, so despite it being a tough choice the answer was always going to be 36 hour round trip to Wembley. 

As it turned out the Sunday Super G's were cancelled and moved back 24 hours. At that point I knew I'd made the right decision to fly back as I'd have been fuming if I'd missed Wembley for a cancelled race day. However it was still slightly frustrating to see the following day's results and how everyone had benefited from the arrival of the French National team with a bit of a FIS points bonanza. That said I knew I had already scored respectable points in Super G this season and deep down I've got a pretty good idea of where I rank against my competitors in this event.

A nice start to the week

I flew in for the Downhill on the Monday. At first it was only meant to be a training run but as the day wore on it became a training run then a race, then a training run + two race runs. Three runs of downhill after a day of travelling took a lot out of me both mentally and physically, however I was skiing downhill pretty much for fun this year rather than for points and results. Going as fast as possible gives me an amazing feeling that is difficult to describe and I didn’t want to ruin that by putting pressure on myself when thinking about points. That can come when I've got a lot more downhill miles in the tank. For now just going from A to B as quickly as possible and learning the discipline was all I needed to enjoy myself. That I managed to grab a second place in the NJC was a great way to kick start my British Championships and a bit of a bonus result.

After the slog of downhill there was a day off racing and although it sounds silly given I had only been in Tignes for 24 hours the downhill’s really did sap my legs so a bit of a lie in was particularly welcome. 

We started off that morning with a good confidence building slalom course. I needed to score a result in slalom as I hadn't done any training or racing with my hand in plaster for 8 weeks of the season and illness had left me in no shape to compete in early January. The morning went really well however, I got some fantastic runs in and these gave me a huge boost of confidence to go into the upcoming slaloms. Following a quick lunch we had a short training block of GS. The GS was also going great for me until the last run where I crashed hard into the base of the gate, face first. I was pretty shaken by the whole accident and I wasn't feeling the best for a good 24 hours after the injury. My face was covered in cuts and scabs and whilst my brace probably saved my front teeth it absolutely shredded the inside of my mouth. More worryingly however, my knee was very sore internally from twisting during falling and it did knock my confidence for what was ahead.

For Tignes (part 2) please click here

English Alpine Champs 2015

EYOF 2015

Last week I was lucky enough to be representing Team GB at the European Youth Olympic Winter Games Festival in Austria and Lichtenstein.

Getting selected was by far the greatest achievement of not only my career so far but possibly in my life. The criteria for the games had been set by BSS a few months in advance and even though I had met the criteria being selected was far from guaranteed, especially when the lack of early season snow meant I was relying on my scores from last year to qualify.

So when the email arrived confirming that I was selected to go to EYOF I was ecstatic to be part of Team GB. It had been one of my main goals for this season and something I've been eyeing for some time now. It was great to finally get there. I was aware that the selection wasn't just great for me however. I also knew how important it was for my family, my friends, team mates, coaches, ski clubs, school and sponsors - all of whom helped me get there. They all contributed to make me a better athlete so I could get to the games. Thank you guys, you're the best and always will be!

Team Session

So we started the adventure with a team get together on Friday 23rd at Bisham Abbey. Before they built the National Football Centre in Burton this was where the England football team used to prepare for tournaments so I was obviously looking forward to going there. It was also great to finally meet the faces of the team officials that would be taking us, the different athletes from the other sports and the other faces we all know so well in British skiing.

It was really good to have Mark Vinter lead the Alpine Team. He's previously coached all four of us boys selected to represent Team GB at EYOF, something that I'm well aware wasn't just by luck. Personally I'd like to thank Mark for all the years of training he has given us and I hope we did you proud. Paul Telling also joined up with the team. Paul's already been to 3 previous Youth Olympics so provided us with invaluable experience.

Team GB - EYOF 2015

Kitting out on the Friday was really great fun. Being handed a suitcase full of free Adidas kit is never bad really and when dressed in the same apparel we all looked like a team and I started to get the sense of what "Team GB" is all about. After lunch we had a team bonding session and a variety of workshops from media training to drug testing. All of which was very interesting and gave me a lot of new knowledge that I will be able to use should I be able to progress to higher levels of the sport. It was also really good for me to learn things off the skis too because the more knowledge I gain the more it helps me as I look to become a better athlete in the future.

The Alpine boys at kitting out

We got to Austria on Saturday after a long travel day and set about preparing for training on Sunday. It was good to go skiing with the boys I had trained with over the past few years. We had such a good laugh and brought back all the old memories what went on when we were training together. Much as I love racing, there is nothing better than having a blast with the boys, carving some fast turns and popping a jump or three without the pressure of the clock over us. Certainly the Sunday session helped us relax and get Saturday's travel day out of the legs. Most of all however we were looking forward to the race the following day.  But before all that was the Team GB reception party and the Opening Ceremony.

Taking place in the ski jumping stadium, the Opening Ceremony was a brilliant experience, where everyone seemed to be grinning from ear to ear. Waiting to enter the stadium was huge fun and it was a really proud moment for everyone to walk out as a team behind the British flag. Following a few speeches from the EYOF president, Presidents of Lichtenstein and Austria and the chief organisers we swore the Olympic oath and the flame was lit. The games had officially started and it was time to go racing.

The events of the opening day GS didn't exactly to go to plan. The first run was pretty solid, I skied the steep strongly, carried speed onto the flat and set up really well for the late kicker. Where so many had been late and scrubbed speed but I was spot on. That early in fact that I hooked my arm inside the gate and jarred my thumb against it. I knew I'd damaged it immediately - the pain was intense - but I managed to negotiate the final eight or so gates and crossed the finishing line without losing too much time.

Holding a ski pole - Plan B

After checking the hand out, the physio and team doctor told me that I had snapped the ligaments in my thumb and wanted to pull me out of the race. Needless to say that was never happening. So with the help of a few paracetamol and a pole taped to my hand I started the 2nd run. That it ended it pretty soon after the start was hardly a surprise, I reacted to the jolting pain of catching my thumb, missed to turning point and was rewarded with a double ejection on the steep, a face plant followed by a head into the net to top it off. A crash that acted as a metaphor of the day.

It was a good experience for me however and a character building one at that. To have all my ambitions snatched away from me like that was tough to take but it was important to me to ski the 2nd run because I wouldn't have wanted to give it all up there and then. Without injury I think I had a real shot at making the top 25/30 so at least I know where I am. After the race was done we went down to the medical centre. The various scans and X-rays showed that whilst the ligament had stayed in one piece it had fractured my thumb bone where it connects and that was me out for the rest of the week. Massively disappointing, however it gave me a chance to watch some other sports and enjoy EYOF a bit more without the added pressure of racing.

The following day we went to watch ski jumping, which is absolutely crazy. No wonder we have no stand out ski jumpers in the UK, who would even try jump that far! I'd have jumped the lower jumps but the 110 metre hill is a bit too far for me. It was great to see the other nations fly so far though and it was cool to see such a different side of what can be achieved on skis. As well as that we went to watch ice hockey, which is utterly brutal. After a few fights, square ups and a few goals Slovakia beat Austria 10-1. Not great for the home nation but riveting viewing.

Fun at the Ice Hockey

It was also cool to support the other skiers in their races. They held their own against some of the very best in Europe and the stars of tomorrow. I was so disappointed to not be able to pull on the bib for the slalom but it's cool to cheer the others on. Especially at the end of the week with the parallel pro-slalom. We drew Austria so there was no expectation. However in a parallel pro slalom there is always chances. We lost, but everyone was neck and neck with their opponents and they raced hard and fast. With a few crashes and DNF's we went out giving it our all and that's all they could have done. We all raced hard to get there and we all continue to race hard to achieve our ambitions, it's never going to be plain sailing every day.

That evening saw the Olympic flame extinguished at the closing ceremony, all the medals had been handed out, kit had been swapped, friends and memories had been made. OK, I travelled home with an injury and didn't get the chance to truly show what I could do but I got to wear the Olympic rings and had some great experiences that I will remember forever. Thanks to Sarah and all of Team GB for such a brilliant week. Thank you also to everyone who helped me get here and thanks to everyone who follows and supports what we do.