Why I decided to become a Super G and Downhill Racer

What does Jamaica slalom and GS Alpine Ski racer Michael Williams, have in common with former World Cup Circuit and Olympic Downhill racer, and my ambassador :-)) Phillipe Roux. Answer, they both posses in abundance an ability that is missing in so many people today, an ability which I hope provides an answer to a question that will be asked later this year when I race in South America to get my FIS points to race the World Cup circuit doing Super G and Downhill from October 2015, having picked skis up for the first time on August 15th 2014* What is that ability?.......is it a superior level of intellect, courageousness, the ability to dispel with fear the moment fear creeps in.

Whilst many of the options can be associated to a racer, it isn't these that unites these two legends in there own way (phillipe roux took on 'franz klammer', and Michael Williams skied for Jamaica in beaver creek vale February 2015 having skied for the first time 2.5 years earlier). 

The answer, is that they didn't and don't exist to please others primarily, they did in the case of Phillipe Roux, and do, in the case of Michael Williams what they did and do, because its where they felt most alive, and it is this little known pearl of wisdom, to be able to say #dowhatyoulove, #followyourpassion, which is the reason why i decided to become a Super G and Downhill Racer. What better way to #getyourrocksoff everyday :-) Super G + Downhill = Dopemine + adrenalin

The links below are for two videos. One, sent to me by a person who backed me financially and emotionally 6 months ago having not known much of me, other than I wanted to race and compete at the highest level in Alpine Super G and Downhill racing. This first video is to remind others not to give up on there dreams. If this Video doesn't make you think about doing something that you love, then nothing will, and the other, well that's a case of shameless self promotion as I have to pay the bills, so hoping to be the worlds first Super G and Downhill racer for the Jamaican ski team and help leave a legacy for its champion over these 2.5 years, the awesome Michael Williams, well hopefully doing as well as I hope too will mean I can pay the bills. Until then, thanks to my backers and sponsors and supporters who have included Ski Bartlett in the UK, Atomic and the legend that is Phillipe Roux, and of course, the current Rasta rocket himself and legend for following his dreams, Jamaica's only Slalom and GS (till I came along) ski team member, Michael Williams. Look him up on facebook peeps. for real, he has been there all along.

1: Whats your Passion
http://youtu.be/LRGasmWGUlc

2: The soon to be new face of the Jamaican ski team...I hope and so long as my South american race and training endeavours this summer work out :-)
http://youtu.be/_xmR4sICKok

#beinspired #fuckit, #dowhatyoulove, #followyourpassion #bankski

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Tomorrow is my first race front running the Phillipe roux competition in Verbier Switzerland, its not much, and we all gotta start somewhere, but I know it will give me the dopemine I am looking for :-)

Thanks for reading and supporting
#bankski

WOW its mid Jan 2015 already. WTF :-)

Relaxing lunch break, doesn't get any more chilled really!

2015 already....WOW
Firstly, a huge thanks to @atomic and @Intersport Phillipe Roux in Verbier for my Christmas present, a pair of Brand New FIS approved 210 cm Super G Skis. Even bigger thanks to my 'Food Supplier' / Restaurant owner Offshore in Verbier, if it wasn't for him supplying me with 4,000 + calories per day (thats right, 4,000 +) in between training sessions, I would never have been able to acquire 5 kilograms of muscle mass in these last weeks, and my Super G skis for sure would have thrown me to the wolves at 70 mph plus on the bends :-)

Secondly, a massive apology for the silence over the past 8 weeks, given all those who helped me get my super g and downhill career off the ground in 2014. Its been a painful couple of months with multiple broken ribs, damaged metacarpals, busted ACL's, sprains, cuts, bruises, wipe outs, crashes, budget issues, training facility issues, housing problems, sponsor problems, social life problems such as having one when you cant (apres ski at Hotel W verbier is hard to resist, as is the legendary night of a thousand shots @tcs_bar in Tignes, France), you name it, I have seen it, all within 5 months. Foolishly, I didn't factor in that in as much as somebody would want to race professionally within 1 year, that same year would include all the problems that could be encountered in race training.

Thirdly, a massive thank you to the 'Away Spa' @WVerbier, (obviously in Verbier) who have provided me with gym training facilities and allowed me to build a Super G and Downhill body during a mad Christmas and New Year period :-) as well as injure myself every week initially whilst learning to find my feet balancing on a FIS ball whilst juggling to weight balls at the same time, serious, its hardcore, search 'Bankski' in Youtube from Jan 14th to see the Swiss ball juggling ski monkey aka me :-)

And lastly, to all those haters I have met along this journey over these 5 months, who fervently, believed and believe, that its impossible for someone skiing less than half a year, to get themselves into a position of competing on the international circuit in Super g and downhill, well, I would like to say go suck, but instead, because that's wrong, all I will say, is 8 to 12 hour days for 5 to 7 days per week, for months and months and months and months and months (5 in total) even skiing with 2 week old broken ribs, is bound to do something :-) As the tourist skier says, I got me over 100 days ski baby, so, its onnnnnnnnn :-)

So the final chapter has arrived in the prep journey, some admin stuff to sort out my race license occupies me the next few weeks, (alongside the normal skiing from 8am till 4pm and gym from 6am to 8am and 5pm to 8pm daily) in time for Feb races and 3 months left in Europe before moving South of the Equator, but all in all, part one of the journey is complete! To all, Happy New Year, or as we like to say in the French speaking part of Switzerland, Bonne Annee!

One last thing, Sally and Terry from the UK company @Skibartlett rule :-) without the help of the Brits this could never have happened! I feel so conflicted, the Swiss rock, Jamaicans are the best and the Brits rule too :-)

Don't ask why? Bankski Week 3

Dont ask why?

If you know what your worth, go and get what your worth.

Our lifes are for not standing still, we were born moving
Our lifes are for not standing still, we need to keep moving
Our lifes are for not standing still, else we will keep losing.

Dont ask me why I do what I do, when at least i'm moving.

To everyone out there moving, go eat that Sh!t, keep moving, go push that sh!t, or else you will keep losing, There is only one place in the world where you can really know who you are, what your capable of, and its on the edge of a very thin line, next to a very big drop!

Stop asking and just start moving!

Its Super G week for me, and I'm gonna fall, but at least i'm moving, Its Super G week for me, and i'm gonna fall, but at least i'm not losing!

If you know what your worth, go and get what your worth. Stop asking why!

Enjoy the week peeps, keep on moving!

Bankski
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P.S To all those not competing yet in this years FIS Alpine world cup circuit, keep on moving, or else you'll just be losing :-)

The fear of losing your balls

So its October 18th, end of week 2 training, and on Tuesday my worst fear happened. Not the crash as depicted above in the still of my epic wipe-out (viewable on my You tube Channel link http://youtu.be/ifk88uvuNmU) No...Crashes in GS and Alpine skiing in general I have learnt in 8 weeks, come and go. The problem is the physiological effect, which BS aside translates into what I am calling 'Lost balls syndrome' 3 days without skiing and non stop ice on the knee during my rest time

played hell with the mind leaving doubt about running down what is a pretty tough glacier run and training ground reserved only for the hardcore really...Lets not beat about the bush....El Grande Motte in Tignes is where without been sexist, a man (and woman) gets tested...there are no green runs for the 8 week Virgin Skier (Moi), not even red really, its in-between red and black with sheet ice runs that deliver varying gradients that culminate in a roller coaster ride that only levels out at the end, and during the journey down just gets steeper and steeper and steeper and steeper...forget your brakes and its straight off the end into an abyss of sorts. I havent even reached the downhill runs yet lol...

So anyway, i had 3 days off where each day i dont mind saying im thinking shit, what if the next run down is it, not in a life ending context, in a career stopped before it gets off context...Am a rookie Alpine athlete about to enter his first race season, where am not trying to get on top of my game now, but find my game so I can race in enough FIS level non cup races to get me into the Europa league and hopefully 1 world cup downhill circuit race before the season ends in 2015. A tall order by any stretch.

So today was the big day, I made it up the glacier on my own, and pretty much just free skied in my GS 191 length skis for hours (Thanks as usual www.skibartlett.com and Atomic). I was lucky in that I have become good friends with another underdog, or rather group of underdogs, those been the GB Telemark team made up of Jazz, Louis and Shaun and simply been around these guys was enough to allow me to keep pushing. So, no accidents today on day one back in the office, and thanks to singing a song from the film need for speed "come on lets fly like an eagle, let your spirit set you free, come on lets fly, like an eagle" at the start of each run, I managed to get past the daunting steepness, sheer ice, mixed with nasty snow in parts, and low and behold, I managed to find my Balls, and they were pretty darn big, i wouldn't say they had grown, but they were big enough to carry me through the day, get me off the glacier at the end, and mean that i can think about tomorrow and training not as a problem, but as another day with another challenge, push the limits, live, ride and be! Am still carrying an injury, and its early days in every context as i have to now get my race license sorted with the Jamaican governments ministry for sports, and ensure i have a high enough level of game to let me play with the big boys! But lets just say that, I thought I lost my balls, and am pleased to say that i didnt lose them, just misplaced them. Lesson for the day, when you misplace your balls doing something pretty crazy, the place where you will likely find those gems (for us men :-) is where you last think you saw them, in my case, on top of a glacier, and when you want to get them back, you have to go back to that dark place, face that fear, in my case, riding without balls, and they will reveal themselves, they may have shrunk, but its important just to locate them, so you can nourish them. So, that's the end of my day, and tomorrow i begin the task of feeding my balls by pushing limits. Pushing limits = Bigger Balls :-) Hope this helps others who may have lost there balls, or something similar that allowed them to be! will upload the latest video tonight to my Youtube channel after editing, and to those reading this, go and tell someone you know about the GB telemark team, regardless of whether your British, this sport needs a lot of support and takes a lot of technical talent, and of course Balls, or to be PC, if your a lady, maybe we can call it Mojo :-) 

Bankski's Week 1

A week today this Sunday I flew out from little Luton Airport in the UK , arrived in Geneva, took the train to Chamberry in France, chilled for 4 hours, trained it to Bourg Saint Maurice and 100 Euro's later in a taxi arrived in Val Claret.

 

Now the real work begins....Catch the progress on my youtube channel which will feature daily updates, although I will still continue to update this blog :-)

http://youtu.be/w8AQAZlW2iI

www.twitter.com/dbankski

www.facebook.com/dbankski

www.instagram.com/dbankski

 

So folks, stage 1 of the journey is complete. I'm coached up, in the right place, around the right people, doing the right thing, busting my nuts on ice and snow...now lets hope the paperwork keeps pace and my getting a license to race as a proud Jamaican, from Britain of course :-) comes to pass within the next 2 weeks !!!! The next blog updated on Wednesday is called Time is not my friend, and will feature some of the politics involved in the world of Alpine sport that I have had and have yet to overcome....Keep it real people and don't hate on those for daring! its better than staring!

The Journey

So....How does someone not from a skiing background at an international competition level, or with a historical general interest in skiing end up deciding that a career in Downhill and Super G is for them!

Well...its pretty straight forward really....After a decade in investment and finance banking around currencies and commodities which ended with a career burnout having just hit my 30's, I tried redemption of the soul through assisting those in need for a couple of years across East Africa and parts of Asia, which also ended in a burn out and a lesson that it was time to discover my inner me, after first finding my inner me....This turned out to be easier than expected as my recreational kicks during a corporate career involved either speed or heights or both, Sky diving, in line skating, flying planes, you name it, I have done it. The only problem I had is that all of these things I have done, just doing them has not been enough. For the true extreme junkie, it takes doing them to highest standard, then testing whether you have the highest standard to truly be happy, and the only way that standard can be tested and pushed is in competing. So here I am after 4 months of physical muscle development and training, with 4 weeks of 12 hours per day 6 days per week skiing crammed into a schedule of studies for my joint honours degree in physics and mathematics and hustling for sponsorship and the appropriate race licenses (which in itself is a freakin nightmare for a rookie let me tell you) but thanks to some good friends, lots of peanut butter for energy, and a lot of determination, here I am, at the junction where I must now fly the nest which for me has been the Snow Centre in Hemel Hempstead England, and head to the slopes before the Europa cup season starts so i can get some FIS non cup races under the belt before competing as a rookie in in the Europa cup and hopefully getting into this 2014/2015 world cup season where I will stay and do battle with the toughest, hardest, bravest of pursuers of speed, G forces and a constant plentiful supply of dopamine and adrenalin.

So here goes nothing, and to those considering a similar journey, not from a skiing background, know this, the system does not want you, so if you want to get in, you have to fight it, using every tactic available to you, be a businessman, be a hustler and be an athlete, because of your not all of these things, then unlike the Rudyard Kipling poem, yours will not be the glory, it will be pain, and there is enough pain in skiing with the physical injuries without making life harder by not been prepared to do what I have mentioned, including adopting dual nationality!!!

Peace out and here's to a prosperous 2014/2015 season for all. May your journey's breathe life into your soul, and may your accomplishments be beyond yours and yours watchers expectations.

Best wishes
The rookie

P.S To my potential partners, this isn't about the money (all sponsor money over the next 4 years is been given to a particular ministry of sports in a homeland country of mine to give chances to those less blessed than me in terms of inner strength), this about the glory, this is about the chase, this is about the challenge, this is about been Number 1, this is about mastering speed and physical forces and experiencing life chasing the optimum line of trajectory for myself as a human missile strapped into ski's that along with the human body, an engine of immense power, propel me through curved lines of white, crisp, injected ice surfaces to the finish line, alive, and alive, and ready for the next course! Kitsbuhel, Wengen, I'm coming for you :-)

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The Challange

On the face of it, we see talent and normally we can find a way to instantly develop that talent. If we see someone good at football, then we can get them into a squad and even on a pitch competing at the highest level just like that. My talent is skiing, a recently acquired talent, but none the less a talent, so as a mature adult one can imagine my frustration when finding a home to develop that talent competitively is blocked because of bureaucracy by governing bodies.

The irony in the protection afforded to ensuring nobody can just walk in and enter the discipline of Alpine skiing and particular downhill, super g and giant slalom, is that Britain has consistently failed to produce a skier of exceptional top finishing talent within the mens world cup or Europa League for...well...ages, so what's to protect, surely, if someone is good, let them race, help them to race, nurture them with pace, not over years, but within 1. I have come across so many times these recent months the following saying by many coaches and heads 'it takes 4-5 years to develop a skiing career'. Well my friends, that just isn't true, the key to doing anything well is muscle memory and the development of particular muscle memory groups. I train for 10 hours per day on average and within the first 3 weeks, a pair of 170 length carving skis felt like slippers on feet, riding the edge of my ski along a sweeping curve felt as natural as putting on my boxer shorts in the morning or brushing my teeth. The statement I make of progress in such a short term, by no means states that it has taken me such time to develop to a world class style, but quite simply, I wont, and nobody will ever know if they are world class talent, unless these compete at a world class level.

This post feels like a rambling, which in some way, it is today, but the underlying point about developing talent is non disputable, I cant help but feel some of the people I have encountered along the way so far are interested mainly in protecting there own jobs! Tomorrow's post is called, 'how I ended here', and should have been today's, but an email to a ministerial government official overseas to create a winter sports program to help support my getting a winter ride under different nationality to my British born roots, has left me perplexed that I have had to create such complicated structures to get to do something, that really should be a lot simpler, compete.

Hiho Hiho, its of to training we go - 6 hours solid skiing today, no breaks, already nutrient loaded, just waiting for the dopamine to feed through my body over a one hour warm up so I can really get this engine flying today and put any pain to the back of mind and focus on the results of pushing yourself to the very edge of every comfort zone you know.

Hasta la pronto peoples :-)