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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