Many people know how to ski, but far fewer have ever put those skills to competition. That was the case for junior Elliot Hendrickson and senior Miles Robertson when they first arrived at WSU.
After coming to WSU to study computer science, he heard about the ski team through his sister’s roommate, Hendrickson said. He joined because skiing was something that he had done since 3 years old.
“My dad really wanted a ski partner, so he put in the time to make sure I got really good at skiing,” Hendrickson said.
Despite that, joining the ski team did not come without its challenges.
“I was skiing the steepest runs on every single mountain. I went into my freshman year of ski racing and I was maybe one of the worst four guys on the team of 12.” Hendrickson said.
He found that he had to learn new techniques to cross over from free skiing and ski racing. Ski racing requires following the course set, skiing against individuals instead of with them and learning quick turning techniques.
In the next couple of years he improved and currently is the fourth skier, instead of being in the bottom four. Despite the differences between free skiing and competitive skiing, Hendrickson said he would be interested in racing after graduation.
“What it means to me to be on the WSU ski team is that I am going to be a good sport about skiing, make some friends and most importantly ski,” Hendrickson said. “Everyone’s very caring on the team, we are like family.”
One of Hendrickson’s teammates, Robertson shared the same sentiments.
Robertson had been skiing since he was four years old and joined the ski team as a junior because he was looking for more people to ski with. For him, the ski team provided both competition and community he never would have expected.
The goal of the WSU ski team was to become a better skier. Although living hours away from any ski mountain makes it much harder to practice, everyone comes out at the end of the year a better skier, Robertson said.
“It provided a competitive outlet that I haven’t had since leaving high school sports behind,” Robertson said.
Being a mechanical engineer and part of the choir, Robertson said he most likely would never have met anyone on the ski team.
“I’m really happy that I’m getting to know such diverse groups of people very well,” Robertson said.
