Photo: Lea Lambert ‘ 24
On September 11th, four of Northwood’s FIS (Federation of International Ski) alpine ski athletes traveled to Valle Nevado, Chile. Each year, Northwood’s ski team travels to various places around the world in search of the best snow for preseason training. Usually, the best option is traveling to glaciers in Europe. However, the summer of 2022 brought Europe a heat wave that heavily affected its snow. Due to this, Northwood’s FIS team decided to travel to Chile for their fall pre-season.
While in Chile, these athletes have been extremely busy. Each day, the athletes spend around 4 hours in the morning training on the hill. Each athlete has specific areas they need to improve in which they focus on during training. Lea Lambert, a junior at Northwood training in Chile, says, “I am working on cleaning my turns and keeping my shoulders square.”
Olivia Levesque, another Northwood athlete, says, “I am currently working on my transition technique, which will help me go faster!”
Training is followed by a lunch break before heading off to study hall. The athletes meet in the lobby of the hotel where they have desks and tables to complete schoolwork. Study hall is two and a half hours long, giving them enough time to stay on top of all their work.
Athletes receive videos of their skiing after each training day to know where they need to improve. After study hall, athletes meet with coaches for a debrief of the training session where they review footage and discuss.
Finally, the athletes will have some free time at the end of each day. Most of this time is spent preparing skis and tuning them for the next training session. During additional free time or days when the athletes are not on the snow, they keep themselves active and busy. These skiers have various dryland activities they work on off the hill, consisting of agility work, hiking, and lifting in the gym.
Northwoods FIS skiers will be in Chile for a total of thirteen days before returning to school. The team is working hard and improving every day, while enjoying every minute of their time in Chile.
