Personal Narrative: My Skiing

As my upper body shifted to the right, everything from my waist and below stayed true to the course, including the ski poles. I ran over the handle of my ski pole, with my stomach. The pole was pushed up into my lower abdomen, propelling me off of the slope entirely, I was airborne. I landed on my back, completely out breath, and dazed to the point I had no recollection of where I was. The next moment was particularly scary for me, all I can recall was the ringing of a whistle in my ear, and the red lights flashing from the ski patrols snowmobiles. Unsure of any injuries, the ski patrol had braced my back and neck, strapped me to a board, and began to tow me down the mountain.

Everything had led up to this moment. There were the remaining two finalists at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games, ready to risk it all. I tensed my shoulders, ready to make the final jump that would land me onto the podium. After jumping off the bed and nailing a perfect landing, I was an all American gymnast. I ran toward the makeshift gold medal, a marvelous sight made of a single dollar coin taped to a piece of yard. I looked backwards to see how the other finalist had fared, and every compelling emotion swapped places for a single word: dread. Forty minutes later, we were at JFK’s emergency center, awaiting the results of my brother’s MRI.

There are several reasons why I am athletic. The ways I am athletic and stay athletic is through training and playing football, basketball, and baseball. First off, I train to get into shape. I do push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, and many other exercises like that. Also, I practice all the different sports and do different workouts to get better. The first sport that comes around is football. I play quarterback and linebacker and have been very successful. The past two years the teams I have been on haven’t lost a game! Next, is basketball, and it is my favorite sport. I have played it for all my life and still play it today. I play point guard and I like to shoot. During my basketball years, I have made many buzzer-beaters and

I woke up and was excited to go skiing with Porter and Brigham and Cannon. We were in Utah going to go to Snow Basin. The night before, we skied a lot and did rails. I had a ton of fun and got ready really early so we could ski longer. We drove to the resort and got our stuff out. We went on a run before Logan, Landon and Luke got there. It was very icy and scary to ski, so I took it slow the first run. When we got to the bottom, we caught up with Logan, Landon and Luke. We all rode up in a gondola. We got off and went to the terrain park to practice rails. I was doing good, and knowing me I started tucking the long gaps between the different parks. We had just gone through the last park, and I tucked the groomer to the bottom. One of my Logan’s

One skill I possess is the ability to snowboard., I have a lot more confidence in my ability to glide down a mountain now because of past failures and fears that I have had to overcome. One example of a fear I have had to overcome is the fear of catching an edge on my board. This fear of an unknown flip caused me to become a really cautious snowboarder. It took me until this year to really start becoming more of an adventurous snowboarder. This included me starting to actually start going for jumps and tricks in the terrain park, which came with a lot of injuries. I also Another thing I started doing differently was changeding up how I went down the mountain. Before I would find myself going slowly making my way to the bottom making sure I

The the darkness of the black night seeps through the walls of my house, engulfing the hallway to my parents room in shadow. I walk tentatively, towards the open door, a tension and sense of anxiety building in my chest because I know that what I am about to say will invoke anger from my Father. “We can’t go skiing” I blurt out, explaining to my parents that I have a midterm next Thursday in AP U.S History so I can not go on the family skiing trip that had been planned for over a month. My father’s frustration becomes apparent to me, his sharply voice raising, his tone becoming stern and his brows furrowing.

The light from the setting sun shimmers off the snowy treetops. Air whistles around my ears, skin tingling and burning. I leave fresh, crisp footprints in the dry snow as if I am the only person who has ever stepped foot there. The naked trees standing tall and still, untouched. Standing in silence letting the snowflakes fall in my golden hair. Coming to my hideaway gives me a rush of memories of a simpler time. Sledding down a steep hill, steamy hot chocolate warming my frostbitten hands, curling up in a cozy blanket, the scent of my mom’s Yankee candle, and my favorite memory, my life as an ice skater. It is a time of innocence that everyone experiences at some time or another. A feeling that seems almost everlasting. I catch myself coming

Over the past sixteen years I’ve watched my daughter grow into a beautiful young adult. In middle was the start of her field hockey career that she has still played into her sophomore year and years to come. She is on the high school ski team and has learned how to become a ski racer. It was and still is a challenged because her first year ever to ski race was as freshmen year. Every sport she plays she puts her all into and is persistent. Every year my daughter grows and shows me how capable and trustworthy she is. I trust my daughter and I know that she will make good decisions while driving out on the road and in general.

Elizabeth looked down the ski slope. It seemed steeper from the top than it did from the bottom. She should have stayed on the bunny slope with the beginers but her brother laughed at her. Elizabeth knew that if she didn't go down the slope, her brother would tease her more. She tipped her skis and started down the hill. She tried to remember how to stop as the trees on the side of the slope went by faster and faster. There was a Mogul, a little hill in the middle of the ski slope, and when Elizabeth went over it, her skis left the snow. She was in mid-air. What if she broke her leg? Her skis hit the snow with a thud. She leaned left and she leaned right. She couldn't believe she was still upright. Elizabeth closed her eyes. When she opened

I started skiing around 3 years old on small plastic skis, with fish scales. To this day they hang on the wall of my room. After a few winters of playing around on the local sledding hills in the olympus area I was brought to the real ski slopes at age five. I was put through the Brighton ski school, respectively earning all the stickers on my skills badge, another memento of my early days. After I completed ski school, my family changes to skiing snowbird, where I learned to enjoy the steeps. At age ten we began skiing at Park City Mountain Resort which I continued to ski throughout highschool and into college, accumulating 12 seasons at PC. In college I learned about backcountry skiing and left the resorts behind to earn my turns. For

I stared up at the hill and swallowed hard. Having just skied down the hill successfully, I was proud but worried about getting back up. The smell of cold stung my nose, making it feel as if I would sneeze snow if I sneezed. I wrinkled my nose and blinked the snow out of my eyes. Why did it have to be so windy today? Urgh.

It was a cold day in January and the snow was falling hard. My family had plans to go skiing with my friend Andrew, but then my mom looked out the window. She said “Look at the snow out there. I can barely see the barn!” She began to think we should cancel our plans. My siblings and I begged her to not cancel our skiing plans. Eventually she decided we could risk going despite the weather.

My love for ice skating started when I was 4 years old because I wasn't old enough to stay home I had to see my older sister would go to basic and I would see her fly around like a monkey. I thought it looked like a lot of fun so I asked my Mom “Can I start to ice skate?” she said yes and that's where it all began.

My heart was thumping heavily, as the bus took a turn towards the mountains. I didn’t know why I had agreed, but it was too late to turn back.

I have been skiing for the past ten years. For most of these years, I have been skiing recreationally and through lesson groups at Smuggler’s Notch. Since last school year, I joined the Essex High School Alpine Ski Team. Joining EHS Alpine has been an enriching experience for me socially and personally. I have improved my skiing techniques significantly and gained confidence through my practices and competitions. I build friendships with the members of my team and acquainted myself with other skiers from other teams across the state through our practices and competitions. This experience helped me to develop myself socially and personally.