Landgraaf: Classification and More

What was perhaps the most important trip for me was the one I went on next, to an indoor ski slope in Landgraaf, Holland, this was where I was to get classified, to enable me to compete. This was another great experience for me; despite the funny looks I got from people at home when I told them I was skiing in Holland.

Pretty much as soon as I arrived at the centre, I was whisked away for classification, a bizarre situation in which people suddenly desire to become more disabled. The purpose of this is to both confirm that you do have a disability, and to determine to what extent the disability affects you, placing people into categories of others with similar levels of disability, to enable a fair race. For me this involved being observed walking with my frame, and then having the spasticity and range of motion in my legs assessed. The only thing I found unusual in this assessment was what happened next, I had be strapped to a wooden board with rockers on the base, (to simulate sitting in a monoski) to test my trunk strength and balance.

After this I was sent out of the room, whilst the classifiers discussed the appropriate classification for me, before being called in and given the decision. I was classified as LW12.1, which means I have some use of my legs and trunk, but that the strength and control of these is affected by my disability. Then came a surprise, the classifiers had to admit that their system of classification is tailored towards people with paralysis (which I do not have), not problems with spasticity and muscle control, and they were not sure of the extent to which I could use my hips to assist my skiing. They wanted to watch me ski. In a race.

This I was not expecting. I had not had any race training, I did not have the appropriate safety clothing to ski into slalom gates, I didn’t even have my own skis yet - I skied the slalom race one a 163cm GS ski, not the 155cm slalom ski that would have helped me. Due to my lack of preparation, I was entered in the youth race, for people under 17 years old, rather than the full IPCAS race, so this race did not affect points. Nevertheless, I did the race. Under strict instructions to just finish the race, I skied the course rather slowly, for in practise I had not managed to complete the course without crashing or losing control and missing gates. Somehow I managed to make it down the course the two times that were required without being disqualified. When it came to the prize giving ceremony it became apparent that despite me skiing rather slowly, I had actually done quite well, and I won the silver medal! This was rather unexpected for someone who was only coming to Landgraaf for classification (and meant I had been lying to all the people I told that I wasn’t racing) and I was very pleased with myself.

This was a very successful venture for me, as I came home with my classification, a silver medal in my first ever race, and the knowledge of what I needed to work on to improve my racing skills (work on using the edges of my ski, and skiing into gates to take a more direct route round the course).

My First Real Ski Trip - Stubai

After a great deal of hurried, last minute planning, I found myself in Stubai, Austria; this was to be not only my first encounter with ParaSnowsportGB (for which I am currently what is known as an invitational athlete), but also my first time skiing outside sitting down (and the first time skiing my own monoski - before I had only used one owned by Disability Snowsport UK on the indoor ski slope in Manchester).

Meeting the members of the ski team proved to be a great experience, everyone was very friendly and welcoming, but the true test happened the next day, when I trialled my monoski for the first time. That first day was hard. I was very tired and found it difficult to adjust to the new terrain and ski, and toppled over much more than I was used to. I finished the day feeling rather annoyed with myself, although I was told that I was being hard on myself.

The next day was better, and the day after that even better (even with the 5:45am starts) and I began to enjoy myself more, and I found over the course of the week that my skiing improved immensely. I also learnt many other things, such as how to look after and tune skis for the best performance on the snow.

This trip was also the first time I had come into contact with races and gates, as even when I was a stand-up skier I had never tried this. Due to my inexperience in this area, I did not spend that much time in gates, although I did have a fairly impressive crash whilst skiing a GS race course. I learnt the hard way why an inspection run of a course is necessary, after overtaking the Paralympic skier I was following down, which led to me not hearing the shouts to slow down. I ended up straight-lining the steepest part of the course, this wasn’t going to badly, until I hit one of the gates. After this my monoski and I underwent a series of flips together, around 5 in total, until I eventually came to a stop. After checking I was still conscious, all the coaches had to say to me was how lucky I was that my Mum didn’t see it.

This trip taught me a lot about adapting my skiing to different terrains and slopes, and although I mostly worked on my own with the same coach I have at home, it was good for me to see other skiers with disabilities, especially those who use monoskis like me, I have a lot to learn from the other racers and the coaches too.

I went home determined to get better, and ski faster and with less falls, this trip made me realise just how much I wanted to ski, and from then on the real training began.

How I Got Here

On the day of my first skiing lesson, I was asked the question “where do you want to go with this,” to which I jokingly replied “the Olympics,” only to be told, that with a lot of hard work, it may actually be possible.

I first started learning to ski in a monoski at the indoor ski slope in Manchester; I had lessons through Disability Snowport UK (who have been great for me, I would never have been able to ski, let alone take things this far without them). In the beginning it was hard. I would spend most of the time face first in the snow, mostly losing the battle against gravity. The mornings following a ski lesson, I would wake up to find that my arms had staged a rebellion; in fact it would be the only time my legs worked better than my arms.

Over time I got a lot better, my balance and arm strength improved, and I started to pick up more speed. Watching back videos of myself learning to ski is something I now find rather tedious, as it takes ages for the version of myself in the video to actually do something.

Learning to race in my monoski was always something that was being considered for the future; although it wasn’t until I went to Austria to ski alongside the team for the first time that I realised that this is what I really wanted to do. For quite a long time prior to this I had been aware that some of the coaches and instructors wanted me to take my skiing further (maybe due to the lack of female sit-skiers), but I was waiting for the right time.

Unlike most people associated with ParaSnowsportGB, I never underwent any of the official talent spotting procedures, instead I just happened to be trialling a different style of sit-ski in Manchester at the same time the Performance Director for what was then known as the British Disabled Ski Team was leading a course.

The new skiing configuration did not work for me, I was trialling something called a dualski, which was very similar to the monoski I use now, except this one has two skis on the bottom instead of one, I could not control it at all, as the extra ski meant it was more difficult to turn, and the person who owned it was significantly taller than me, meaning the backrest came far too high up my back, limiting my arm movement (which is pretty important when you ski with your arms).

As a result of these problems, on the day I was being watched, I skied terribly! In fact I was so out of control I ended up knocking myself out and had to be pushed down to the bottom of the slope. Despite this, the performance director came to speak to me at the end of our session and asked if I would like to go to Austria in a few weeks time. (It did later transpire that he did pick up on the fact that I was slightly dazed during this conversation, but didn’t want to ask, in case it was part of my disability.)

From then on everything happened very quickly, the order for my monoski had to be rushed through (in the end it arrived the day before we flew to Austria, which wasn’t bad considering it was late October and the monoski wasn’t due to arrive until December) and lots of last minute plans had to be made. The trip to Austria was the first time I had ever skied on real snow (sitting down, I had skied standing in mountains when I was younger), and done anything with the team. I have since also been to Landgraaf in Holland for my classification, I am now considered an invitational athlete for the team, I cannot wait to find out where else my skiing will take me.

The History of Skiing and Me

My first attempt at skiing was when I was around 6 on holiday with my family. I wasn’t particularly good at it (something I was oblivious to at the time) but I think I enjoyed it.

On this holiday I was taught to ski by a French instructor, all I can remember about this is that I could not understand a word she was saying! (In the video below it is clear that I had misinterpreted at least some of what I was taught.)

I was then taken on a few other ski holidays over a number of years which involved largely the same things as the first, and I can’t really distinguish what I remember from one to another, although I do know that my skiing improved quite a lot over this time.

The next lot of skiing that I can clearly remember was when my legs were just beginning to fail me, I walked high on my toes and I was starting to lose strength in my legs, but my balance was still pretty decent, so I managed to keep up. This was in December 2012, and at this point the rigidity of ski boots was enough to allow me to ski without issue, in fact, it was only when I took my boots off that it could be seen that my legs functioned differently to other people’s in any way.

Around the Easter of 2013, I went on a school ski trip, during this week it became apparent that although I could still ski well (at this point I didn’t consider the problem with my legs a disability - I was still hopeful that it would be something curable), I did fall down a lot more than everyone else. The instructor for my group did repeatedly try to tell me to move more from my knees, as I was using my hips instead, which retrospectively suggests that my knees were weakening, and that I was already compensating for my lack of strength without me realising it. By the end of the week, my falls were increasing in number and I was very tired, and when I got home, my legs felt dead. Despite this I did actually really enjoy this trip, and I am still teased about one of the crashes I had that involved me single-handedly knocking down an entire ski class (my own - not some strange children).

Following that trip I did take part in a ski club on weekends, but it was not long before my legs deteriorated quite quickly, and it became impossible to ski standing up.

I had given up on the idea of skiing, until a Google search led me to Disability Snowsports UK, and I discovered that legs are not needed to ski. I had my first lesson in the monoski around the end of January 2014; I spent most of this time face first in the snow, it was hard work. It was a pure coincidence that just over a week later the 2014 Winter Paralympics began, watching this made me want to work harder at my skiing, and since then, I have not stopped.