To this end Nick embarked on a rigorous training programme. He is a member of the elite athlete gym at DCU where he does weight training at least twice a week and also continues to compete in the British Indoor, European and dry slope series of races throughout the summer where he has had several podium positions.
He now has a collection of trophies, medals and even some cash from his podium spots at the 2009 summer and 2010 summer races.
In Sept 2010 he commenced studies at Dundee University but still with his goal of competing in the 2011 World Championships.
Nick tells his story:
I started skiing at the age of 3 and joined a local ski club at Craigavon Golf and Ski Centre. By the age of 5 I was racing every week in the Silverwood Flyers, a small racing league to allow children to experience ski racing.
At the age of 12 I was selected to join the Northern Ireland Children’s race squad. I spent time training on the dry slope in Craigavon and also spent time training on snow at the British Ski Academy based in Les Houches, France. The Northern Ireland squad eventually amalgamated with the squad in the south and at the age of 14 I became one of 3 members of the Northern Ireland squad to be selected for the Irish Alpine ski team. I trained every Sunday on a dry slope south of Dublin and spent considerable time training and racing on snow in Europe. In my first season as a member of the Irish team I was selected as part of a 5 man team to attend the international children’s races in Andorra. These races are only open to national team members and each team must attain an invitation before they can enter. I then competed in the Inter Schools Ski Championships in Les Houches, France and finished in the top 10 in my age group, this improved my seed points enough to attend the British Children’s Championships in Meribel, France. I continued to race for the Irish team during the summer and attended many of the major dry slope races around Britain.
My second year on the Irish Alpine team saw me move away from the children’s team and into the more competitive FIS (International Ski Federation) circuit. In my first year on the FIS team I was selected to be part of a 4 man team attending the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Jaca, Spain. Unfortunately this was in my GCSE year so after the selection, training and festival had ended my time on snow was severely limited and this was the last race I would attend that season. My second year in FIS was again hampered by school commitments as I was entering into my A-levels. However I still managed to attend races in the Czech Republic and Norway and score my best points since I entered into the FIS circuit. My results in the summer snow dome races showed that although my time on snow was limited I had made huge improvements over the past year and this resulted in me being selected for the 4 man team to attend the European Indoor Championships, this was an excellent achievement as the team included 2 members of the team to attend the World Championships in Val D’Isere the following February.
The 2008/9 season started well for me as I was selected to attend the Small European Ski Nation’s Cup in Italy. But again my time on snow was restricted due to my A-levels and this was the only race I attended on snow this season. The summer season has started well for me as I traveled to Glasgow for the 3rd and 4th leg of the British Indoor Grand Prix series, having missed the first 2 races due to exams. This showed that although I have had limited time on snow over the last 3 years I have still made huge improvements as I took 1st place in my age group and followed this good result with podium places in the next 2 races in Hemel Hempstead. With much of the Grand Prix series left I hope to continue with this good form and hopefully collect enough points to be on the podium at the end of the championship series.
Future Plans and Goals
During this summer (2009) a goal of mine is to continue with my form in the Indoor Grand Prix Series, I would also like to challenge for a podium spot at the British Indoor Championships and secure a place on the team for the European Indoor Championships to improve on my result from last year.
In the coming winter season I am planning to take a year out and spend the entire season training and racing on snow and secure qualification for the 2011 World Championships in Germany and to continue to hold a place on the team for the next World Championships 2 years later. I also see a goal of mine to be securing a place representing Ireland in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia.
In order to achieve this goal I have decided to take a gap year before going to university so that I can concentrate completely on qualification for the world championships. To be eligible for the world championships I must reduce my FIS points to 140 or lower. I see this as a very achievable goal provided I get enough training on snow and regularly compete on snow during the coming season. This is something which I have struggled to do over the last 3 years due to school commitments during GCSE’s and A-Levels.
As well as spending time training on snow, dry land training is also very important. Fitness plays a huge part in ski racing and all aspects of fitness need to be worked on in order to improve my goal. I am currently working on putting together a fitness programme which will include Olympic lifting, upper and lower body strength, conditioning, speed and agility as well as working on my flexibility. This will be something which I continue to work on throughout the summer and during autumn training. I can then continue to work on it during training camps as the programme has a structure which will allow gym work to take place. A typical day is structured as follows:
• 07:00 – 09:00 Slalom training
• 09:30 – 10:30 Breakfast
• 10:30 – 11:30 Video analysis
• 13:00 – 14:00 Lunch
• 14:30 – 16:30 Slalom training
• 17:00 – 18:30 Gym
• 19:00 – 20:00 Ski Prep
• 20:00 – 21:00 Dinner
• 22:00 Bed
This plan can be altered to include more dry land training and time in the gym depending on the time of year and snow conditions.
During this time I will travel with my National team coach to the races and will spend time training with him and other training groups.
As the FIS calendar has not been completely set I have not been able to plan past mid January at this point but I do intend to race and train until the British Land National Championships in April. By the end of the season I will hope to have qualified for the world championships and have my FIS points below 140.
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