George has been skiing with his family on holidays since the age of 5 and loved going away to the mountains.  On one such holiday at an activity camp, Geogre was spotted by the Head Coach at Midland Ski Club (MSC) and asked to join the club as he showed great promise.

In January 2018, the whole family joined MSC to enable George to build on his talent. Now, after 3 years, 22 sets of skis and thousands of miles driven around the country for competitions,  George is now currently one of the top U14 ski racers in the country.

George finished the outdoor season in the UK ranked 12th out of all the U14 male skiers in his first proper season of racing.  Many of his competitors had 4 more years racing experience than George. His final race before the early end of the season due to COVID19, was the Anglo Scottish Championships in Pila, Italy, where he finished 8th in the Slalom, 3rd in his year of birth. No mean feat for a lad from Brum that was training on a 100m dryslope in Small Heath.

At the start of the first national lockdown, George had to improvise. Garden cirucuits and balance boards in the lounge, were all used to keep him fit and build strength and flexibility.  103 days went by with no skiing and then the day came where he was allowed to ski again. 

It became evident from June 2020 that all the work he had put in at home had paid off. Through the summer and into the Autumn of 2020 George travelled up and down the country to train with Academies and teams in the UK.  All of the coaches involved were really impressed with the progress that he had made and it was showing in his times.  He was now beating nearly all of the skiers that were ranked above him and his appetite for competition had not dwindled one bit. 

The pandemic was obviously presenting many problems for sport all over the UK and skiing was no exception.  There were to be no seeded races indoor or outdoor for the 2020 season, which was a huge disappointment for George as he would not be able to see officially where he now stood in the UK U14 rankings.

There were 2 unseeded open races that took place in the UK in 2020, at Stoke and Welwyn Garden City.  George won both of these in the U14 category and was 4th overall at Stoke and 9th overall at Welwyn.  A great achievement racing against some of the best U16, U18, U21, senior and masters skiers in the country!

It is unlikely that George will to get to the mountains to train this season.  He has been approached by one of the top UK teams that are based out in Austria to see if he would be interested in spending the rest of the 2021 season with them training to improve more and prepare himself for the 2021/22 season as a first year U16 skier.  This is a real feather in his cap as it shows that he has been recognised as one of the most promising skiers in the UK setup. Hopefully, he will be aiming for a GB team selection in the near future.

George has taken all of this in his stride and has used competing as his main motivator.  He doesn't want to see himself fail when he knows that if he had trained harder it could have made the difference.  There is no substitute for ski time on snow, but he is certainly making up for it with all his land based training with his gymnastics, cardio and strength training with his Personal trainer.

The last week has seen a huge deal of excitement around his skiing with articles in The Birmingham mail, radio piece on BBC WM, a fleeting bit on BBC Breakfast with Dan Walker and in several National newspapers, as well as recording pieces for Channel 4 and 5 news. George has taken this all in his stride and looks forward to the day he can compete again on snow, as do we!

Good luck George, the future looks bright.