AST Athlete Journal: Kyleigh McConnell
Hi everyone!
I cannot believe the season is already over, and this is my final athlete journal! As some of you may know, this will be my last season ski racing, and this fall I am going to University at U of C for engineering. While I am excited for this new challenge and part of my life, the school and learning how to coach, I am very sad to see this part of my life end. This season was so much fun! From the cool places we traveled to, including Saas Fee and Chile, to my awesome teammates, and everything else, I am so so grateful I got this opportunity. I have also been enjoying the end of the season as I transition from spring racing in Sun Peaks to mountain biking in Moab!

A little bit about my ski racing career:
My first time skiing was in White Water, when my parents put me in the ski daycare but I knew I belonged out skiing, not sitting inside! My Uncle made a deal with me that if I did well in daycare in the morning, he would teach me to ski in the afternoon. That day I fell in love with skiing, and it became the biggest part of my life for the next 14 years!

I joined Lake Louise Ski Clubs when I was 5. Stephanie (Stepha) was my first ever ski coach, and as most bonds in ski racing, it was a lifelong one. She went on to nanny me, as well as help out with TransRockies, and she became family. Lake Louise in general became a family. Growing up training on Juniper Jungle, and eventually Men’s, with mountain and park skiing in the afternoon created adventures and challenges. All of the coaches and teammates I have had throughout the years have had enormous impacts on not only shaping my ski racing career but the person I was becoming through ski racing. For my last year of U8, my parents and I decided I would join the U10+ group to see how it would go. I loved the challenge, and for anyone who didn’t know me at that age, I was so deep in my love for skiing. The rest of the years flew by as Istarted to work harder and train more. While working as hard as I could off and on the hill, I also made sure to find some time for the adventures, for the powder laps in Westbowl, for learning to 360 the larges, and for touring days with my family.

Just like everyone else, I had to deal with a Covid year. This year, first year U16, was very tough for me. The endless training with no races to challenge or benchmark me, and endless difficulties like enormous lift lines and no lodges definitely took its toll on me. At one point, I had crashed about 16 times in 14 days! While it was an extremely difficult period for me, I am so grateful that it pushed me to learn those lessons when I did; how to listen to my body, and the importance of taking rest when I need it, as well as taking time to do the other parts of skiing that I love. Second year U16 I qualified for Nationals, which although I got Covid while in Quebec, qualifying for that was a huge highlight for me. I did my first two years of FIS with Lake Louise Ski Club, then I got the opportunity of being on the Alberta Ski Team for this season!
This season had its ups and downs, just like any season. I struggled at some of the races, especially the NorAms and the races at the start of the season. However, I had some good slalom races near the end of the year, and a really good GS race in Bromont where I scored a 66 which was a highlight for me. Although I didn’t have as much success points-wise as I was hoping for, I felt I learned a lot of important lessons, like what was important to me, and what kind of person I want to be. This season I was also working through some fears (everyone should go read Keira’s journal, she did an amazing job talking about this). And although I have not had any big ski crashes like Keira, these past years I have still started to feel more fear for ski racing (and mountain biking), especially in conditions like ice (or mud in mountain biking). But learning to work through those fears was another very important lesson I have begun to learn.

I want to thank everyone who has been a part of my ski racing career. From every teammate who created memories with me, and helped me through the hard times, every parent that helped me out even though I’m not their kid, every coach on and off the hill, everyone who gave me a place to stay, and a massive thanks to my parents, who supported me through more than they ever thought was possible, but who made it all possible. Another huge thanks to all of the AST sponsors; GMC Dealers of Alberta, Karbon Sports, Genstar Canada, Mountain Fire Foods, and Gear Up Mountain Sports.
