2019 AST Athlete Journal: Caeden Carruthers

Hey everyone,

    As a long season comes to a close it’s important to look back on your year and learn from your failures and your successes. Through my reflection, I’ve decided this year for me was one of learning, and the steepest learning curve I faced was balance. Before every single race this year, Jonas, Darin or Leslie would radio up and tell me “you just need to be balanced over that outside ski and keep yourself grounded”. Being balanced and keeping my feet on the ground has not only been the key to my success in racing but also was a huge step forward I needed to take into every day of my life. Moving from New Brunswick to Alberta, at the ripe age of 16, to pursue my dream of being successful in skiing meant I would have to almost jump into adulthood head first, with no intentions of turning back. This year I had to learn to balance my last year of high school, my first year on a provincial ski team and on top of that learn to cook, clean, do rehab for lingering injuries and more. In balancing all of these things my life could get stressful but, with a tightly knit group of six athletes and three coaches that I consider to be my family, I had nine incredible people who always had my back with anything I needed. Whether it be someone like Angus to take care of me after I had my wisdom teeth taken out, Ashleigh’s shoulder to lean on when I was down or Drew, Tora or Claire to smile and laugh with through the some of the best times of our lives. I grew not only as an athlete but in every aspect of my life with the help of an incredible team that I wouldn’t trade for anything.

    This season started slow for me after surgery for a shattered clavicle and fractured humerus left me out for Mt. Hood and time in the gym. I felt behind and my lack of confidence caused me to struggle. Though the middle of my season wasn’t all bad, I was still missing my confidence. Just a few weeks ago I had a mental lowpoint in my career racing in Stoneham, Quebec. Darin told me that I had hit rock bottom, but also told me that I needed it to get back on top. I used my talk with Darin and my teammates successes to influence a change in my attitude. Again, somehow, this group of nine different personalities supported me to not only overcome my worst result but also become more confident because of it. After that turning point, I was able to fight with intensity and precision to finish my season strong. In my opinion, towards the end of the year was when everyone on the team finally figured out how to feed off of each other which allowed many of us to get career best results and turn some heads while doing it!

    This season was the best of my life for many reasons. It was my determination to succeed and the support of my teammates named Angus, Tora, Ashleigh, Claire, Andrew, Darin, Leslie and Jonas that allowed me to find balance on and off the ski hill that really takes the cake! Thank you everyone for making this year possible. I’d also like to thank Western GMC, Sporting Life, Descente, Pro Sport Protection for supporting the team along the way!

See you next year,
Caeden