By Joe O’Leary, The Mountain Times
We live in an area where folks are born into snow sports. In Sandy and other communities around the mountain, there are lots of kids that start skiing or snowboarding with their parents shortly after they learn to walk. Great mountain access gives the Sandy High School ski team an undeniable upper hand over their competition.
“I’ve been skiing since I was like 18 months old, every year,” junior skier Anika Wipper explained. “It’s definitely cool, since I’ve been doing it for so long that I can kind of teach people little things that I know.” One thing about ski teams is that, unlike many other high school sports, there are countless new people every year that have never skied before joining the team. This creates an additional need for mentorship from head coach Josh Kanable and experienced skiers like Wipper.
Even those who aren’t new to the sport seem to look towards Wipper for guidance.
“I watch her, how she races and her form and I try to mimic that a bit. It makes me better watching her practice and seeing the way she races. She also just gives everyone a lot of solid motivation. She’ll remind us ‘you guys can do this’ and then after races she’ll tell us how good we did and give good feedback,” senior skier Anna Nguyen explained. As her high school career has progressed, Wipper has focused heavily on improving her times to help her team as much as possible.
“Last year was my best season for sure. In most league races I got around sixth place, in the range from like eighth to fifth,” Wipper said. For reference, in league races, there are about 100 other girls Wipper is competing against to try and get the best time possible. Years on the slopes also seem to have shown Wipper that skiing is not only something you need to technically refine over years of practice, but also an ever-challenging mental battle.
“I don’t really talk to anyone at the top of the mountain.I just want to get focused. On race days I make sure I’m eating and drinking water, obviously. Getting my body prepared and getting sleep and that kind of stuff. But otherwise, there’s not really much to prepare outside of getting my mind ready,” Wipper said. Beyond dryland preparation and grueling leg workouts, Sandy’s ski team is tightly bonded.. Wipper epitomizes this.
“State is always really fun… it’s really fun to just bond with the girls for three days. Having those nights to hang out before [competing] is really nice,” Wipper said. Sandy may not quite be a “ski town,” but their snow sport culture is strong. So it’s fitting that the high school’s team has people that live and die by that culture, having as much fun as possible while on the ride.