Hayden Walker trains with the Southeastern Alpine Race Camp during the Summer in Mt. Hood, Oregon (Photo Submitted by Hayden Walker)
Snow slush, remote days, and steaming hot chocolate marks the beginning of the holiday season for many. For Hayden Walker, the season begins a series of competitive ski events. As a part of the Sugar Race Team, Walker not only has the opportunity to travel the country, but often does so with a pair of skis attached.
A junior, Walker is predominantly homeschooled, but he took part in Cross Country and is currently taking a weightlifting elective class during fourth block at the high school. For him, this serves as both a way to prepare for the ski season and an opportunity to get to know other students.
“I had to have something that would motivate me [work out], so I just decided I’d join the Cross Country team and that worked out pretty well. I got in good shape,” said Walker. “I enjoyed it and met some good people there.”
Along with the cross-training Walker implements into his training, he also attends ski camps in the summer and winter. Most recently, he attended a ski camp in Copper Mountain, Colorado and had the chance to instruct a few of the younger, developing skiers.
“At various camps I’ve gone to, I’ve played more of an instructor role to littler kids,” said Walker. “Of course, it’s something I love doing: skiing and teaching that to people not only helps me, but them too. I get to learn stuff that maybe they’re struggling with and apply that to myself and vice versa.”
In the world of ski racing, Walker is considered to have started the intensive sport relatively late, but this hasn’t deterred him in the least. First slipping into a pair of skis at the age of eight, Walker joined the race team shortly after at the age of ten.
“The only reason I did homeschooling was actually for skiing because in the winter, the ski practices are right after the high school gets out and you have to drive straight over to the mountain in order to be on time,” said Walker.
Once the season commences, Walker will have practices regularly and the training regime will primarily consist of race-specific skills. For Walker, honing in on these techniques is vital in order to meet his goal of becoming the best in the state for his age division.
“The Sugar [Mountain] race schedule is that we have gate practices two to three times a week,” Walker said. “That’s like training the actual courses and going through the motions of what you would do in a race. Other than that, I think the most important thing to do is drills or just have fun skiing. Drills have helped me a lot because it just helps refine your technique and it can make you a better skier.”
The Sugar Race Team competes in a section of the southeastern region composed of only three states: North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. So far, Walker has also gotten the opportunity to race alongside skiers from the West, oftentimes having a slight advantage against his opponents due to the greater range of terrain he has experienced.
“The east coast conditions, like skiing on ice all the time, really brings up strong skiers, tougher than the ones out West,” said Walker. “Then, once you get out West and you get the better terrain and everything, you are a better skier than most of them out there. They get pretty picky. They’re like ‘oh my god, it’s so icy’ and it’s like powder.”
As for Walker’s future, he plans to continue skiing in college, but not necessarily at the most competitive level.
“I don’t know if I’ll race competitively at the highest level in college, but I might do a club team…we’ll see,” said Walker. “I want to try to apply to colleges that are near ski mountains so that if I want to, I can go ski or just be on their lower-stress teams so that I can focus on school.”
Looking forward, Walker is pursuing his academic goals and venturing into a new season of possibilities. He wishes to make the most out of his last few seasons with the team and experience memorable achievements.
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