Stereotypes of a Freestyle Skier by Conner Q

Conner Quigley

The stereotypes of a Freestyle skier in F minus

Freestyle skiers are quite often stereotyped to be something they are not. A study of freestyle skiers proves frequently they are respectful, honest, intelligent, trustworthy all around great people who don’t f minus life. For anyone wondering, a freestyle skier is someone who focuses his/her time on the mountain hitting jumps and doing tricks. Freestyle skiers can be great people both on and off the mountain. What I want to prove to everyone is that not all skiers are pot heads, freestyle skiers are not dumber than rocks, why freestyle skiers are not stuck up, and lastly the idea that freestyle skiers are not party animals.

A sad world that follows with freestyle skiers is that they are all pot heads. Basically a pot head is someone who smokes marijuana any chance they can. Although I am seeing more and more skiers smoke the drug, the truth of the matter is more people as a whole are smoking. The end result is more freestyle skiers smoking, yet also following is that more people are switching to freestyle skiing. With that said, a lot of freestyle skiers do not have time to be getting high when they could be working on a new trick or reviewing videos of themselves to better a trick or better their form. My best friend is a freestyle skier and although he is not the best, he qualifies, and he doesn’t smoke anything because he believes it slows down the human body. To back my great friend up, many studies conducted, by numerous organizations, it has been proven that marijuana slows brain activity. Livescience, Sciencedaily, and Global Change have all found research connecting marijuana to delayed or stopped brain development. This does not help the dumber than rocks analogy that gets associated with skiers.

 Dumber than rocks, slower than molasses, drop-out, these are just some of the common names that get attached to freestyle skiers. In truth, freestyle skiers are incredible math students. The reason for math being the subject of choice is because they are constantly assessing their environment to determine the angle, speed, and direction they should hit a jump. On top of all that, they are adjusting for snow conditions, wind conditions, how the board is responding to the takeoff and landing of the jump, then what trick to do all in seconds. What is even greater is the fact that professional skiers can become millionaires doing what they love. For example Tom Wallacsh and Simon Dumont make money for every appearance, every time they win a comp, and for every movie they make. With rich, you sometimes get stuck up, and no one like a stuck up, cocky, celebrity.

Being stuck up, or thinking you are all that and a bag marbles, is commonly associated with freestyle skiers. Though if they were truthfully stuck up ,why are they so great to their friends, families, and fans? What most likely started this common stereotype for freestyle skiers is jealousy. Lots of skiers want to become professional someday. In the end, they realistically get old and furious over the ones who made it to becoming professional. As a freestyle snowboarder, I run into a lot of freestyle skiers. They are some of the most chill, respectful, honest human beings to be around. If you look at the recent snowsport community, a professional snowboarder sadly passed away in a terrible freestyle accident. To honor her, the entire snowboard/skiing community dedicated X Games this year just to her. That takes a lot of respect to honor another sport and person from that sport like everyone did.

Freestyle skiing comes with a lot of stress, as does most sports and its noted that most skiers find themselves at the biggest parties. With any group their are those who tend to ruin it for everyone. Every group has those few who like to party. It’s no different with freestyle skiers. The truth of the matter is that freestyle skiers simply know they can’t be getting drunk the night before an event. They know it will affect their health for the next day. A major competition can be the make or break of a skiers career and they know not to crush that chance by living it up getting wasted the night before. Therefore, skiers should be getting be the respect they deserve for being responsible partiers.

Freestyle skiers have lots of stereotypes that haunt them, for example, they are assumed party animals and associated with being unintelligent. In this break down of freestyle skiers it  is clear that, they are in fact very intelligent, wealthy, smart, and know what to do with their time instead of getting drunk the night before. My best friend is someone who loves to freestyle ski but does not smoke marijuana or any drugs for that matter because he knows it will negatively affect his skill level. Not every freestyle skier is a model citizen but majorities stand to be great examples. Freestyle skiers are not all what they get stereotyped to be.