August 6, 2025 • 47 mins
In this episode of the Braun Performance & Rehab Podcast, Dan is joined by Kiki Alexander to discuss her journey surrounding ski racing and how she has overcome injuries during this time.Kiki Alexander is a 23-year-old alpine skier from Cochrane, Alberta, and a proud member of the Canadian Women’s Ski Team. She joined the national team in 2022, but unfortunately that season came to a quick stop when she injured her knee. After rehabbing for a year and a half she made her return to the World Cup circuit in November 2024 in Levi Finland. Currently ranked 54th in the world in Slalom, Kiki is known for her relentless work ethic, and magnetic presence both on and off the hill. Off the slopes, Kiki is passionate about fashion, outdoor adventures and sports. She has been working on a project called Koko by Kiki for a few years now and hopefully she has something to share with us soon.For more on Kiki be sure to follow @kiki_alexander_*SEASON 6 of the Braun Performance & Rehab Podcast is brought to you by Isophit. For more on Isophit, please check out isophit.com and @isophit -BE SURE to use coupon code BraunPR25% to save 25% on your Isophit order!**Season 6 of the Braun Performance & Rehab Podcast is also brought to you by Firefly Recovery, the official recovery provider for Braun Performance & Rehab. For more on Firefly, please check out https://www.recoveryfirefly.com/ or email jake@recoveryfirefly.com***This episode is also powered by Dr. Ray Gorman, founder of Engage Movement. Learn how to boost your income without relying on sessions. Get a free training on the blended practice model by following @raygormandpt on Instagram. DM my name “Dan” to @raygormandpt on Instagram and receive your free breakdown on the model.Episode Affiliates:MoboBoard: BRAWNBODY10 saves 10% at checkout!AliRx: DBraunRx = 20% off at checkout! https://alirx.health/MedBridge: https://www.medbridgeeducation.com/brawn-body-training or Coupon Code "BRAWN" for 40% off your annual subscription!CTM Band: https://ctm.band/collections/ctm-band coupon code "BRAWN10" = 10% off!Ice shaker affiliate link: https://www.iceshaker.com?sca_ref=1520881.zOJLysQzKeMake sure you SHARE this episode with a friend who could benefit from the information we shared!Check out everything Dan is up to by clicking here: https://linktr.ee/braun_prLiked this episode? Leave a 5-star review on your favorite podcast platform
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to another episode of the Brown Performance and
Rehab Podcast, powered by Isofit and Firefly Recovery. Isofit is
my go to for all things isometric strength training. For
more on Isofit, be sure to check out isofit dot com.
Episodes like this are made possible by Firefly, the official
recovery provider of the Brown Performance and Rehab Podcast. For
(00:22):
more on Firefly, be sure to check out Recovery firefly
dot com. This episode is powered by doctor Ray Gorman,
founder of Engage Movement. Learn how to boost your income
without relying on sessions. Get a free training on the
Blended practice model by following at Ray Gorman DPT on Instagram.
Kei Key, Welcome to the podcast. I'm super excited to
(00:43):
work with you today. For people who aren't familiar with
you and all the amazing things you're doing in the
fisky space, in particular in Canada, would you mind fill
them in a bit about who you are and all
the great stuff you've got going on.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yeah. For everybody who doesn't know me, my name's Keithy Alexander.
I'm going to my fourth year on the Canadians ski
team and I grew up in Alberta through the Alberta system,
skied for the Sunshine Alpine Racers, moved up onto the
Alberta team, and then made the national teams. So that's
the gist of it.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
No, for sure, for sure, and obviously you've got this
awesome honor of representing your country on the national stage
that way and skiing. I got to know, how did
we get here, Kiki, because obviously not every skier gets
to the level that you're at, and you know, I
don't think you got there by accident, So I'd love
to hear a little bit more about kind of the
(01:36):
journey that got you to where you are today.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah. Absolutely, Well it's kind of funny because I actually
started skiing and racing at the same time. So when
I was six years old, my parents were like, we
need a winter sport, considering we live in somewhere that
is winter most of the year. So they put myself
and my two siblings into a race program basically just
(02:00):
learn how to ski so we could ski as a family,
and then you know, we kind of fell in love
with it from there and let the competitive nature take
over and here we are. But yeah, when I grew up,
I guess I played, like a lot of sports have
always been quite competitive and on the athletics side, so
(02:20):
you know that personality kind of drives you.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
No, absolutely, absolutely, that's amazing. I love that you're able
to kind of get started so young. That's something that
I'm finding more and more amongst people in the ski
community that if they kind of make it in the
racing space, it seems like they tend to start at
a pretty young age that way. I mean, I didn't
really quite make it merely as big of a deal
(02:45):
as you did, but my dad started me when I
was like fifteen months old, eighteen months old or something
crazy like that. It certainly seems like skiing is one
of those sports that pays dividends. When you start at
a younger age, it's almost like it becomes second nature
and you remember it, just like you can to remember
how to walk. That way, It's like now I might
only get out a week, maybe two a year, but
I can still hit the slopes and just kind of go,
(03:07):
just because it's almost like second nature and ingrained that way.
I'm interested to hear more when you were young. I'm
assuming they typically start people with like the slal and
and that sort of thing. But how did the racing
kind of career evolve that way from when you started
at age six to kind of where we're at now
and the race that we do now.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah, well, so I actually started learning how to spee
out of Nikiska, which is basically an hour away from Calgary,
and it's i would say more just like kind of
a beginner's hill where it's just mostly like groom runs.
So I basically just like grew up learning like fundamental
technique and you know, all that type of stuff. And
(03:45):
when I guess I was that age, we didn't really
race much, you know, it was just kind of out
to go skiing. And then when I got slightly older,
when I changed to the Sunshine Alpine Racers, that's I
feel like when my career really started to kind of
take off where it wasn't necessarily just learning how to
be a good racer, but just kind of a overall
(04:08):
like general like good skier. And my coaches were always
so funny there, like let's not just be the best
racer today, Like let's let's be the best skier on
the mountain. That doesn't necessarily just mean racers, so we
would like I love to free ski, you know, like
love me a good powder day, you know, takes back
to the roots of just like the fundamentals of just
(04:28):
like loving skiing, not just the whole ski racing.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
So and I think that there's something to be said
about that concept of maybe the best skier not just
the best racer that way, because I've found that a
lot of times, like as much and as intertwined skiing
and racing are, a lot of times people don't really
understand what all goes into racing and what kind of
differentiates the race crowd from just your kind of general
(04:55):
ski crowd. That way, I always love to hear people's
takes on like how they prep for a race and
that sort of thing. And I've heard crazy stuff from
you know, getting to the mountain like four hours before
the race for waxing and all these different crazy things
that way. I'd love to hear more about kind of
what race day looks like for you that way, Kiki,
how do we kind of prep to go on kind
(05:16):
of a big event, big stage that way?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, Well, it's super funny because when you actually, like
I guess, get the schedule or whatever for race day,
it's like, oh, it's pretty chill, like start at ten.
You know, people don't necessarily like know that on a
race day that starts at ten, we're probably waking up
at around five point thirty in the morning, you know,
five in the morning. So basically, I guess if I
(05:42):
run you through my race day routine, it's like I
wake up early in the morning, and then I basically
kind of do my morning routine of you know, like
brushing my hair, washing my face, going down to breakfast,
and then after breakfast, I come back and do an
off hill like hotel warm up just to get the
body moving. And then after that we either are like
(06:03):
usually close to the hill, so we like drive or
like walk over to the hill, and then that's when
we start doing our like on snow warm up we'll
do depending on I guess what time, like inspection is.
We either warm up before after inspection, so those ones
kind of alternate depending on the destination. And then after
(06:26):
that I basically we wait till start time and then
start time. We in between I guess all of this,
we have like four other warm ups that we do,
one when we're just like in the lodge, and then
one basically like at the top in the start with,
using like bandwork and stuff like that, and then we
go and race, and then the day's not over there
(06:47):
because when I race slow them, it's a two run race.
So then we have to go back up, reinspect a
new course, rewarm up, and then do our second run.
And then that's basic.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
And it's so interesting to hear you say that because
a lot of the times I've worked with skiers that
are kind of super g or that sort of thing
that way where it's not necessarily two runs a day
all the time. So obviously, like you mentioned, having that
opportunity to make a second run, I think changes things
because a lot of the times for the skiers it's
(07:19):
like you have one shot and it's got to be perfect.
But even like you said, you know, you get to
scout out the course and that sort of thing, but
like depending on what you drew, and if you know,
say you're going last in the group that way, like
that course is going to look drastically different than what
it did when you first scouted it out that way,
Like it just changes so much, I feel. So it's
(07:41):
like you never really get the course that you're after,
I think, unless you're like maybe the first one or
maybe the second one to run down it that way.
But I like that concept of having two runs in
the same day because I know, at least from what
I've seen and experienced, ski racing can be such a
mentally challenging sport. It's like, you get there so early,
you put all this time in and prep work in
(08:03):
for one run, and if it doesn't go your way,
then it's like, well, shoot, now what versus at least
if you get that kind of redemption shot same day,
it's like, hey, if the first one doesn't go well,
you know what, I'm going to go all out on
this next one. Or maybe if the second one didn't
go well, maybe at least the first one went well
or something. I like that concept of having, you know,
two races in the same day.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I think, yeah, no, absolutely, And it's kind of funny
because right now, I guess where I am in my career.
I'm quite fresh on the World Cup, Like last season
would have been my very first year skiing on the
World Cup, So that's it's kind of a different routine
in a way from what I'm doing, say World Cup
versus like nerance, you know, like in Nerans It's like
(08:46):
I am usually in the top like fifteen startings, so
like my schedule and all of that looks way different,
say than when I'm starting a World Cup, when I'm
starting kind of further back in the pack, and you know,
like that type of just slight change too, which is
super interesting.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Now if people aren't familiar with kind of the ski
race structure, and you throughout the term world Cup that way,
I think a lot of times people who aren't familiar
with skiing here that and they think, oh, yeah, soccer
once every four years, would you mind kind of explaining
to them kind of what the international ski race scene
kind of looks like that way?
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Yeah, absolutely, So, I guess the highest level of ski
race in is World Cups, and between a guy across
all four disciplines, there's a round I want to say,
like nine races per discipline of World Cup in a season.
(09:43):
For me, I only race slallong World Cups, so I
guess like I only have like the nine starts, but
there are multi athletes who race along I guess all
four events. And then beneath world Cup we have Europa
Cups and norms. So Europa Cup is basically the just
(10:05):
step down, but European based, I guess like races, and
then the norms are the North American races just under
World Cup as well, and then after that we have
like national championships and FIST races, which are also quite
competitive depending on where you are especially.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
No, absolutely, absolutely, the competition level is extremely high, and
it's one of those things that I feel like here
in the US where I am, I don't know if
people fully grasp and understand the magnitude that ski racing
has that way, especially if they haven't really seen what
goes on in some of the other countries in the world,
like the European ski race scene and some of that
(10:44):
sort of thing. That way, it truly is an incredible,
remarkable sport, and I always talk about the demands of
it because I feel like every ski racer has got
some kind of horror story, from you know, toenails falling
off because the boots that are so fricking tight anything
for like know, one hundredth of a second faster, to
the speed suits that really don't offer you much warmth
(11:05):
whatsoever on the freaking coldest days. Like it is incredible
how demanding the sport is that way. In all regards
not just the mental and physical prep, but even just
the ability to kind of endure some rather uncomfortable situations.
For lack of a better way to put it, I'd say.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Yeah, no, definitely. It's uh, if you're a ski racer,
you're probably not going to go into the foot modeling industry,
let me tell you that. But yeah, no, it's it's
definitely interesting. Especially I would say the difference between racing
in North America versus Europe. Like the first time I
(11:42):
ever race in Europe was actually a World Cup and
it was just like super eye opening because I feel
like ski racing in Europe is also just more I guess,
just more popular. You know, it's one of like a
main extreme sport over there. So just like the crowds
(12:03):
were like super different, and you know even just like
the vibe and the start and stuff like that. But
it's yeah, just super cool being able to like travel
to different places and seeing how we're doing the same sport,
but it's just like different environments and you know, even
like with like weather's you know, I feel like skiing
(12:25):
is one of those sports that it's never it's never
the same, ever consistent. You know, you could be racing
somewhere where it's like super warm and the snow is
really soft, or you know, it's super cold and the
snow is really soft, but it's a different soft, or
it's like bulletproof, and you know, there's so many moving factors,
but it's what keeps the sport super, super fun and interesting.
(12:49):
That's for sure.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Absolutely no, for sure. And as you mentioned, there's something
to be said about kind of the difference that you
see when you kind of ski in some of these
different places, and even just the disciplines within skiing itself.
Like we've mentioned a few times the U Ski slalom,
which hats off to you so much respect for that
because I just like to go fast. I'm not a
very technical guy. It's just like, yeah, I'm very much
(13:13):
built for like a super G kind of thing. And
if you look at the skis that I ski on,
you would see that and you'd be like, yep, that
makes sense. The slalom is like the balance of that
kind of speed while also controlling it and being so
technical and making all these quick turns and stuff. And
I don't know how y'all do it, because I certainly cannot.
I'm not built like that, and I just I don't
(13:35):
know why, I've just never really quite grasped that concept
that way. But it's almost like it's almost like you
gotta like sit there and kind of map out like
when you're turning and almost like perfect this run in
your head, and then you go out and actually physically
perform it and do it that way. Like the technical
element is something like I've never seen before that way,
(13:56):
And it's like we talked before, it seems like there
was something that you were kind of like very much
kind of pushed in too early on that way. It
sounds like you didn't really mess around with any of
the other kind of disciplines of ski racing that way, or.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
No I did. I actually I grew up skiing all
all four disciplines. It's funny actually first year fifth I
did a lot of speed actually, but then when once
I made the upbarded scene, we were kind of more
tech focused. And I think I always liked slalom more
than I liked GS ever since I was young, just
(14:31):
because I feel like I was a soccer player too,
so I feel like just you know, being quick on
your feed has always been kind of in my natures
so that kind of pushed me a little bit closer
to slalom. But no, I do ski actually on all
four disciplines only slaw and World Cup, but gs and
speed Nora ms as well, and I'm I guess like
(14:54):
recently have been getting back more into speed post post
knee injuries. So that's it's been exciting absolutely, no for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
And you brought up the knee injury, and I know
there's been a few injuries that have occurred that way,
which is one of those things that I've found in skiing,
it's not always a question if. It seems to be
a question of when given the sport that way, I
feel like every skier that I've met and talked with
has gotten hurt at some point or another. And maybe
(15:24):
it's you know, headmeads tree, maybe it's knee moves in
a way we don't want it to, or we catch
an edge, whatever it is. That way, it just seems
like the sport, as fun and as exciting and as
just adrenaline pumping as it can be, lees carry a
little bit of risk to it that way. So I'd
love to hear more about kind of the injuries that
you've faced in relation to your ski career, Kiki, and
(15:46):
how do we overcome those and get back to the.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Slopes and so yeah, well, I guess, like you said,
as much as ski racing is super fun and you know,
we talk about the glory of it all, there are
obviously risks to every single sport out there.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Skiing just happens to be one that does have a
pretty high risk, even though we are in pretty controlled areas,
just like with the speed and how much like forces
you're putting into the ski for it to bend and stuff.
But yeah, I I guess it would have been December
(16:24):
of twenty twenty two I got injured training GS. It
would have been right after Christmas, his first day back
on snow, and I just kind of went over a
roller a little weird juice my ski and the shots
ended up crashing. I ended up tearing my ACL lateral
(16:45):
meniscus and then fracturing my for more condo, which is
like the head of the femur, and then ended up
getting surgery. Well, I guess I flew home, got surgery
seven days later, and then wasn't on snow for around
eleven months. So there's a big, big rehab.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Very difficult time, and I find for a lot of
ski athletes that way, it's difficult for them to face
those injuries because they're off snow for so long, and
it's like, you know, on one hand, they understand that
skiing tends to be seasonal in most parts of the world,
and maybe they're not going to be on the mountains
in July. But on the other hand, the thought of
not physically being able to do the thing they've always
(17:28):
done since they were a kid, often very young, Like
we said, it's very difficult for them to kind of
grasp and wrestle with that way. And the other thing
I've heard quite a bit about from some ski racers
is after they come back from that injury and they
get back onto the slopes so or they start racing again,
there's something like mentally that exists as almost like a
(17:49):
little bit of a block for them that way as
they're trying to kind of return to the sport in
their high level of performance that way. Did you kind
of feel or experience anything similar to that yourself.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah, I honestly, my rehab when I was no was
actually surprisingly positive. I want to say. I know, like
a lot of people really struggle with with the you know,
staying positive and you know, obviously missing the sport because again,
it is something that you start doing, you do every
(18:24):
single day since you were six years old, basically, and
then all of a sudden you can't do it anymore.
But during yeah, I guess during my rehab I was
surprisingly positive and really you know it, was patient with it,
took it one day at a time. I also, for me,
I'm I love learning, so I really like took the
(18:45):
opportunity to you know, learn things about you know, like
myself and you know, other other hobbies that I guess
I wouldn't necessarily be able to do when I was
still skiing, you know, So I think in that regards,
I found that part of rehab actually quite not easy,
(19:07):
but easy in that way. But I'd say the hardest
part has definitely been the once I came back and
it was back into racing and then not racing for
two years, having to learn how to rerace. That was
definitely one of the bigger struggles for me, especially because
I guess it would have been in this past season,
(19:28):
I guess, you know, relearning how to you know, be
like confident, being like, oh yeah, no, you got this.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Yeah, No, absolutely, absolutely, it's certainly different. And it's one
of those things that I feel like, you know, regardless
of how much you prep and how much like you know,
off snow work, you do, nothing quite fully mimics the
effects that you get when you're kind of at the
starting gates on snow again and you're like, well, this
(19:57):
is it. But I think it's so great to hear
that you you had such a positive kind of off
snow rehab experience, because I find a lot of times
for skiers and high level ski athletes that way, depending
on their kind of situation and set up, sometimes the
off snow rehab experience they feel doesn't fully prepare them
to return to the sport and they start to have
(20:19):
these kind of like mental doubts about the return that way.
And I think that one of the most important things
with skiing is just kind of understanding the demands that
the sport places on the body that way, and also
the level of the skier and kind of what y'all
are doing that way as you go through the turns.
Just like from a biomechanic standpoint, like it's very forceful,
(20:40):
it's very violent, it's a little bit backwards to the
minds of people that haven't skied before. Like something about
the concept of leaning forward while going down a hill
just doesn't seem to like stick in people's brains for
some reason. But it's something that like, in order to
do it at the high level, like you really have
to be super super aggressive. So I find as a result,
(21:01):
and maybe this is just me and my bias as
a physical therapist talking, but I find we have to
be fairly aggressive in our rehab approach. Is because the
sport itself is aggressive in nature. Yeah, maybe it doesn't
have the direct contact of something like football, but I
just find that you really have to like attack skiing
kind of like you would attack any contact sport that way,
(21:23):
just do to the nature of the sport itself.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
I think, yeah, absolutely, it's It's it's super funny because
I feel like there's always, you know, the balance of
being patient but also still pushing yourself, you know. So
I feel like early on in my rehabit it was
like the Okay, I need to be patient even though
I want to do more, you know, and that was
(21:45):
something I had to learn of, you know, sometimes it's
okay to just take a little step back in order
to make way more gains, you know. But then once
you get to the part where you know you actually
trust yourself physically, and it's just like, okay, now it's
now you have to take that leap, you know, and
really kind of sometimes just jump two feet deep into
(22:07):
like certain things. And also I feel like during rehab
and stuff like that with every athlete is different, you know.
I know, there's like so many things where it's just like, oh,
this person like is already back and they got injured
after me, like you know, and I'm like, I know,
like a bunch of young athletes here in Alberta who
have like just recently done their knees and they've been
(22:29):
asking me and stuff, and I was like, you know,
you the last that you want to do is start
comparing your rehab process to other people, you know, because
everybody is super different with how they advance. And also
sometimes sometimes your injury is just to teach you patients,
you know. And then you know, just like it tests
(22:51):
everybody differently, and I think if you kind of you
almost have to go with the flow a little. But
then when it's time to jump, it's like, Okay, I
prepared myself for.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
This so absolutely, and even just thinking back and seeing
some of the videos that you put out about your
rehab process on snow too, just carrying over all those
things that you did off snow onto the slopes once again,
and you know, just doing some of those basic drills
that like you probably did when you were like ten
years old. But it's like, hey, we're gonna bring those
(23:24):
back and redo those. You know, Hey, can I make
the turns that I want without holding poles? Or can
I unbuckle my boots and then ski down so I
can you know, make sure I stay neutral and then
slowly progress and ramp up. Like I think you had
a video back in like March or April time frame
last year, don't quote me on that that like just
showed like all the different like on snow progressions that
(23:47):
you did over and over and over again kind of
building back up. And I thought that was the coolest
frickin thing to see, because it's like no one ever
really shows that side of thing. It's like they show
kind of like the off snow rehab stuff, but it's like,
how do we carry this over and transfer it into
what has you know, maybe some meaning to the athlete
because a lot of athletes I work with, they don't
(24:08):
care about how many squats I make them do. They
just care about what they do on the snow after all.
And I think it's really cool to kind of see
and just showcase and highlight that progression that you had
going back onto the snow that way. What was your
what was your kind of thoughts and experience looking back
on that just with that progression through kind of getting
back onto the snow. I know you mentioned the value
(24:30):
of patients and some of the other lessons that come
along with that, But do you have any other kind
of thoughts or advice based on how that went for
you that way after your knee?
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Yeah? Absolutely, I totally think that when you go through
an injury, you take it as an opportunity to fix
the flaws that you had before, you know, because you
are you're starting back from the basics regardless, you know. So, yes,
sometimes doing snowplow turns and sliding turns can get boring,
(25:02):
but you know, I feel like when you're doing it
and in the time, it's just like, well, you know what,
I'm going to make this the best noeplout turn I've
ever done in my entire life, you know, and being
able to actually rebuild your foundation and you know, find
that like stack position and like say a strong position
that maybe you weren't necessarily getting to before. And when
(25:24):
you are going through a rehab, you have you have
the time to be able to build from that again.
So I think like, during like my rehab, I feel
like that's something that I really tried to ingrain into
my brain, like, and that was kind of a motive
to be patient. It's just like, you know what if
I'm patient with this, but I could still be so productive.
(25:46):
You know. It's just like I like, oh, yeah, before
maybe I was a little shifty. So now that I
could bring it back to the basics, let's find that
good position. So then when I am where I am
now and being able to skate full volume, I don't
have to think about that because I fix it or
like you know, it's just kind of become second nature.
So I think that's one thing that's such a hidden
(26:08):
gem in a injury is that sometimes like you gotta
go back into the slow lane to rebuild to be
faster than the foster lane.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Absolutely no, I love that, And it's so interesting to
me because at some point in our progression, we stop
doing the stuff that you know, to use your words,
we consider to be in the slow lane, Like we
kind of like phase out of those things because we
feel like we've mastered them and advanced beyond them enough.
And so on that line. One of the things that
I've personally just been like thinking about so so much
(26:42):
lately is like, what if we didn't fully remove those
from our programs, Like what if instead we kind of
kept those in as part of like maybe an extended
warm up series that way, just to kind of remind
the body about some of these different skills and qualities
we need in order to ski at a level that way,
because I've found, at least in a lot of the
(27:03):
racing programs I see, it's almost like a you know,
once you've mastered it, you move on to the next
level kind of thing. Maybe there's elements of that foundation
still in it, but maybe there's things that are also
being missed. So I always kind of think about that
and wonder, like, hey, you know, are we still hitting
enough of those different qualities. And I think one of
the things that you mentioned before about just having such
(27:24):
a diverse sporting background yourself that way, I think that helps,
and I think that maybe we almost take that diverse
sport background and almost apply it to the ski world
as well that way, you know, like I personally suck
at moguls, but I should probably get better at moguls
or at least learn to not hate moguls in order
to improve my abilities as a skier, because it kind
(27:46):
of expands by like sport iq or sport vocabulary for
lack of a better way to put it, And it
might give me new ways to solve problems that might
arise that way in relation to the sport, because I
find a lot of the problem solving that occurs in
skiing is almost subconscious. You don't necessarily think about it.
Your body just kind of reacts and does it because
of the speeds in which it all happens at.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Totally, well, it's so funny because I uh, crossing one
of the most fun and important things like for sport.
Like when I was younger, I never went to the
summer camps. I always like just had a summer sport
that I would play, you know, And I think that
(28:29):
really did help me when I came back to skiing,
because also sometimes when you have a break from it,
you're so excited to get back and then it's just
like you're diving into it or like yeah, no. I
think it's like cross training is so important, and I
guess kind of going back to talking about you know
what I said about being in the slow lane, I
feel like that's one thing that I feel like younger
(28:52):
some younger teams kind of miss a little bit because
I feel like they're always just like we're so behind,
we haven't had as much time once, no, so we're
just jumping straight into it. And that's I think the
biggest thing that I've seen between say going from a
provincial team to a national team is that on the
national team, there are moments where we really do like
(29:13):
go in the slow length, you know. And that doesn't
necessarily mean the quality of training is lower, you know,
it just means there's it's easier environments, but like with
high intention, you know, so like in the spring, for instance,
we had a camp in Tromblin and Quebec and that's
like some of the training days that we do, we
(29:34):
would like, you know, we would be skiing stubbies with
super intent, like high intention behind it, but it's less
demanding than saying, you know, skiing a full length song course,
and we would do kind of similar stuff like that
in when in June when we were in Deazelp And
I think that's something that's you know, younger teams can
(29:56):
still you know, adapt to instead of thinking that they're behind,
just kind of and comparing themselves to other teams and
what they're doing. It's just like, you know, sometimes it's
okay because that's those are things that well, you might
be feeling like you're in the slowing right now, but
the progression is going to be crazy.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Absolutely. And on top of that, I found that skiers
tend to peak at different ages, like some think they
peak at like eighteen nineteen and others feel like they
peak at like thirty. So it's like, why are we
going to try and rush that and force them to
peak earlier than they're meant to. That way, it's like,
just let them develop, let things kind of take their course.
(30:35):
And I mean, I think the other piece too, is
like you know, with some of the different ski designs
and different things that exist nowadays, like the new Skis
I have have a rocker profile album. My old skis
did not have any kind of rocker profile album. Let
me tell you what I skied drastically different just by
changing out my equipment. And it's like a lot of
times people think that it's all about, you know, developed
(30:58):
the athlete as quickly as possible so they can race
as quickly as they can as opposed to, Hey, maybe
let's develop them with again such a wide base, like
maybe not even just a wide base, but just like
a such a deep foundation that like nothing can like
shake it right, like it's maybe an inch wide, but
it's a mile deep. Because they know this stuff so
frickin' well and it's just second nature to them. And
(31:20):
then when you do put them on some of the
more aggressive shape skis that exist nowadays, it's like, hey,
they're more comfortable and confident on it because of how
well they know the sport of skiing period. Because I
feel like a lot of the things that I see,
especially from an injury standpoint, like you mentioned, if we're
kind of messing up our progression in skiing and we're
(31:41):
messing up the skill side, which I'm not saying we
are aren't. It's just something that I've noticed happening on
different occasions with different individuals where they're kind of missing
fundamental skills that they need to be doing the things
that they're doing, and it's like we're putting them on
such an aggressive ski that's got such an aggressive profile
that's built for speed and extreme responsiveness, that feels stable
(32:02):
almost regardless of what the snow conditions are. It's like,
no wonder why bad things happen. Sometimes we missed them
marks along the way, we almost missed kind of that
like progression right if you will, and then we put
them on something that is like incredible from a performance standpoint,
but only if you know how to drive it right.
You know, you don't put the kid who doesn't have
(32:24):
a driver's license in a freaking like Nissan GTR or
a Chevy Corvette or something like that. They kind of
like start with like you know, the hand me down
Honda Civic and then get to that point later on
in life. So I think having that similar kind of
mindset in relation to skiing, because I mean the skis
that I've seen, like they are just blowing me away
(32:45):
by what you can do on kind of the occurrent
equipment that way compared to like when I started skiing,
It is like a night and day difference yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Absolutely. Well, it's super funny like talking about equipment and
stuff like that, because I think back to my like
first year fists. I was not as strong as I
am now, and then all of a sudden they put
me onto like an extremely like firm ski and I
just like couldn't bend it, and they're like, oh, like
(33:17):
it's like you like what's happening, And I was like,
I like actually can't ski, Like I just can't bend
the ski, and like those skis theoretically are faster, you know,
but if you can't turn the ski or like you
don't have the proper you know, at that point, I
just didn't have like the proper like foundation technique to
be able to you know, ski on those skis and
(33:39):
like the strinth and stuff like that. So it's not
sometimes it's not always like searching for the best equipment.
Sometimes it's like, you know, you have to become the
skier before you get the you know, advanced.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Al Absolutely now. Obviously part of the skiing though, is
flaunting those awesome appair and that sort of thing. We
used to judge people based on what they were wearing
and stuff that way, and I believe correct me if
I'm wrong, but you've got the Helly Hanson partnership.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Yeah. Yeah, our team is Helly Hansen.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
So you've got the best of the best. Then that
used to be kind of like our like platinum gold
medal kind of thing. It was like, oh, have you
got Helly Hanson, You're the best kind of thing. So
it's amazing how much you know, some of us take
that stuff seriously that way. I'm curious, do you have
any like skis, poles, all that kind of stuff, boots
that you like that way or.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
I've I guess I've been skiing on Rosie Mine basically
my entire life. It was funny my even my very
first pair of skis were ros and Yell and then
just was on that brand ever since. I ski with
Lucky Poles as well, which is quite common I think
for racers. And then last season I started skiing with
(34:57):
Oakley as well, which is awesome because they also just
have really nice stuff for like summer training, and me
and one of my teammates we rode bike and mountain
bike quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
So yeah, Oakley definitely covers it all. And that's coming
from someone who might be biased because I wore Oakley's
when they were like in high school and most kids
my age were like, oh what are those? I'm like, well,
let me tell you. Let me put you onto the Oakleys.
They hit different and like the little sweep profile for
when you're like, you know, biking and stuff. Oh, it's
(35:31):
one of those things that I feel like we might
nerd out over gear a little more than we should.
But it's like until you like experience the difference, you
don't get it. Like it's just those little preferences that
we have really do make a difference.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
I think absolutely.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
And on top of gear, I know you've gotten to
ski all across the world that way. I'm interested here
any top ski places or any places that you've been
that it's just like, hey, the vibes are great. Maybe
a little apre'ze action something like a like what do
we like enjoy from the ski experiences that we've had
across the world.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Oh? Man, you know, I feel like skiing it really
does take you to some pretty pretty od places. My
very first away trip summer like training was in Chile
and La Parva, and I feel like that place will
always have such a special place in my heart because
(36:29):
you know, first camp away with all your friends you're
fourteen years old, like a whole a whole different worlds
down there. So that's probably one of the tops on
my list. Where Else, I feel like, like Europe is
is awesome, you know, I feel like all the all
the ski hills are are great. I really I really
(36:52):
enjoy being in Italy as well. You know, work pretty
lucky because a lot of our staff members are also
from Italy, so we spend quite a bit of time there.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
So but oh man, what a terrible place to be,
my goodness, of all the countries. It's so funny because
we had Cara Brown on the podcast earlier this year
and she was talking about her skiing experiences in Italy
from the mountains and the food and beyond, and it
just seems like such an incredible place to be that way,
(37:23):
And it's interesting. She had also mentioned about some of
the differences in surgical procedures internationally that I didn't realize,
and one of her knee surgeries her surgeon didn't use
anaesthesia for so she was like literally awake during it.
So as much as I love the difference of experiences
that come with new countries and stuff, that way, sometimes
(37:43):
they just kind of make you pause and go like, wow,
I never never would have thought about that, my goodness,
so it's certainly crazy. What exists that way? What advice
do you have for what I'm going to call the
next generation? You know, those athletes that are maybe in
their ski racing programs right now or just learning to ski,
but they know that in the future, Hey, you know
what I want to be just like Kiki. I want
(38:05):
to represent my country, I want to ski internationally. I
want to beat back any obstacle that comes in my path,
whether it's a knee injury or whatever that way, and
just kind of make it to that next level of
skiing that way. What advice do you have for people
like that? From your own experiences?
Speaker 2 (38:21):
You know, this is going to be super, super cruiche,
but always like find the fun in it, because if
you're not having fun and you're not loving it, what's
the point in doing it? You know? And I think
that's been one of the things that has been such
a driving factor for me. Obviously I'm like super competitive
(38:42):
and stuff like that, but if I wasn't enjoying it,
loving it, having like a great time, there's like there's
no way you keep pursuing it, you know. And you know,
I feel like ski racing is one of those things
where you meet so many amazing peace people, Like all
of my best friends are ski ski racers or crass
(39:05):
ski racers, and I think the community that we have
is just like unbelievable. So, you know, I feel like definitely,
you know, have fun, like just have fun. You know,
it's be serious, but don't forget to laugh with your friends.
And I think just finding the joy in every single day,
even on the top, even on the tough days, because
(39:27):
there are tough days. But you know, when you're on
the top of the mountain and you're not skiing very good,
you could just think I could be in school sitting
looking at a whiteboard right now, but instead I'm skiing.
Or you know, there's so many other plate like worst
places you could be than you know, skiing and doing
something that you love. So I think just you know,
(39:48):
having that passion and always coming back to the root
of you know what.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
I love it absolutely. You know they say a bad
day of skiing always beats a good day at work.
Oh yeah, and it's even better when skiing is your work.
But but you know, it's certainly one of those things
that to your point, I think the community aspect is
so important because the ski community is so tight knit,
(40:14):
and I find once you meet like one or two people,
you can pretty much get to know whoever you want.
In the space that way. It's very very small, at
least in kind of the Northeast or in the North
America region that way, And I think it's one of
those things as well that, like a lot of times
when we're growing up, I remember some of the sports
I played when I was a kid, you almost look
at people on your team as like competition. To a
(40:36):
certain extent, it's like, well, I want that person's position,
or like I don't want to lose my spot. I
just want to play. And it's like, I feel like
that mindset doesn't really get you as far as it
should in something like skiing. Like I really feel like
skiing is so powerful and impactful because of how social
and community based the sport is, and I don't always
(40:57):
see that with other sports that way. I just think
it's kind of next level from a social and community standpoint.
And again maybe that's just me and the apre's talking
that way, but it's like, you know, there's something to
be said about being able to kind of hang out
with people and kind of spend time outside of sport
with that, because I think a lot of times people
forget athletes have lives outside of sport, Like even you
(41:21):
probably have a life outside of sport. I know you
mentioned mountain biking and stuff, but I feel like the
last time you talked to me, you told me that
your other personality trait was something about like fashion or
something like that.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
Yeah. Yeah, I actually so when I I guess it
would have been right before I got injured. I actually
enrolled in I guess, a fashion degree of fashion design
degree and ended up finishing it basically on this past
October October twenty twenty four, So I'm officially a certified
(41:55):
fashion designer, which is which.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
Is too fat?
Speaker 2 (41:58):
Yeah, And I loved it say that it's kind of
like my my dual personalities because I feel like, you know,
growing up as like a female athlete, especially, it was
just like, oh, if you want to be a good athlete,
you cannot be a like girly girl, you know you
you almost have to be more of a tomboy. And
I think like now it's like then narrative has like
(42:21):
shifted so much that it's like, no, like you could
be as girl as you want to be and be
a freaking good skier, you know, like or like such
a good athlete, you know, like you look at say
Alona mar you know, like she's the definition of like
feminine and like powerful athlete, which is like super awesome.
(42:41):
So yeah, that's kind of the other half of me
fashion design.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
So where's the fashion design going to be taking you?
You feel? Do you think you're going to be designing
new kind of skiware or maybe new like athleisure for
after a day on the slope or where are we
going with this?
Speaker 2 (43:02):
Well, there's something in the works right now, but that'sn't
been launch store announced yet. But yeah, just been yeah,
working on things. Maybe something will be out in public soon.
But yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
Be on the look for some kind of big announcement,
is what you're telling me, you do? Yeah, I gotta know.
Does it lean more towards the snow side or more
towards the sandside or somewhere in between.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
It'll be somewhere in between, you know, it will revolve
around athletics.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
But so it's always quite comical to me. How many
athletes I hear about in the ski space that after
they decide to wrap up their sport, they literally abandon
the snow in the mountains completely and they go right
for the beach and they're like, you know what, I'm
done with the cold. I am sick and tired of this.
I'm just I want to lay in the sun all day,
every day and just photosynthesize moving forward. It's just so
(43:59):
common to me this to see the switch that occurs
after sport that way.
Speaker 2 (44:04):
Oh yeah, absolutely, just feet in the sand, you know,
no more in the tight boots. We just uh will
live somewhere hot.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
So there is a chance for the foot model career
after all.
Speaker 2 (44:14):
That we'll be like the bone spurs, calm down, the.
Speaker 1 (44:21):
Bone spurs comed No, for sure, for sure. And I
know you mentioned a few times about all the other
sports that you do, and we mentioned a little bit.
We mentioned soccer, mountain biking and so on that way.
What of these things do you like to do that
keep you active outside of just ski and slalom?
Speaker 2 (44:38):
Yeah, well, I guess growing up I also ran track
and field. I was multi athletes, so I did the
hetaf on. Yeah, super fun. I loved it. And then
I guess what else? I played volleyball when I was
younger as well. And it's actually funny. We when we
(45:00):
were in de Zelp this past June, some of the
weather days, there was like an indoor court and outdoor
volleyball court, and not many of the girls had played
much volleyball, but we played so much and we were like,
we just became a volleyball team, and it was really
good games and it was super awesome being able to like,
you know, get everybody playing at a pretty pretty intense
(45:23):
level too. What else do I like? I actually recently
just played in a spike ball tournament actually just outen
can Moore, which is all super fun. And then you know,
I feel like pickleball has been trending, you know, forever
picked that sport up. And then my brother is a
hockey player too, so I I go golfing with him
quite a bit as well. So just being active, you know.
Speaker 1 (45:47):
Literally just named like every sport ever. You're like, yeah,
pickle bowl, spike bowl, mountain biking, soccer, heptathlon, because you know,
one event and track and field is not enough, so
we might as well do them all. My goodness, Yeah, No,
that's awesome. That's awesome, Kiki. This has been really cool
to have a conversation with you and kind of learn
more about you and your skiing journey that way. Is
(46:08):
there anything that we missed as we were chatting today
that you wanted to bring up?
Speaker 2 (46:13):
Oh? I don't think so. I feel like we covered
so much.
Speaker 1 (46:18):
It's amazing what you can cover in a conversation that way,
where people who want to find out more about you
and keep up to date with your journey and obviously
the upcoming season. That way, where can they find you
all at?
Speaker 2 (46:29):
You could find me on Instagram Kiki Underscore, Alexander Underscore
and yeah, that's basically my main platform.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
And we also have to plug Coco by Kiki.
Speaker 2 (46:44):
Correct yes, yes, the Cuckoo Bai Kiki.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
So we'll link to both of those in the description
below that way, if you didn't quite catch them, you
can just click there and see everything that Kiki is
up to. Kiki, this was awesome thing. Thank you so
much for your time
Speaker 2 (47:01):
Thank you so much for having me
Welcome back to another episode of the Brown Performance and
Rehab Podcast, powered by Isofit and Firefly Recovery. Isofit is
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Episodes like this are made possible by Firefly, the official
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(00:22):
more on Firefly, be sure to check out Recovery firefly
dot com. This episode is powered by doctor Ray Gorman,
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Blended practice model by following at Ray Gorman DPT on Instagram.
Kei Key, Welcome to the podcast. I'm super excited to
(00:43):
work with you today. For people who aren't familiar with
you and all the amazing things you're doing in the
fisky space, in particular in Canada, would you mind fill
them in a bit about who you are and all
the great stuff you've got going on.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yeah. For everybody who doesn't know me, my name's Keithy Alexander.
I'm going to my fourth year on the Canadians ski
team and I grew up in Alberta through the Alberta system,
skied for the Sunshine Alpine Racers, moved up onto the
Alberta team, and then made the national teams. So that's
the gist of it.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
No, for sure, for sure, and obviously you've got this
awesome honor of representing your country on the national stage
that way and skiing. I got to know, how did
we get here, Kiki, because obviously not every skier gets
to the level that you're at, and you know, I
don't think you got there by accident, So I'd love
to hear a little bit more about kind of the
(01:36):
journey that got you to where you are today.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah. Absolutely, Well it's kind of funny because I actually
started skiing and racing at the same time. So when
I was six years old, my parents were like, we
need a winter sport, considering we live in somewhere that
is winter most of the year. So they put myself
and my two siblings into a race program basically just
(02:00):
learn how to ski so we could ski as a family,
and then you know, we kind of fell in love
with it from there and let the competitive nature take
over and here we are. But yeah, when I grew up,
I guess I played, like a lot of sports have
always been quite competitive and on the athletics side, so
(02:20):
you know that personality kind of drives you.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
No, absolutely, absolutely, that's amazing. I love that you're able
to kind of get started so young. That's something that
I'm finding more and more amongst people in the ski
community that if they kind of make it in the
racing space, it seems like they tend to start at
a pretty young age that way. I mean, I didn't
really quite make it merely as big of a deal
(02:45):
as you did, but my dad started me when I
was like fifteen months old, eighteen months old or something
crazy like that. It certainly seems like skiing is one
of those sports that pays dividends. When you start at
a younger age, it's almost like it becomes second nature
and you remember it, just like you can to remember
how to walk. That way, It's like now I might
only get out a week, maybe two a year, but
I can still hit the slopes and just kind of go,
(03:07):
just because it's almost like second nature and ingrained that way.
I'm interested to hear more when you were young. I'm
assuming they typically start people with like the slal and
and that sort of thing. But how did the racing
kind of career evolve that way from when you started
at age six to kind of where we're at now
and the race that we do now.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah, well, so I actually started learning how to spee
out of Nikiska, which is basically an hour away from Calgary,
and it's i would say more just like kind of
a beginner's hill where it's just mostly like groom runs.
So I basically just like grew up learning like fundamental
technique and you know, all that type of stuff. And
(03:45):
when I guess I was that age, we didn't really
race much, you know, it was just kind of out
to go skiing. And then when I got slightly older,
when I changed to the Sunshine Alpine Racers, that's I
feel like when my career really started to kind of
take off where it wasn't necessarily just learning how to
be a good racer, but just kind of a overall
(04:08):
like general like good skier. And my coaches were always
so funny there, like let's not just be the best
racer today, Like let's let's be the best skier on
the mountain. That doesn't necessarily just mean racers, so we
would like I love to free ski, you know, like
love me a good powder day, you know, takes back
to the roots of just like the fundamentals of just
(04:28):
like loving skiing, not just the whole ski racing.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
So and I think that there's something to be said
about that concept of maybe the best skier not just
the best racer that way, because I've found that a
lot of times, like as much and as intertwined skiing
and racing are, a lot of times people don't really
understand what all goes into racing and what kind of
differentiates the race crowd from just your kind of general
(04:55):
ski crowd. That way, I always love to hear people's
takes on like how they prep for a race and
that sort of thing. And I've heard crazy stuff from
you know, getting to the mountain like four hours before
the race for waxing and all these different crazy things
that way. I'd love to hear more about kind of
what race day looks like for you that way, Kiki,
how do we kind of prep to go on kind
(05:16):
of a big event, big stage that way?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, Well, it's super funny because when you actually, like
I guess, get the schedule or whatever for race day,
it's like, oh, it's pretty chill, like start at ten.
You know, people don't necessarily like know that on a
race day that starts at ten, we're probably waking up
at around five point thirty in the morning, you know,
five in the morning. So basically, I guess if I
(05:42):
run you through my race day routine, it's like I
wake up early in the morning, and then I basically
kind of do my morning routine of you know, like
brushing my hair, washing my face, going down to breakfast,
and then after breakfast, I come back and do an
off hill like hotel warm up just to get the
body moving. And then after that we either are like
(06:03):
usually close to the hill, so we like drive or
like walk over to the hill, and then that's when
we start doing our like on snow warm up we'll
do depending on I guess what time, like inspection is.
We either warm up before after inspection, so those ones
kind of alternate depending on the destination. And then after
(06:26):
that I basically we wait till start time and then
start time. We in between I guess all of this,
we have like four other warm ups that we do,
one when we're just like in the lodge, and then
one basically like at the top in the start with,
using like bandwork and stuff like that, and then we
go and race, and then the day's not over there
(06:47):
because when I race slow them, it's a two run race.
So then we have to go back up, reinspect a
new course, rewarm up, and then do our second run.
And then that's basic.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
And it's so interesting to hear you say that because
a lot of the times I've worked with skiers that
are kind of super g or that sort of thing
that way where it's not necessarily two runs a day
all the time. So obviously, like you mentioned, having that
opportunity to make a second run, I think changes things
because a lot of the times for the skiers it's
(07:19):
like you have one shot and it's got to be perfect.
But even like you said, you know, you get to
scout out the course and that sort of thing, but
like depending on what you drew, and if you know,
say you're going last in the group that way, like
that course is going to look drastically different than what
it did when you first scouted it out that way,
Like it just changes so much, I feel. So it's
(07:41):
like you never really get the course that you're after,
I think, unless you're like maybe the first one or
maybe the second one to run down it that way.
But I like that concept of having two runs in
the same day because I know, at least from what
I've seen and experienced, ski racing can be such a
mentally challenging sport. It's like, you get there so early,
you put all this time in and prep work in
(08:03):
for one run, and if it doesn't go your way,
then it's like, well, shoot, now what versus at least
if you get that kind of redemption shot same day,
it's like, hey, if the first one doesn't go well,
you know what, I'm going to go all out on
this next one. Or maybe if the second one didn't
go well, maybe at least the first one went well
or something. I like that concept of having, you know,
two races in the same day.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I think, yeah, no, absolutely, And it's kind of funny
because right now, I guess where I am in my career.
I'm quite fresh on the World Cup, Like last season
would have been my very first year skiing on the
World Cup, So that's it's kind of a different routine
in a way from what I'm doing, say World Cup
versus like nerance, you know, like in Nerans It's like
(08:46):
I am usually in the top like fifteen startings, so
like my schedule and all of that looks way different,
say than when I'm starting a World Cup, when I'm
starting kind of further back in the pack, and you know,
like that type of just slight change too, which is
super interesting.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Now if people aren't familiar with kind of the ski
race structure, and you throughout the term world Cup that way,
I think a lot of times people who aren't familiar
with skiing here that and they think, oh, yeah, soccer
once every four years, would you mind kind of explaining
to them kind of what the international ski race scene
kind of looks like that way?
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Yeah, absolutely, So, I guess the highest level of ski
race in is World Cups, and between a guy across
all four disciplines, there's a round I want to say,
like nine races per discipline of World Cup in a season.
(09:43):
For me, I only race slallong World Cups, so I
guess like I only have like the nine starts, but
there are multi athletes who race along I guess all
four events. And then beneath world Cup we have Europa
Cups and norms. So Europa Cup is basically the just
(10:05):
step down, but European based, I guess like races, and
then the norms are the North American races just under
World Cup as well, and then after that we have
like national championships and FIST races, which are also quite
competitive depending on where you are especially.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
No, absolutely, absolutely, the competition level is extremely high, and
it's one of those things that I feel like here
in the US where I am, I don't know if
people fully grasp and understand the magnitude that ski racing
has that way, especially if they haven't really seen what
goes on in some of the other countries in the world,
like the European ski race scene and some of that
(10:44):
sort of thing. That way, it truly is an incredible,
remarkable sport, and I always talk about the demands of
it because I feel like every ski racer has got
some kind of horror story, from you know, toenails falling
off because the boots that are so fricking tight anything
for like know, one hundredth of a second faster, to
the speed suits that really don't offer you much warmth
(11:05):
whatsoever on the freaking coldest days. Like it is incredible
how demanding the sport is that way. In all regards
not just the mental and physical prep, but even just
the ability to kind of endure some rather uncomfortable situations.
For lack of a better way to put it, I'd say.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Yeah, no, definitely. It's uh, if you're a ski racer,
you're probably not going to go into the foot modeling industry,
let me tell you that. But yeah, no, it's it's
definitely interesting. Especially I would say the difference between racing
in North America versus Europe. Like the first time I
(11:42):
ever race in Europe was actually a World Cup and
it was just like super eye opening because I feel
like ski racing in Europe is also just more I guess,
just more popular. You know, it's one of like a
main extreme sport over there. So just like the crowds
(12:03):
were like super different, and you know even just like
the vibe and the start and stuff like that. But
it's yeah, just super cool being able to like travel
to different places and seeing how we're doing the same sport,
but it's just like different environments and you know, even
like with like weather's you know, I feel like skiing
(12:25):
is one of those sports that it's never it's never
the same, ever consistent. You know, you could be racing
somewhere where it's like super warm and the snow is
really soft, or you know, it's super cold and the
snow is really soft, but it's a different soft, or
it's like bulletproof, and you know, there's so many moving factors,
but it's what keeps the sport super, super fun and interesting.
(12:49):
That's for sure.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Absolutely no, for sure. And as you mentioned, there's something
to be said about kind of the difference that you
see when you kind of ski in some of these
different places, and even just the disciplines within skiing itself.
Like we've mentioned a few times the U Ski slalom,
which hats off to you so much respect for that
because I just like to go fast. I'm not a
very technical guy. It's just like, yeah, I'm very much
(13:13):
built for like a super G kind of thing. And
if you look at the skis that I ski on,
you would see that and you'd be like, yep, that
makes sense. The slalom is like the balance of that
kind of speed while also controlling it and being so
technical and making all these quick turns and stuff. And
I don't know how y'all do it, because I certainly cannot.
I'm not built like that, and I just I don't
(13:35):
know why, I've just never really quite grasped that concept
that way. But it's almost like it's almost like you
gotta like sit there and kind of map out like
when you're turning and almost like perfect this run in
your head, and then you go out and actually physically
perform it and do it that way. Like the technical
element is something like I've never seen before that way,
(13:56):
And it's like we talked before, it seems like there
was something that you were kind of like very much
kind of pushed in too early on that way. It
sounds like you didn't really mess around with any of
the other kind of disciplines of ski racing that way, or.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
No I did. I actually I grew up skiing all
all four disciplines. It's funny actually first year fifth I
did a lot of speed actually, but then when once
I made the upbarded scene, we were kind of more
tech focused. And I think I always liked slalom more
than I liked GS ever since I was young, just
(14:31):
because I feel like I was a soccer player too,
so I feel like just you know, being quick on
your feed has always been kind of in my natures
so that kind of pushed me a little bit closer
to slalom. But no, I do ski actually on all
four disciplines only slaw and World Cup, but gs and
speed Nora ms as well, and I'm I guess like
(14:54):
recently have been getting back more into speed post post
knee injuries. So that's it's been exciting absolutely, no for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
And you brought up the knee injury, and I know
there's been a few injuries that have occurred that way,
which is one of those things that I've found in skiing,
it's not always a question if. It seems to be
a question of when given the sport that way, I
feel like every skier that I've met and talked with
has gotten hurt at some point or another. And maybe
(15:24):
it's you know, headmeads tree, maybe it's knee moves in
a way we don't want it to, or we catch
an edge, whatever it is. That way, it just seems
like the sport, as fun and as exciting and as
just adrenaline pumping as it can be, lees carry a
little bit of risk to it that way. So I'd
love to hear more about kind of the injuries that
you've faced in relation to your ski career, Kiki, and
(15:46):
how do we overcome those and get back to the.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Slopes and so yeah, well, I guess, like you said,
as much as ski racing is super fun and you know,
we talk about the glory of it all, there are
obviously risks to every single sport out there.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Skiing just happens to be one that does have a
pretty high risk, even though we are in pretty controlled areas,
just like with the speed and how much like forces
you're putting into the ski for it to bend and stuff.
But yeah, I I guess it would have been December
(16:24):
of twenty twenty two I got injured training GS. It
would have been right after Christmas, his first day back
on snow, and I just kind of went over a
roller a little weird juice my ski and the shots
ended up crashing. I ended up tearing my ACL lateral
(16:45):
meniscus and then fracturing my for more condo, which is
like the head of the femur, and then ended up
getting surgery. Well, I guess I flew home, got surgery
seven days later, and then wasn't on snow for around
eleven months. So there's a big, big rehab.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Very difficult time, and I find for a lot of
ski athletes that way, it's difficult for them to face
those injuries because they're off snow for so long, and
it's like, you know, on one hand, they understand that
skiing tends to be seasonal in most parts of the world,
and maybe they're not going to be on the mountains
in July. But on the other hand, the thought of
not physically being able to do the thing they've always
(17:28):
done since they were a kid, often very young, Like
we said, it's very difficult for them to kind of
grasp and wrestle with that way. And the other thing
I've heard quite a bit about from some ski racers
is after they come back from that injury and they
get back onto the slopes so or they start racing again,
there's something like mentally that exists as almost like a
(17:49):
little bit of a block for them that way as
they're trying to kind of return to the sport in
their high level of performance that way. Did you kind
of feel or experience anything similar to that yourself.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah, I honestly, my rehab when I was no was
actually surprisingly positive. I want to say. I know, like
a lot of people really struggle with with the you know,
staying positive and you know, obviously missing the sport because again,
it is something that you start doing, you do every
(18:24):
single day since you were six years old, basically, and
then all of a sudden you can't do it anymore.
But during yeah, I guess during my rehab I was
surprisingly positive and really you know it, was patient with it,
took it one day at a time. I also, for me,
I'm I love learning, so I really like took the
(18:45):
opportunity to you know, learn things about you know, like
myself and you know, other other hobbies that I guess
I wouldn't necessarily be able to do when I was
still skiing, you know, So I think in that regards,
I found that part of rehab actually quite not easy,
(19:07):
but easy in that way. But I'd say the hardest
part has definitely been the once I came back and
it was back into racing and then not racing for
two years, having to learn how to rerace. That was
definitely one of the bigger struggles for me, especially because
I guess it would have been in this past season,
(19:28):
I guess, you know, relearning how to you know, be
like confident, being like, oh yeah, no, you got this.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Yeah, No, absolutely, absolutely, it's certainly different. And it's one
of those things that I feel like, you know, regardless
of how much you prep and how much like you know,
off snow work, you do, nothing quite fully mimics the
effects that you get when you're kind of at the
starting gates on snow again and you're like, well, this
(19:57):
is it. But I think it's so great to hear
that you you had such a positive kind of off
snow rehab experience, because I find a lot of times
for skiers and high level ski athletes that way, depending
on their kind of situation and set up, sometimes the
off snow rehab experience they feel doesn't fully prepare them
to return to the sport and they start to have
(20:19):
these kind of like mental doubts about the return that way.
And I think that one of the most important things
with skiing is just kind of understanding the demands that
the sport places on the body that way, and also
the level of the skier and kind of what y'all
are doing that way as you go through the turns.
Just like from a biomechanic standpoint, like it's very forceful,
(20:40):
it's very violent, it's a little bit backwards to the
minds of people that haven't skied before. Like something about
the concept of leaning forward while going down a hill
just doesn't seem to like stick in people's brains for
some reason. But it's something that like, in order to
do it at the high level, like you really have
to be super super aggressive. So I find as a result,
(21:01):
and maybe this is just me and my bias as
a physical therapist talking, but I find we have to
be fairly aggressive in our rehab approach. Is because the
sport itself is aggressive in nature. Yeah, maybe it doesn't
have the direct contact of something like football, but I
just find that you really have to like attack skiing
kind of like you would attack any contact sport that way,
(21:23):
just do to the nature of the sport itself.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
I think, yeah, absolutely, it's It's it's super funny because
I feel like there's always, you know, the balance of
being patient but also still pushing yourself, you know. So
I feel like early on in my rehabit it was
like the Okay, I need to be patient even though
I want to do more, you know, and that was
(21:45):
something I had to learn of, you know, sometimes it's
okay to just take a little step back in order
to make way more gains, you know. But then once
you get to the part where you know you actually
trust yourself physically, and it's just like, okay, now it's
now you have to take that leap, you know, and
really kind of sometimes just jump two feet deep into
(22:07):
like certain things. And also I feel like during rehab
and stuff like that with every athlete is different, you know.
I know, there's like so many things where it's just like, oh,
this person like is already back and they got injured
after me, like you know, and I'm like, I know,
like a bunch of young athletes here in Alberta who
have like just recently done their knees and they've been
(22:29):
asking me and stuff, and I was like, you know,
you the last that you want to do is start
comparing your rehab process to other people, you know, because
everybody is super different with how they advance. And also
sometimes sometimes your injury is just to teach you patients,
you know. And then you know, just like it tests
(22:51):
everybody differently, and I think if you kind of you
almost have to go with the flow a little. But
then when it's time to jump, it's like, Okay, I
prepared myself for.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
This so absolutely, and even just thinking back and seeing
some of the videos that you put out about your
rehab process on snow too, just carrying over all those
things that you did off snow onto the slopes once again,
and you know, just doing some of those basic drills
that like you probably did when you were like ten
years old. But it's like, hey, we're gonna bring those
(23:24):
back and redo those. You know, Hey, can I make
the turns that I want without holding poles? Or can
I unbuckle my boots and then ski down so I
can you know, make sure I stay neutral and then
slowly progress and ramp up. Like I think you had
a video back in like March or April time frame
last year, don't quote me on that that like just
showed like all the different like on snow progressions that
(23:47):
you did over and over and over again kind of
building back up. And I thought that was the coolest
frickin thing to see, because it's like no one ever
really shows that side of thing. It's like they show
kind of like the off snow rehab stuff, but it's like,
how do we carry this over and transfer it into
what has you know, maybe some meaning to the athlete
because a lot of athletes I work with, they don't
(24:08):
care about how many squats I make them do. They
just care about what they do on the snow after all.
And I think it's really cool to kind of see
and just showcase and highlight that progression that you had
going back onto the snow that way. What was your
what was your kind of thoughts and experience looking back
on that just with that progression through kind of getting
back onto the snow. I know you mentioned the value
(24:30):
of patients and some of the other lessons that come
along with that, But do you have any other kind
of thoughts or advice based on how that went for
you that way after your knee?
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Yeah? Absolutely, I totally think that when you go through
an injury, you take it as an opportunity to fix
the flaws that you had before, you know, because you
are you're starting back from the basics regardless, you know. So, yes,
sometimes doing snowplow turns and sliding turns can get boring,
(25:02):
but you know, I feel like when you're doing it
and in the time, it's just like, well, you know what,
I'm going to make this the best noeplout turn I've
ever done in my entire life, you know, and being
able to actually rebuild your foundation and you know, find
that like stack position and like say a strong position
that maybe you weren't necessarily getting to before. And when
(25:24):
you are going through a rehab, you have you have
the time to be able to build from that again.
So I think like, during like my rehab, I feel
like that's something that I really tried to ingrain into
my brain, like, and that was kind of a motive
to be patient. It's just like, you know what if
I'm patient with this, but I could still be so productive.
(25:46):
You know. It's just like I like, oh, yeah, before
maybe I was a little shifty. So now that I
could bring it back to the basics, let's find that
good position. So then when I am where I am
now and being able to skate full volume, I don't
have to think about that because I fix it or
like you know, it's just kind of become second nature.
So I think that's one thing that's such a hidden
(26:08):
gem in a injury is that sometimes like you gotta
go back into the slow lane to rebuild to be
faster than the foster lane.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Absolutely no, I love that, And it's so interesting to
me because at some point in our progression, we stop
doing the stuff that you know, to use your words,
we consider to be in the slow lane, Like we
kind of like phase out of those things because we
feel like we've mastered them and advanced beyond them enough.
And so on that line. One of the things that
I've personally just been like thinking about so so much
(26:42):
lately is like, what if we didn't fully remove those
from our programs, Like what if instead we kind of
kept those in as part of like maybe an extended
warm up series that way, just to kind of remind
the body about some of these different skills and qualities
we need in order to ski at a level that way,
because I've found, at least in a lot of the
(27:03):
racing programs I see, it's almost like a you know,
once you've mastered it, you move on to the next
level kind of thing. Maybe there's elements of that foundation
still in it, but maybe there's things that are also
being missed. So I always kind of think about that
and wonder, like, hey, you know, are we still hitting
enough of those different qualities. And I think one of
the things that you mentioned before about just having such
(27:24):
a diverse sporting background yourself that way, I think that helps,
and I think that maybe we almost take that diverse
sport background and almost apply it to the ski world
as well that way, you know, like I personally suck
at moguls, but I should probably get better at moguls
or at least learn to not hate moguls in order
to improve my abilities as a skier, because it kind
(27:46):
of expands by like sport iq or sport vocabulary for
lack of a better way to put it, And it
might give me new ways to solve problems that might
arise that way in relation to the sport, because I
find a lot of the problem solving that occurs in
skiing is almost subconscious. You don't necessarily think about it.
Your body just kind of reacts and does it because
of the speeds in which it all happens at.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Totally, well, it's so funny because I uh, crossing one
of the most fun and important things like for sport.
Like when I was younger, I never went to the
summer camps. I always like just had a summer sport
that I would play, you know, And I think that
(28:29):
really did help me when I came back to skiing,
because also sometimes when you have a break from it,
you're so excited to get back and then it's just
like you're diving into it or like yeah, no. I
think it's like cross training is so important, and I
guess kind of going back to talking about you know
what I said about being in the slow lane, I
feel like that's one thing that I feel like younger
(28:52):
some younger teams kind of miss a little bit because
I feel like they're always just like we're so behind,
we haven't had as much time once, no, so we're
just jumping straight into it. And that's I think the
biggest thing that I've seen between say going from a
provincial team to a national team is that on the
national team, there are moments where we really do like
(29:13):
go in the slow length, you know. And that doesn't
necessarily mean the quality of training is lower, you know,
it just means there's it's easier environments, but like with
high intention, you know, so like in the spring, for instance,
we had a camp in Tromblin and Quebec and that's
like some of the training days that we do, we
(29:34):
would like, you know, we would be skiing stubbies with
super intent, like high intention behind it, but it's less
demanding than saying, you know, skiing a full length song course,
and we would do kind of similar stuff like that
in when in June when we were in Deazelp And
I think that's something that's you know, younger teams can
(29:56):
still you know, adapt to instead of thinking that they're behind,
just kind of and comparing themselves to other teams and
what they're doing. It's just like, you know, sometimes it's
okay because that's those are things that well, you might
be feeling like you're in the slowing right now, but
the progression is going to be crazy.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Absolutely. And on top of that, I found that skiers
tend to peak at different ages, like some think they
peak at like eighteen nineteen and others feel like they
peak at like thirty. So it's like, why are we
going to try and rush that and force them to
peak earlier than they're meant to. That way, it's like,
just let them develop, let things kind of take their course.
(30:35):
And I mean, I think the other piece too, is
like you know, with some of the different ski designs
and different things that exist nowadays, like the new Skis
I have have a rocker profile album. My old skis
did not have any kind of rocker profile album. Let
me tell you what I skied drastically different just by
changing out my equipment. And it's like a lot of
times people think that it's all about, you know, developed
(30:58):
the athlete as quickly as possible so they can race
as quickly as they can as opposed to, Hey, maybe
let's develop them with again such a wide base, like
maybe not even just a wide base, but just like
a such a deep foundation that like nothing can like
shake it right, like it's maybe an inch wide, but
it's a mile deep. Because they know this stuff so
frickin' well and it's just second nature to them. And
(31:20):
then when you do put them on some of the
more aggressive shape skis that exist nowadays, it's like, hey,
they're more comfortable and confident on it because of how
well they know the sport of skiing period. Because I
feel like a lot of the things that I see,
especially from an injury standpoint, like you mentioned, if we're
kind of messing up our progression in skiing and we're
(31:41):
messing up the skill side, which I'm not saying we
are aren't. It's just something that I've noticed happening on
different occasions with different individuals where they're kind of missing
fundamental skills that they need to be doing the things
that they're doing, and it's like we're putting them on
such an aggressive ski that's got such an aggressive profile
that's built for speed and extreme responsiveness, that feels stable
(32:02):
almost regardless of what the snow conditions are. It's like,
no wonder why bad things happen. Sometimes we missed them
marks along the way, we almost missed kind of that
like progression right if you will, and then we put
them on something that is like incredible from a performance standpoint,
but only if you know how to drive it right.
You know, you don't put the kid who doesn't have
(32:24):
a driver's license in a freaking like Nissan GTR or
a Chevy Corvette or something like that. They kind of
like start with like you know, the hand me down
Honda Civic and then get to that point later on
in life. So I think having that similar kind of
mindset in relation to skiing, because I mean the skis
that I've seen, like they are just blowing me away
(32:45):
by what you can do on kind of the occurrent
equipment that way compared to like when I started skiing,
It is like a night and day difference yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Absolutely. Well, it's super funny like talking about equipment and
stuff like that, because I think back to my like
first year fists. I was not as strong as I
am now, and then all of a sudden they put
me onto like an extremely like firm ski and I
just like couldn't bend it, and they're like, oh, like
(33:17):
it's like you like what's happening, And I was like,
I like actually can't ski, Like I just can't bend
the ski, and like those skis theoretically are faster, you know,
but if you can't turn the ski or like you
don't have the proper you know, at that point, I
just didn't have like the proper like foundation technique to
be able to you know, ski on those skis and
(33:39):
like the strinth and stuff like that. So it's not
sometimes it's not always like searching for the best equipment.
Sometimes it's like, you know, you have to become the
skier before you get the you know, advanced.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Al Absolutely now. Obviously part of the skiing though, is
flaunting those awesome appair and that sort of thing. We
used to judge people based on what they were wearing
and stuff that way, and I believe correct me if
I'm wrong, but you've got the Helly Hanson partnership.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Yeah. Yeah, our team is Helly Hansen.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
So you've got the best of the best. Then that
used to be kind of like our like platinum gold
medal kind of thing. It was like, oh, have you
got Helly Hanson, You're the best kind of thing. So
it's amazing how much you know, some of us take
that stuff seriously that way. I'm curious, do you have
any like skis, poles, all that kind of stuff, boots
that you like that way or.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
I've I guess I've been skiing on Rosie Mine basically
my entire life. It was funny my even my very
first pair of skis were ros and Yell and then
just was on that brand ever since. I ski with
Lucky Poles as well, which is quite common I think
for racers. And then last season I started skiing with
(34:57):
Oakley as well, which is awesome because they also just
have really nice stuff for like summer training, and me
and one of my teammates we rode bike and mountain
bike quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
So yeah, Oakley definitely covers it all. And that's coming
from someone who might be biased because I wore Oakley's
when they were like in high school and most kids
my age were like, oh what are those? I'm like, well,
let me tell you. Let me put you onto the Oakleys.
They hit different and like the little sweep profile for
when you're like, you know, biking and stuff. Oh, it's
(35:31):
one of those things that I feel like we might
nerd out over gear a little more than we should.
But it's like until you like experience the difference, you
don't get it. Like it's just those little preferences that
we have really do make a difference.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
I think absolutely.
Speaker 1 (35:46):
And on top of gear, I know you've gotten to
ski all across the world that way. I'm interested here
any top ski places or any places that you've been
that it's just like, hey, the vibes are great. Maybe
a little apre'ze action something like a like what do
we like enjoy from the ski experiences that we've had
across the world.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Oh? Man, you know, I feel like skiing it really
does take you to some pretty pretty od places. My
very first away trip summer like training was in Chile
and La Parva, and I feel like that place will
always have such a special place in my heart because
(36:29):
you know, first camp away with all your friends you're
fourteen years old, like a whole a whole different worlds
down there. So that's probably one of the tops on
my list. Where Else, I feel like, like Europe is
is awesome, you know, I feel like all the all
the ski hills are are great. I really I really
(36:52):
enjoy being in Italy as well. You know, work pretty
lucky because a lot of our staff members are also
from Italy, so we spend quite a bit of time there.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
So but oh man, what a terrible place to be,
my goodness, of all the countries. It's so funny because
we had Cara Brown on the podcast earlier this year
and she was talking about her skiing experiences in Italy
from the mountains and the food and beyond, and it
just seems like such an incredible place to be that way,
(37:23):
And it's interesting. She had also mentioned about some of
the differences in surgical procedures internationally that I didn't realize,
and one of her knee surgeries her surgeon didn't use
anaesthesia for so she was like literally awake during it.
So as much as I love the difference of experiences
that come with new countries and stuff, that way, sometimes
(37:43):
they just kind of make you pause and go like, wow,
I never never would have thought about that, my goodness,
so it's certainly crazy. What exists that way? What advice
do you have for what I'm going to call the
next generation? You know, those athletes that are maybe in
their ski racing programs right now or just learning to ski,
but they know that in the future, Hey, you know
what I want to be just like Kiki. I want
(38:05):
to represent my country, I want to ski internationally. I
want to beat back any obstacle that comes in my path,
whether it's a knee injury or whatever that way, and
just kind of make it to that next level of
skiing that way. What advice do you have for people
like that? From your own experiences?
Speaker 2 (38:21):
You know, this is going to be super, super cruiche,
but always like find the fun in it, because if
you're not having fun and you're not loving it, what's
the point in doing it? You know? And I think
that's been one of the things that has been such
a driving factor for me. Obviously I'm like super competitive
(38:42):
and stuff like that, but if I wasn't enjoying it,
loving it, having like a great time, there's like there's
no way you keep pursuing it, you know. And you know,
I feel like ski racing is one of those things
where you meet so many amazing peace people, Like all
of my best friends are ski ski racers or crass
(39:05):
ski racers, and I think the community that we have
is just like unbelievable. So, you know, I feel like definitely,
you know, have fun, like just have fun. You know,
it's be serious, but don't forget to laugh with your friends.
And I think just finding the joy in every single day,
even on the top, even on the tough days, because
(39:27):
there are tough days. But you know, when you're on
the top of the mountain and you're not skiing very good,
you could just think I could be in school sitting
looking at a whiteboard right now, but instead I'm skiing.
Or you know, there's so many other plate like worst
places you could be than you know, skiing and doing
something that you love. So I think just you know,
(39:48):
having that passion and always coming back to the root
of you know what.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
I love it absolutely. You know they say a bad
day of skiing always beats a good day at work.
Oh yeah, and it's even better when skiing is your work.
But but you know, it's certainly one of those things
that to your point, I think the community aspect is
so important because the ski community is so tight knit,
(40:14):
and I find once you meet like one or two people,
you can pretty much get to know whoever you want.
In the space that way. It's very very small, at
least in kind of the Northeast or in the North
America region that way, And I think it's one of
those things as well that, like a lot of times
when we're growing up, I remember some of the sports
I played when I was a kid, you almost look
at people on your team as like competition. To a
(40:36):
certain extent, it's like, well, I want that person's position,
or like I don't want to lose my spot. I
just want to play. And it's like, I feel like
that mindset doesn't really get you as far as it
should in something like skiing. Like I really feel like
skiing is so powerful and impactful because of how social
and community based the sport is, and I don't always
(40:57):
see that with other sports that way. I just think
it's kind of next level from a social and community standpoint.
And again maybe that's just me and the apre's talking
that way, but it's like, you know, there's something to
be said about being able to kind of hang out
with people and kind of spend time outside of sport
with that, because I think a lot of times people
forget athletes have lives outside of sport, Like even you
(41:21):
probably have a life outside of sport. I know you
mentioned mountain biking and stuff, but I feel like the
last time you talked to me, you told me that
your other personality trait was something about like fashion or
something like that.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
Yeah. Yeah, I actually so when I I guess it
would have been right before I got injured. I actually
enrolled in I guess, a fashion degree of fashion design
degree and ended up finishing it basically on this past
October October twenty twenty four, So I'm officially a certified
(41:55):
fashion designer, which is which.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
Is too fat?
Speaker 2 (41:58):
Yeah, And I loved it say that it's kind of
like my my dual personalities because I feel like, you know,
growing up as like a female athlete, especially, it was
just like, oh, if you want to be a good athlete,
you cannot be a like girly girl, you know you
you almost have to be more of a tomboy. And
I think like now it's like then narrative has like
(42:21):
shifted so much that it's like, no, like you could
be as girl as you want to be and be
a freaking good skier, you know, like or like such
a good athlete, you know, like you look at say
Alona mar you know, like she's the definition of like
feminine and like powerful athlete, which is like super awesome.
(42:41):
So yeah, that's kind of the other half of me
fashion design.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
So where's the fashion design going to be taking you?
You feel? Do you think you're going to be designing
new kind of skiware or maybe new like athleisure for
after a day on the slope or where are we
going with this?
Speaker 2 (43:02):
Well, there's something in the works right now, but that'sn't
been launch store announced yet. But yeah, just been yeah,
working on things. Maybe something will be out in public soon.
But yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
Be on the look for some kind of big announcement,
is what you're telling me, you do? Yeah, I gotta know.
Does it lean more towards the snow side or more
towards the sandside or somewhere in between.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
It'll be somewhere in between, you know, it will revolve
around athletics.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
But so it's always quite comical to me. How many
athletes I hear about in the ski space that after
they decide to wrap up their sport, they literally abandon
the snow in the mountains completely and they go right
for the beach and they're like, you know what, I'm
done with the cold. I am sick and tired of this.
I'm just I want to lay in the sun all day,
every day and just photosynthesize moving forward. It's just so
(43:59):
common to me this to see the switch that occurs
after sport that way.
Speaker 2 (44:04):
Oh yeah, absolutely, just feet in the sand, you know,
no more in the tight boots. We just uh will
live somewhere hot.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
So there is a chance for the foot model career
after all.
Speaker 2 (44:14):
That we'll be like the bone spurs, calm down, the.
Speaker 1 (44:21):
Bone spurs comed No, for sure, for sure. And I
know you mentioned a few times about all the other
sports that you do, and we mentioned a little bit.
We mentioned soccer, mountain biking and so on that way.
What of these things do you like to do that
keep you active outside of just ski and slalom?
Speaker 2 (44:38):
Yeah, well, I guess growing up I also ran track
and field. I was multi athletes, so I did the
hetaf on. Yeah, super fun. I loved it. And then
I guess what else? I played volleyball when I was
younger as well. And it's actually funny. We when we
(45:00):
were in de Zelp this past June, some of the
weather days, there was like an indoor court and outdoor
volleyball court, and not many of the girls had played
much volleyball, but we played so much and we were like,
we just became a volleyball team, and it was really
good games and it was super awesome being able to like,
you know, get everybody playing at a pretty pretty intense
(45:23):
level too. What else do I like? I actually recently
just played in a spike ball tournament actually just outen
can Moore, which is all super fun. And then you know,
I feel like pickleball has been trending, you know, forever
picked that sport up. And then my brother is a
hockey player too, so I I go golfing with him
quite a bit as well. So just being active, you know.
Speaker 1 (45:47):
Literally just named like every sport ever. You're like, yeah,
pickle bowl, spike bowl, mountain biking, soccer, heptathlon, because you know,
one event and track and field is not enough, so
we might as well do them all. My goodness, Yeah, No,
that's awesome. That's awesome, Kiki. This has been really cool
to have a conversation with you and kind of learn
more about you and your skiing journey that way. Is
(46:08):
there anything that we missed as we were chatting today
that you wanted to bring up?
Speaker 2 (46:13):
Oh? I don't think so. I feel like we covered
so much.
Speaker 1 (46:18):
It's amazing what you can cover in a conversation that way,
where people who want to find out more about you
and keep up to date with your journey and obviously
the upcoming season. That way, where can they find you
all at?
Speaker 2 (46:29):
You could find me on Instagram Kiki Underscore, Alexander Underscore
and yeah, that's basically my main platform.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
And we also have to plug Coco by Kiki.
Speaker 2 (46:44):
Correct yes, yes, the Cuckoo Bai Kiki.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
So we'll link to both of those in the description
below that way, if you didn't quite catch them, you
can just click there and see everything that Kiki is
up to. Kiki, this was awesome thing. Thank you so
much for your time
Speaker 2 (47:01):
Thank you so much for having me
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