I’m Willson! And I’m beyond excited to be joining the BSF Pro Team this season. I’m a native of Freeport, Maine (yes L.L. Bean) and recent February graduate of Middlebury College where I skied three full seasons, missing one due to injury and one due to COVID. And less importantly, I plowed through a Bachelor’s degree in Physics.
I have spent two prior summers training in Bozeman and am excited to finally move to town and integrate into the amazing community here. Coming off a college career characterized by consistent improvement season over season, my main goal is to continue that trend into my professional career. I’m confident that the deep and dedicated ski community at BSF, the coaching and training resources here in Bozeman, and an awesome group of teammates will propel me towards that goal.
In the meantime, summer training has kicked off and I have some shorter term goals to help motivate the hard work that goes down in the summer months. The first is to take back the Triple Tree Descent rollerski KOM, a prestigious and elusive title currently held by former BSF legend Finn O’Connell. Another goal is to support Finn in his newest post-ski-career endeavor, qualifying for the world Beer Mile Championship. He’s given so much to this team over the
years, it would mean the world to see him achieve this goal and it’s all I can do to support him in any way I can.
Finally, I have a goal of improving my skate V2 technique by keeping my femurs rotated inward which keeps the ski moving more directly down the trail or road and engages the gluteus muscle group more fully for more efficient and powerful extension.
But enough of that boring stuff! Here are a few tidbits that may help you get to know me a bit better.
1) Since graduating in February and finishing the collegiate season mid March, I spent time ski touring, biking, and running throughout the West. Upon returning to my native New England in May, I ran my first half marathon, clocking a 1:16.
2) I recently bought a guitar for $35 on Facebook marketplace and I’ll be committing a lot of the next few months to practicing. If you didn’t know, Andy is somewhat of a wizard on the strings and has some originals out on Spotify (swoon) so hopefully he can give me a lesson or two. I’ll check back in in my next blog post and should hopefully have the Free Bird guitar solo down by then.
3) Along with a couple teammates I will be participating the Bozeman adult rec league soccer this summer. We play on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and I expect loud and ruckus support – don’t know what color our jerseys are yet but I’ll add updates to my next blog post. Don’t expect to see me raking in goals though as I have not played organized soccer since 8 th grade and my Fifa rating is probably about an 11.
4) I’m currently looking for a smoothie sponsor, but don’t ask me to specify what that entails. If you have ideas or leads, please hit my line.
5) I am trying to furnish my new home and badly need a few things– if you’re local and selling a couch, TV, toaster, or paper towel holder, I’d feel more confident buying them second hand from a non-stranger!
6) My favorite cross training is trail running
That’s all for now! To reiterate, I am so grateful and excited to be joining this awesome ski community. I hope to contribute to making BSF the nation’s most elite Olympic development team and give back to the Bozeman community that so generously supports all of us here on BSF Pro. Until next time!
Willson
