Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

B.C. Disabled Ski Team alumni make Olympic grade

Whistler’s Phil Chew analyzes some of the skiers he’s helped reach the Paralympics
61666_l

As the head coach of the B.C. Disabled Ski Team, Whistler's Phil Chew has worked with many of the athletes representing Canada in the Paralympic alpine events.

A former Paralympian himself, Chew has watched some of the athletes progress from a young age, or from their first time back on skis since an injury, and says they all have something in common.

"I travel around the province putting on these camps called Building Our Best, going to all the local mountains," he said. "We go to Vernon, Silver Star, Mt. Washington, the Lower Mainland mountains and up here in Whistler, and we invite all the local disabled athletes out. We spend the first day fixing up their skiing and the next we introduce them to gates. We show some video, do talks, let them meet with athletes, show them how to wax their skis and all that kind of stuff, and we get a good look at the talent that's out there."

The most promising skiers are invited to a three-day "Building Excellence" camp in Whistler at the end of the season, which Chew and Mike Clark from the national development team coach. The top athletes from that camp are invited to the B.C. Disabled Ski Team.

"We're looking for certain types of athletes for the B.C. team," said Chew. "They have to have some athletic ability and they have to be really trying."

The B.C. team currently has 12 members, all of whom have a goal of one day representing Canada at a Paralympics. They compete in NorAm Cup events around North America and train long hours just to have a shot at making the team.

Currently, five members of the national team are Chew's former students - Matt Hallat, Morgan Perrin, Sam Danniels, Josh Dueck and Andrea Dziewior. Several other members are B.C. residents, including Lauren Woolstencroft, Karolina Wisniewska and Kimberley Joines, which means over half of the alpine athletes are B.C.-based.

Chew says the B.C. connection makes sense when you consider the terrain of the province, as well as the focus on athletics. More importantly, B.C. is the province of Terry Fox and Rick Hansen, two of the best-known disabled athletes in the world.

Every skier has had very different experiences leading up to selection to the Paralympic team.

Take Sam Danniels, the most recent athlete to make the cut. He's competing in the downhill and super G sit ski category.

"He was with us for three years and part of last year when he started to train a little with the national development squad," said Chew. "Then he kept his points low enough to qualify for the downhill at the World Cup finals (in Whistler) last year and came in fourth against 50 pretty good skiers that were there.

"The Olympics are a different ballgame. He went to a NorAm in Kimberley just before the Olympics and took part in four races, two downhills and a super G. He had trouble in a few of the races but then won one of them. He has the ability, and when everything lines up and he's really going for it he can nail any race."

Danniels is 23 and has only been sit skiing since 2006. He tried the sport just six months after breaking his back while mountain biking in Kamloops. He found himself at the national championships that year. The following year he was on the B.C. team.

While Danniels has progressed about as fast as an athlete can in the sport, Chew said the confidence was there all along.

"He hurt himself mountain biking while trying to clear a 50-foot gap - he overshot the landing and crashed. That's the kind of guy he is," said Chew.

Danniels competes in the LW10 category, with is the highest classification in the sitting category. It means he doesn't have the use of his abdominal muscles. As a result he gets the maximum time deduction after his runs, which are fast to begin with.

"He gives hell," said Chew.

Matt Hallat, 25, is appearing in his second Paralympics in the standing category. He has been steadily improving in an extremely competitive field that includes some former able-bodied World Cup racers.

Chew first met Hallat when he was just 10 years old. He had his right leg amputated at the knee after being diagnosed with cancer at age five. Soon after he discovered skiing.

"I saw him and talked to his mom and dad and we did what we could to get him going," said Chew. "He was up in Whistler skiing and staying at my place, and when he was a little older he started to travel with us in the team van around the province. Now he's a graduate of our program.

"When he was here he always put out 100 per cent - and he's still a hard worker today. He's very athletic - not many people know but he plays golf and he's pretty much a scratch golfer. He works on a golf course in the summer and skis all winter. He's a full-time athlete."

Chew believes that Hallat is easily one of the top 10 para-alpine standing skiers in the world and it's only a matter of time before his top 10 results turn into medals. Most of his best results are in the speed events. He finished the season ranked eighth in downhill. He's also consistent in the slalom and is the national champion for five years running, as well as ranked 10 th in the world.

"Matt's a LW2, which means he doesn't get a time factor in the slalom, every race is measured in raw time so what you see is what you get," explained Chew. "Everybody else gets a time factor, so LW2 guys really need to ski fast to stay ahead."

Morgan Perrin is 23 and a rising start on the national team. He competes in the standing category with Hallat, although he has a higher classification and time factor applied.

"Morgan was on the team for about five years, and he had been skiing since he was about four. We heard he was really good and invited him to come out and ski with us and it didn't take him long to get into racing," said Chew.

"He has two lower limbs missing and two hands missing, so at the beginning it was hard to get everything right with his equipment, so he could get the angulation right and get an edge in. Now he's one of the top guys in Canada, and looking to be one of the top guys in the world."

Chew says it's hard to think of Hallat without thinking of Perrin, and vice versa.

"They're both in a very tough category and they're very competitive in it," he said. "I know those two guys are in the prime of their life right now, they're in their mid-20s, they're strong, they're athletic... and while it's going to be tough they both know that anything can happen in ski racing and they're going to give us the best show they can."