A six-year plan
Whistler's Brad Lennea sets his sights on Paralympics
Brad Lennea has a six-year plan that starts on the slopes and ends on the podium at home in the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games. In between now and then his goal is to represent Canada at the 2006 Winter Games at Torino Italy, as well as every World Cup and World Championship he can get into.
Originally from Mission, B.C., Lennea was paralyzed as a result of a car crash in 1991. He used to ski at Hemlock before the accident, and three years afterwards he found himself back on the slopes on a sit-ski with the help of friends who worked as lift operators for the mountain.
Within another three years he found himself at the provincial championships at Cypress, where he won two gold medals and caught the attention of Whistler's Phil Chew, the head coach for the B.C. Disabled Ski Team. He moved up to Whistler a few years ago to step up his training, and so far it's paid off. Lennea worked his way up the ranks to the development team for the 2002-03 season, and this summer he was named to the Canadian Disabled Alpine Ski Team.
Because he skis in all four alpine disciplines, he has a full schedule of 24 international races on his plate this season. To get ready, he went to three different training camps over the summer, including a camp in Austria where he practised alongside members of the strong European teams.
It's a huge commitment, but Lennea is determined to see it through. With the sport growing in size and stature, and programs fitting in place for Paralympic athletes, there's never been a better time in history to be a disabled skier. Lennea just wants to make the most of it, for himself and for all of the other young athletes coming up the ranks.
Pique:
Have you always been a racer, or is it something you picked up along with the sport?BL:
I was a recreational skier beforehand, not too serious. I'd never skied anywhere but Hemlock before this.Pique:
So what was it like the first time out there in the sit-ski?BL:
Pretty exciting, I guess. It was a lot of work, too, getting used to the balance and making turns and whatnot. It was fun.Pique
: Did it take a while to get used to it? Were you up there every weekend?BL
: Actually, the very first time I went up with an instructor, and after that I just went up with my buddies and it was trial and error, over and over.Pique
: What's it like crashing in a sit-ski at high speed?BL
: Well at high speeds, hopefully the ski doesn't break or just pop off, which happens, but otherwise you just lay her down and slide. Hope you don't hit anything.There was a lot of crashes in the first few years. Heck, there's still a lot of crashes. It's definitely part of the sport.
Pique
: You know, I've never seen that. I'm always amazed to see how much speed and control you guys have coming down the slopes. Can you tell me what the appeal of sit-skiing was for you and how you first got into racing?BL
: Well I started racing back in 1996, that would be my first year on the B.C. Ski Team.The thing is, when I first started sit-skiing, I would just go out with my friends for fun. I had no idea what other sit-skiers were up to, so I got a-hold of a disabled sit-skiers association and asked them how I could go out with other sit-skiers.
They were having a provincial championship coming up, so I was told to just show up at that and there would be other people I could talk to. I ended up doing well and the provincial coaches noticed me and asked if I would be interested in joining their ski team. I figured there was no better way to become a better disabled skier than to race train.
Pique
: Was that Phil Chew?BL
: Yes it was.Pique
: How much impact did Phil have on your skiing?BL
: Huge, huge impact. I'd say that he brought out the passion for ski racing in me for sure. He's great.Pique
: How do you go from racing at the provincial level, doing it to ski with more sit-skiers, to gunning for a spot in the Paralympics in 2006? What was the process there?BL
: Each year you're on the provincial team you get a chance to go to the nationals, and depending on how you do at the nationals, the coaches up there keep track of you - who's coming up, who they're interested in. And as you get better results at the national level, you're asked to move on. You start with the development team first of all, and from there you can move up to the World Cup team. It's a lot harder to move up (to the national team), you have to get the results, but there's a lot of support.I was only on the development team for one year, last year.
Pique
: Is it at a whole new level now that you're on the national team?BL
: Totally. Instead of going for a two-day training camp over the weekend, we go away for 10 days at a time. You can really begin to see where you're skills are at when you ski for 10 days in a row.Pique
: Your bio says you went to Austria this year? What was that like, did you get a chance to train with other Paralympians?BL
: The Austrian ski team was there a couple of times, and there were a lot of other World Cup skiers training there.It got me excited for the year for one thing, and it was a really interesting thing to be out there with so people when everybody is race training. There were very few, if any, recreational skiers out there, so you didn't have to watch out for people, everybody was aware of what was going on.
Pique
: What's the result you're most proud of at this time of the year?BL
: I got two fifths in Nor Am last year with the development team. I had a few silvers and bronze at the national level, but the most exciting thing so far is just being selected to the World Cup team.Pique
: Is the road to get to the Paralympics in 2006 all mapped out for you at this point.BL
: More or less. When I first got with the national team and we had our first team training camp, I went for an interview with the coaches, asking us what kind of a time commitment we'd like to make over the years, and are we really interested in doing this.I said sure, I'd like to be a full-time athlete and train for Torino. So now I'm in their whole two-year plan, and it's a pretty busy schedule.
Pique
: Are there milestones you want to reach along the way?BL
: Lots of them. This year is a World Championship year, and that only happens ever four years - every two years there's not an Olympics. They wanted me to commit to that and next year will be an off-year that will include a lot more intense training, and the following year is an Olympic year again.Pique
: What's your time commitment like. How often are you on the slopes or in the gym?BL
: I was out in the gym at the end of August training, our first camp was in Pitztal in October, so I was on snow in October, and we had more training in November, and another camp in December.I'm pretty lucky that my coach (Leslie Clark) actually lives in Whistler, so I've been doing a lot of freeskiing with her recently. I get out there a lot - not every day, but most days.
I've also been training with the Whistler Mountain Ski Club whenever I get a chance, which has been awesome.
Pique
: Is there a feeling that you're getting into this sport at the right time in history? I know all amateur athletes struggle to make ends meet, and disabled athletes in particular have a hard time - I know your expenses are higher - but does it feel like you guys are better off now than in the past?BL
: I'd say so. From what I understand our training is a lot more organized and a lot more intense, and there's a lot more of it. I know that when Phil Chew was racing, he really had to struggle to get people to help him out and just to get invited to different events.The sport is much more organized now. I mean, we have a whole tour mapped out for us that includes Europe and North America, and our team has good sponsorship, so we get lots of clothes and stuff like that. We get our own ski sponsors, which help out of course.
Overall, I'd say the sport is a lot more organized and a lot more developed. And that's because of guys like Phil Chew fought so hard for everything.
Pique
: Has public awareness grown as well, and does that help you out with sponsorship and fundraising?BL
: Absolutely. When I first started out and I would tell people I was sit-skiing, and they'd be like 'What? What's that all about?'Now I tell people I'm a sit-skier and they get. They've all seen it, and they know it's a Paralympic sport. They have a lot more questions.
Pique
: Has that been beneficial to you?BL
: Yeah, it helps out a lot. Especially being here in Whistler, with what's going on with 2010.Pique
: Has winning the 2010 Paralympics in Whistler helped you and your sport?BL
: Well it gives me a lot more exposure for one thing. I'm being asked to do a lot more newspaper and magazine stuff.The biggest impact I think are the programs we'll see developed for the entry level, the people just getting started in the sport. Not so much learning to ski, but learning to race.
I was actually waiting to see how the bid turned out before I made my decision on how long I wanted to be involved in the sport as an athlete. Since it's going to be here, I'm going to be here, too.
Pretty much everything is geared towards that. All my big decisions are based around it.
Pique
: Have you worked with a lot of kids, entry level skiers at this point.BL
: A little bit. I'm not a certified instructor or coach yet, although I'd like to get my Level II coaching. But I've gone out with Phil Chew when he's held his talent identification camps where people get their first taste of racing. I hang out with them and ski with them, and help them where I can.Pique
: Why did you make the move to Whistler almost three years ago?BL
: Well I'm originally from Mission, and I was driving up here all the time to go to training camps, and the skiing is just so convenient and huge.It was actually when I heard that Toronto wasn't getting the summer Olympics, I figured that if Vancouver won then everything would just unfold for me in a big way, so I took a chance.
Pique
: What do you think of the facilities in town? Is it easier to be here and get coaching and support, and to be able to race against other disabled athletes?BL
: Yeah, and it's just the level of everything. The level of coaching and support we get is just a lot more intense than you can find anywhere else.Pique
: I know they're looking at doing the same kind of thing here as they did in Winterpark, Colorado for disabled athletes. Off the slopes, is accessibility an issue here? How are we doing?BL
: I think Whistler is great, especially for a winter resort. It's very accessible. And on the mountain, too, it's very easy for sit-skiers because it's all detached quads everywhere you go.The village is doing a great job, I think.
Pique
: Is there anything that would make it easier for you and other disabled athletes to train here?BL
: Just a larger program, that would be nice to see. That would mean a lot more inclusion for other athletes.Pique
: Tell me about your sit-ski. I know there's has a lot of customization that goes into your equipment. Are you happy with it?BL
: Well it has to be comfortable first of all, because you have to be able to sit in it all day long. And yeah, everyone's disability is at a different level, so everyone has to make it easier for them. Not just to ski on, but to get on and off the chairlift, and to get back up when you fall over.Pique
: So is your own equipment dialled in at this point?BL
: That's a good question. It's at the point now where I just want to leave it and concentrate on training, but I'm always looking for new things to do, ways to make it a little bit better.Pique
: In a way that's one of the exciting things about the sport, that the equipment is still evolving so much.BL
: We've seen it come a long way in the last 10 years, that's for sure. It's evolved in the same way mountain biking has, because there's a lot of the same technology involved, metals and shocks and things.Pique
: Speaking of mountain biking, have you had a chance to get out in a downhill chair.BL
: I have actually. I was impressed, it was really pretty amazing what they can do, and how easily they can go over stuff. It's really cool, but it's not something I can really get into right now. The maintenance is the hard part, you always have to be repairing and maintaining.Pique
: Looking at your bio, you're going to be a pretty busy guy this winter, travelling all over the world. What does it feel like to have that sort of schedule ahead of you for the next year?BL
: It's pretty brand new to me actually, but I'm excited because it keeps me busy. I'd never been to Europe before October of this year, and now I get to go three different times. What an opportunity.Pique
: What's it like to be groomed for the Olympics, and how does it feel to have all these people behind you?BL
: Just seeing how much time and effort they put into you is amazing, my development and helping me out. It just makes me want to go out there and do well and make them look good as well.Pique
: Is there anyone you ski with up here?BL
: Actually right now I have another teammate, Matt Hallet, skiing with me, he's been up skiing with our coach every day now. Two other sit-skiers I'm always with, Scott Patterson and Daniel Wesley, we always ski in a pack of three.Pique
: What does your family think of what you're doing now?BL
: They love it. I just had my family Christmas dinner, and I was the family celebrity. Everyone is really excited.Pique
: If you had a message for other disabled athletes or people who are newly disabled, what would it be?BL
: Probably that there's never been a better time to be a disabled athlete than right now.Pique
: There's a lot of other disabled athletes in town, and most of them I've talked to have that moment of epiphany when they discover out how much they can still do, and do at a very high level. Is it inspirational to have so many athletes out there, and to maybe be able to inspire others as well?BL
: Yeah. It goes both ways for me. When I go to a ski camp or I'm just out there freeskiing with other sit-skiers from my team, every day I see things that amaze me, and that motivates me to get better. Then some days people see me on the hill, and just approach me out of nowhere and say 'that's great, it's cool what you do,' because I've inspired them a little bit too.Pique
: Thanks Brad. Good luck this season. We'll definitely be watching out for you.BL
: Thank you. I'll try to keep everyone updated.
