Erik has been skiing since he was three years old and has been racing for twenty-seven years. For most of those years, he has been racing with the National Ability Center. Erik has been a participant here since 1985, and in 2000 he began training and racing more seriously with the Ability Ski Team (formerly known as the Park City Disabled Ski Team).
This year in Idaho, Erik won four medals at Nationals. After so many years of work, Erik was still surprised at the results.
“I was quite shocked. I was more than ten seconds behind first place last year,” Erik said. “Speed is not what I usually do well at so that was pretty incredible.”
Hard work individually was a big part of Erik’s success, but he shares the glory with his coaches.
“It was a really great feeling to see all that great coaching by Julie and Maca pay off,” he said.
Now, Erik says he is excited to have the opportunity to see what he can do on an international scale while trying to qualify for the World Cup races.
Besides skiing, Erik likes to snorkel, water-ski, wakeboard, surf, hand-cycle, target shoot, and play tennis and sled hockey.
Erik’s advice for others with big dreams is, “Never, never ever quit. Just as you might think it’s the right thing to do, things can change, and you’ll wonder why you even had that thought.“
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