Jayden Buckrell will be headed to University of New Hampshire soon with a scholarship that will help cover some of his tuition and racing costs.
New Hampshire is a Division 1 National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) school, and its ski team includes athletes from the United States, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Australia and Italy.
"It's something I've been really working towards for the better part of four years now, so it's a huge kind of relief for me and my family," said Buckrell.
There are only nine Division 1 NCAA ski schools, and each has about six spots for athletes, making Buckrell one of about 54 Division 1 ski racers in the NCAA loop.
That loop will include six carnival weekends with two races each, all leading up to the NCAA championships.
His academic study will centre around business administration, and hopefully he'll also have time to spend at the ocean, which is about 15 minutes away from the university.
Buckrell, 20, graduated from Collingwood Collegiate Institute in 2022 and has taken two gap years to compete on the North American circuit to qualify for the provincial and, hopefully one day, the national team. He started skiing at two years old with his dad, who is a coach at the Osler Bluff Ski Club. His mom owns Active Life Conditioning, which has also been an important place for his training over the years.
"It's been super great having all these resources," said Buckrell. "It just helps a ton, and I'm super, super grateful."
He regularly helps at both Osler and Active Life by coaching younger athletes as a way to give back to the programs that helped him. He remembers having role models, including a former NCAA racer, through his racing career, and says they helped him find extra love for the sport.
"I really want to thank Osler Bluff Ski Club ... They've done so much for me and during my ski career, just bringing me up as a young kid and they gave me a love for the sport," he said.
Over the past two years, he has raced and/or trained in Italy, France, Austria, Chile, the United States, Belgium, Switzerland, British Columbia and Quebec.
This year, he narrowly missed earning a spot on the Canadian national team, so he'll be pursuing that in parallel with his NCAA racing by also competing on the North American Cup circuit.
There are four Alpine racing disciplines: downhill, Super G, slalom and giant slalom. Buckrell prefers the technicality of slalom and giant slalom. Alpine races Buckrell races can reach speeds of about 130 to 140 km/h, particularly in the downhill race.
Buckrell had a successful season finishing with enough points to rank 348th in the world and second in North America in slalom for his age. He's ranked fourth in North America for giant slalom.
He dreams of racing in the World Cup for Canada, though sometimes it can be hard to see that dream.
"It's such an up-and-down sport," he said. "It's so mentally tough on you and there's so many highs and lows. It's pretty easy to get stuck ... but slumps happen, and you're going to get out of it."
Ski racing is a big adrenalin rush for Buckrell, who often has to take time to decompress at the end of the day. He makes sure to stay consistent with mobility and strength training to prevent injuries and prepare his body for the stress of a race.
He'll be headed to Chile in the next couple of weeks with the Ontario Alpine team for some "snow time," and then he'll be off to New Hampshire a few weeks after he returns.
Though he's earned a scholarship, it doesn't cover all of his expenses and doesn't touch the races and equipment he'll need to keep competing on the North American Cup circuit to pursue his goal of making the national team. He is looking for sponsorships to help cover those extra costs. To find out more about sponsoring him, visit his fundraising website at snowathletes.ca.
