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BECOMING CANADIAN: PLAID IS THE NEW BLACK
QUEBEC POWDER. Really. SOLID GOLD:
THE ROZ G INTERVIEW
PHIL CASABON IN QUEBEC CITY, QUE.. NADEAU PHOTO
FALL 2012
SBCSKIER.COM
$6.99 DISPLAY UNTIL DEC. 31, 2012
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STYLE IN THE HOUSE:
PHIL CASABON 2012-10-01 8:25 AM
Initially, I wasn’t excited about halfpipe being in the Olympics. My mom described me as a deer in the headlights.
The deer keeps one eye on the ultimate halfpipe crown. Krabbe photo
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No smoke and mirrors when it comes to Matty Richard's skiing. Well, maybe some‌ Bradley Photo
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The Probe
THE G SPOT IT’S A GOOD THING HALFPIPE SKIING IS HEADING TO THE OLYMPICS. OTHERWISE, ROZ G MIGHT RUN OUT OF PODIUMS TO TOP. TEXT BY PENNY BUSWELL After collecting first place at two X Games this year, reigning as world champion and winning the AFP Halfpipe Overall, Squamish, B.C. resident Rosalind Groenewoud (a.k.a. Roz G) is a de facto empress of halfpipe skiing and Canada’s top hope for a medal in the sport at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The guts it takes to boost the highest air in women’s halfpipe seems to come from a calm self-confidence. At 22, Roz G isn’t young for a skier, but she’s young for the poise she exudes. Maybe it’s because she started skiing late, after watching the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics on TV in Ecuador where her geophysicist father was working. Soon after, her family moved back to Canada and enrolled her in a recreational freestyle program in Calgary. There Groenewoud discovered that it wasn’t moguls but airtime she wanted. By age 17, she was collecting big-time sponsors like Orage and Rossignol, and climbing steadily into the rankings. This past season, however, made some unanticipated demands on Groenewoud’s levelheadedness. Only two years ago she was the youngest woman in the X Games pipe—by last winter she was already the oldest. She was also sadly thrown into the advice-giving elder sister role on the Canadian team upon the death of her mentor and friend, Sarah Burke. After taking gold at the Winter X Games in Aspen only days after Burke’s death, Groenewoud announced she’d won for Sarah. “The best way to do her legacy justice is to push ourselves,” she’d unforgettably added. Clearly, pushing herself is something at which Groenewoud is adept. Snow, however, isn’t the only place Groenewoud rules (there are some serious brain cells directing those skis). She spends her downtime at Quest University in Squamish, and has already published a peer-reviewed paper in molecular biology. Talking with Groenewoud, you can imagine her fitting into academia someday as one of those favoured tutors with a precise way of speaking and no-bullshit focus, but with a fearless fun side that keeps you stoked on the course material. Indeed, when the topic rolls around to the upcoming winter’s comps, she positively lights up. “Talking about this has got me all excited” she says, eyes gleaming, and wriggling in her chair. And just like that I want to sign up for her class.
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In the G spot again: Roz at European X Games 2012 flanked by silver winner Devin Logan (USA) and bronze medallist Anais Caradeux (FRA). CFSA/Horton photo
Hey Matty, how many days on the mountain is that now? Arf. Was it the best day ever—again? Arf."Blake Jorgenson Photo
How did you feel about having halfpipe included in the Olympics? Initially, I wasn’t very excited. My mom described me as a deer caught in the headlights. I guess I’m more excited about the stuff I have to learn; I have all these goals I want to accomplish in a halfpipe.
You were in the media quite a lot at that time after dedicating your win to Sarah. I guess it just felt natural. It’s funny because I’m not someone who usually likes to be vocal about my feelings.
How would the Olympics differ from other contests? Everyone is finding that training for the Olympics is different from their normal training pattern. Instead of focusing on the next year, you have to plan for every four years. For athletes, it’s no longer ‘Oh, I’ll ski another year and see how it goes.’ Viewing your life in Olympic cycles is traditional for athletes, and that’s where [free]skiing is shifting.
I hear you have some contest superstitions…? Yeah, I always wear red lipstick. I think it looks kind of powerful. I was a basketball player for many years, and the red lipstick is partly a tribute to Lisa Leslie, a women’s professional basketball pioneer. It’s also a reminder you can be feminine and still be an aggressive athlete. That’s something I like to tell girls. And I always wear a Canadian maple leaf bandana (it matches the red lips!), purple underwear and hair elastics. Everyone wore purple bows for Sarah, too, this year.
So the Olympics could change halfpipe ski culture? The Olympics have already made skiing more serious. There’s positive aspects to it, too. It’s wonderful that everyone is on a national team. The Canadian team has bonded into a really tight unit. And I really like the spirit of the Olympics: the idea that you compete for your country, not just for yourself. But I understand why some feel uncomfortable with that—competing for a country wasn’t why they got into skiing. What are your skiing goals this year? Last winter, the focus became more about surviving than striving. I just had to get through it, focus and land runs. Canada Freestyle [CFSA] was ] great about getting us grief councilors and helping with that sort of stuff. This season, I want to shift my focus back to learning new tricks and really working on my skiing. I’d like to add a few more flips to my run and commit to making all my tricks the height of my [4.3-metre] straight air hit. I’ve developed bad habits with my smaller tricks, so I need to break those. It’ll be a process for sure. And yet, you were very successful last winter. Yeah, I was on every podium but one, so that was good. Looking back on it, how do you feel? It was such a strange year. When I think about it, it has an underwater feeling. I’m extremely proud of how it went, especially Winter X Games. That was some of my best skiing, even though I was really struggling to focus and to grieve and to just be. I don’t think anything is ever going to be as hard. Compared to that everything seems somewhat simple.
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Are you looking forward to coaching at Momentum next week? Yeah, it’s an interesting culture there. So many people come as campers and are now coaches. Sarah was my coach when I was a camper, and now I’m coaching girls who I’ll compete against one day. And a few of them will return as coaches, too. I feel I’m giving back to where I started from. This year, for the first time, there are way more girls enrolled in freeriding than mogul skiing. I think there’s 30 next week… that’s a lot of girls with twin-tip skis in one place. That’s very cool. Yes, I feel strongly that the Olympics will give women’s skiing a push. There’s never been a big field of women in halfpipe skiing, and the Olympics will encourage more to get into it. In the past, so many girls were encouraged into moguls, even aerials or skicross instead because... I guess most parents didn’t understand how to help their daughter become a top-level freeskier. The process is easier for parents to understand when there’s a provincial team and then a national team. As well as coaching at Momentum, you’re also getting schooled…? I’m working on a bachelor of liberal arts and science at Quest University in Squamish. I had to spend my first two years taking required courses that were super diverse, and for my last two years I can take courses focusing on my passions—mostly physics and math. I’m currently doing my 20th course, and it’s taken me four years so far (you need 32 courses to graduate).
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That's no Guy in the Sky. Roz on her way to qualifying first at an FIS Freestyle Ski Halfpipe in Copper Mountain, CO. CFSA/Ridewood photo
“I’m the kind of guy who can do an hour-and-a-half hike for a tiny cloudy line and still be stoked. Just being outside and in the moment is enough for me.”
Sometimes I analyze skiing using physics; when I’m having trouble learning a trick, it helps if someone explains it very technically.
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Roz is asked which is more important to her performance: the signature neck scarf, or quantum physics. "Hmmm… good question!" CFSA/Horton photo.
The 2012 X Games was some of my best skiing, even though I was really struggling to focus and to grieve and to just be. I don’t think anything is ever going to be as hard.
What would you like to do with your education? More school. I’ve looked into getting a Ph.D., but obviously that’d be something I’d do after my ski career. I’m planning on skiing for quite a while longer, so I don’t have to make any quick decisions about what to do next. The idea of research interests me, and I like the idea of teaching, as well. I really, really enjoy school. How do you work school around skiing? Quest is the only school that would work for me because it works on a block program; you take one course at a time for three-and-ahalf weeks. I’ve been able to fit those chunks in-between my ski schedule. School has never conflicted much with my skiing. It’s been wonderful. I used to be able to set my own schedule, but now we have national funding and a formal training program. The nice thing about a small university is the professors have helped me out, letting me do a course by myself sometimes and working through it with me. So skiing and school work well together? Being a student makes me a stronger skier; school gives me a break from thinking about skiing, and the balance is essential for me. I also think being a skier makes me a stronger student. Do you ever analyze your skiing using physics? People ask me that a lot… definitely sometimes. When I’m having trouble learning a trick, it helps if someone explains it very, very technically. But part of the beauty of skiing is the ability to feel things in an abstract, lessanalytical way. So you see skiing as more fluid? I guess so, especially competing—competing is my love. I like the feeling I get from it, and I like the pressure. I like waking up on the day of the comp wanting it to be over. Then, after it is over, the feeling of relief and exhilaration. When I compete I turn off; sometimes I can’t even remember my run. It’s a whole other mode of Roz [laughs]. For me, the Olympics will be the ultimate platform for all that. y Leysa Perotti off the top.
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Though it was anything but, Roz made it look easy during the Ski SuperPipe final at Winter X 2012. Demos/ESPN images
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