Be Somebody

My name is Erin Mielzynski. This blog is an account of my travels, my lessons learned and things I want to share with you. Not everything will be perfect, precise or necessarily exactly what is supposed to be written in a blog, but it is an account of my life from my perspective; glass half full and half empty depending on the day.

First of all, I will tell you a little about myself. In the first decade of my life, my days consisted of frantically traveling between different sports. I did many sports, but the ones that I didn’t just “test the waters” in were swimming, gymnastics, waterskiing and alpine skiing. I remember driving to swim practice after school and swimming for 2 hours. After swimming I would take a shower at the club, jump in the car and eat a grilled cheese sandwich kept hot in aluminum foil. I was rushing off to train another 3 hours at the gym club for gymnastics. I would jump on the high bars still smelling of chlorine and Pantene shampoo. I would work on homework in the car and when I got home.

I loved every minute of my busy schedule. I loved knowing what would be happening on Monday through Friday. The weekends were always set aside for some type of skiing depending on the season. I began skiing, on water and snow, at the age of 2.

In the summer, my parents would hook the boom* up to the side of our Ski Nautique. My dad would drive while my mom sang comforting songs so that I would never be afraid of the water. I would wave to my grandparents standing on shore and look forward to being as good as my sister, Jenna. My waterskiing career took of at full flight after this. Every summer was spent waterskiing 5 times each day; slalom, trick and jump. Every vacation from school and many times in between, my f

amily would travel to a “warm” destination, so that my sister and I could “walk on water” all year long. It soon became apparent that my passion was jumping. I love the feeling of being in the air at my own avail. The feeling of cutting as hard as I can at an inanimate object and launching myself as far as I can go, feeling the air pressure under my feet. I loved the speed of the ramp and the solid surface as I “kicked” off the top. It was sheer bliss. The highlights of my career included second in jumping at the Junior Worlds and first at the Junior Masters. However, the summer of 2007 was the last time I competed…

My “career” as an alpine skier began when my parents hooked me up to a harness with my tips strapped together, expecting me to know what to do. All I can say is that I absolutely loved it. I hated going in for breaks while the rest of my family skied. I remember sadly watching my parents walking to the car to go skiing while my sister and I waited inside our chalet. Needless to say, that was one of the first and last times we ever had a babysitter. I would fall asleep on the chairlift leaving my mom to ski me down Georgian peaks on her hip. The passion only grew. I missed many, many days of school (just ask my teachers) and learned how to work on the road. The year of my graduation, I became a member of the Canadian Alpine Development Ski Team. When I was told that I made the team, I knew that my dual life could continue no longer. I was forced to choose between my two loves. I followed my dream as a young girl to become a future Olympian**. I decided to dedicate my life to alpine skiing. This season will be my second year on the team.

I guess I have more to tell than I thought. Hopefully, this blog will refresh my memory and fill the gaps in everyone’s memory that is reading.

* Long pole that attaches to the side of the boat to make it easier to begin waterskiing. ** Waterskiing is not YET an Olympic Sport

(picture credits- Andy Mielzynski)