“My knees are probably going to be gone by the time I’m forty-five!” This is Kennedy Cochenour, a 16-year-old champion freeskier who puts herself at risk constantly for a sport she loves.
You may wonder why someone would do something that is so physically and emotionally taxing. But freeskier is a part of who Kennedy is. She has been skiing since she was one and a half years old and competing since she was 10.
Kennedy has been highly successful in her sport. Some of her accolades include being placed 1st last year in the North American Ski Championships and 4th this year in the Junior Ski Championship (the name changed due to the addition of South American athletes). She also placed 2nd in the Red Mountain National Championships, and holds other national and regional placements. Kennedy competes in the 15-18 age category, which she entered this year.
Freeride skiing is a style of skiing on unkept terrain, without a set course. It’s like freestyle rap for skiers: Each skier assesses and then navigates extreme terrain of steep slopes, deep, snow, and huge rocks.
One of the challenges Kennedy faces is figuring out what to do on the spot and how to be unique and separate herself from other competitors. There could be 40 people in front of her, and she must do something different. She needs to be creative and quick on her feet. The judges look for control, technique, style, energy, and fluidity.
Kennedy says about the feeling of the sport: “It feels like slow motion . . . my stomach drops, and it feels like I’m riding a roller coaster. When I’m going fast, I’m the only person in the world.”
Injuries are a part of what Kennedy must deal with. Kennedy says she has not dealt with any big ones in comparison to fellow competitors. ”I personally don’t have a lot of injuries. I know people who have had a lot of injuries.” One of her friends is in recovery with a recently broken back, and her boyfriend recently broke his knee.
The stakes are no joke. She needs to be very physically strong to endure what the sport throws at her. Every time Kennedy trains and competes, she puts her body at real risk of injury. Most people can’t say their extracurricular activity is that dangerous.
Injury isn’t the biggest hardship Kennedy faces currently though. Keeping up with school is the real issue. She drives to Big Sky to ski every Friday, and she trains all weekend, so she misses lots of school for competitions. Therefore, it is hard to keep up with her academics and have a good balance.
Kennedy says that people criticize her for missing so much, but she can’t control it: “You shouldn’t make fun of people for missing school.” Missing school is just a part of the dedication it takes to do so well in her sport.
I asked her how skiing affected her social life during the season. She replied with “I don’t have one.” She finds it hard to have much of a social life during ski season because she is busy every single weekend. In order to go to our school’s winter formal, she had to skip training the week before a competition. She said skipping training over the weekend of the dance may or may not have affected her performance in that competition.
She must give up a lot of her life for skiing, but it doesn’t really seem to bother her too much, because she enjoys what she’s doing.
You can tell by the way she talks Kennedy is extremely passionate about freeride and wants to continue competing. Freeride is also not an Olympic sport as of now, but Kennedy said she’s “hoping it will be” and “maybe” she could possibly compete.
I asked her what her future skiing plans were and she said, “Unfortunately skiing is not a lifetime sport. But I hope I can ski until my knees give out.”
