Excerpts from Sports Illustrated article featuring Olympian Mikeala Shiffrin
I was a coach at a summer ski camp on Mount Hood [Ore.]. Mikaela was nine. At the start of camp, we ask all the kids to write down a Camp Goal and a Dream Goal. For her Dream Goal, Mikaela wrote, “Be in the Olympics at age 16.” Now lots of kids write that kind of stuff, but with Mikaela, all the coaches just looked at each other and said, ‘Yup, I can see that.’ And the only thing that prevented it was, there were no Olympics when she was 16. – Simon Marsh, 44, ski instructor
Teachers at Vail recall Mikaela as a prodigy. “She had skills and confidence,” says Marsh, who, before coaching Mikaela at Mount Hood, helped instruct her at age six in the Vail Ski Club. “And she was exceptionally motivated. She just wanted to learn more and more.”
Two of Shiffrin’s biggest focuses in skiing are having fun and learning. She credited Ski and Snowboard Club Vail coaches Simon Marsh and Rika Moore as being key to both those things.
“Simon, he just taught me passion for skiing,” she said. “I still see his group of 10 little ski guys who are ripping around the mountain, and they’re all fighting over who gets to sit on the lift with him and how much fun it’s going to be. And I remember being that kid, wanting to sit next to him on the lift, and he really sparked my passion for the sport.”
Congratulations Simon for exuding passion and inspiring a young skier to follow and achieve her dreams. We’re proud of Simon, and he continues to have an impact with the youth skiing programs in the Vail Valley, with our Beaver Creek guests and with the instructors he trains. Bravo Simon!