20 pupils were selected by the Scottish Schools Snowsport Association (SSSA) to represent Scotland at the World Schools Ski Championships 2016. The competition was held in the Abruzzo area of Italy, near Rome last week.
5 of us were from the North East and have trained with local clubs including 4 from Gordon Skiers, Beth Whatford, Kieran Troup, Ruby Still and me. There were 4 teams from each country, under 16 and under 18, male and female.
I was in the Under 16 girls team. We arrived in Italy on Saturday 20th of February ahead of the opening ceremony on the Tuesday where each country paraded into the town square with banners and bagpipes accompanied Scotland too.
The races started on the Wednesday and each team member did two runs of slalom and giant slalom over two days. The fastest 3 times from each team counted towards the final result. Our team came 4th out of eleven which was a great result, ahead of the home nation and other Alpine countries.
A big part of the event was to meet people from around the world and to understand the different cultures. There were social events including an opening and closing ceremony, a cultural tour of the area around L’Aquila and also some parties. By playing the bagpipes, wearing kilts and being friendly, Scotland won the Fair Play award which was a big achievement.
The World Schools Championship has been an amazing experience and has introduced me to an international skiing event, something which I will never forget.
Rachel Brown
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