Junior Athlete Profile:Andy Shields, Ontario Ski Team

Current Team: Ontario Ski Team        

Club Affiliated: Waterloo Region Nordic Sports Club    

Career Goals: Well, obviously my goal right now is to ski for Canada in the Olympics. But one of my a little more "particular" goals is to win the Canadian National Masters Championships like ten years in a row. Winning World Masters Championships sometime would be nice too!    

How did you get involved in cross-country skiing? I started skiing in the very distant and murky past. I had been on skis probably before the age of three, but I joined Waterloo Region Nordic at five when my dad asked me if cross-country skiing interested me. I must have said "Yes!" because here I am today - still skiing. 

How did you balance high school academics with athletics? I take most of my high school courses at two separate public online schools. Online school is really nice for balancing training with school because the flexibility of the online setting allows me to do my academics in my spare time rather than the other way around.

School Average: 87 

What is a typical training day?  Usually, training starts in the late morning with some stretching and core or a max strength workout if it's on the schedule. Sometimes I'll ski or run in the morning if I feel like it. I do my long zone 1 skis, technique drills, and zone 3/4 workouts in the evenings or on the weekends. Stretch and mental skills just before the start of the bulk of my recovery training: e.g. sleep.       

When not skiing I am likely? Doing school work, chores, bumming around on the computer, or playing the cello.  

When finished skiing I want to? Be cremated... Ok, I'll be a little less literal: I want to be a chef.   

Favourite Vacation Spot? Quebec City. 

Favourite Book? If I picked a favourite book, I would probably somehow be offending my brother who is a passionate book-y guy. Anyway, that's my half-hearted excuse for not being able to choose one. I've read so many good books! Picking one would be like picking a favourite child!         

Favourite Movie? Requiem for a Dream. I know it's pretty dark, but it's got a good moral: "DON"T DO DRUGS!"  

Favourite Competition Venue: Centre de Biathlon de Myriam Bedard in Val Cartier QC. is one of my favourites because I always have good races there and the hills are acceptable. (I like hills.) I like Callaghan Valley too for all the obvious reasons, but, is it just me or is the snow mushy most of the time? It was when I was there in '08.  

Inspiration? I really want to be able to classic ski like the Finnish skier Sami Jauhojaervi. I got to see him in person last summer at the ski tunnel in Vuokatti when I was there with the Ontario Team and I was able to ski behind him for a bit too and pick up some technique. He's one of the only world cup skiers with my body size. Little people can make it in skiing!   

Favourite Colour? I use to like purple when I was young and naive, but it's not a very manly colour is it? Blue is a manly colour though, so if I mix blue with purple I get a good compromise as well as some sort of turquoise colour.     

If I had to do maintenance on my car what could I do? Well, I guess I would probably try to fix something that's broken... Heck! I really don't know much about cars. I don't even have a license. On second thought, I would pump up the tires. Tire pumps are fun. But not the little ones you can strap to your bike, they're hard to use and not hard to break.          

Before a race, I will listen to what song? I don't listen to music before I race. It's not part of my routine. Being a classical musician myself, I am very  emotionally sensitive when I listen to music. But that being said, I never experience the same mix of emotions twice when listening to the same song. I don't know myself well enough to know why that is, but I do know that messing with my emotions might not be such a good idea before a race.