Fernie skier, Caoimhe Heavey has found her passion, and taken flight.
At the age of 12, she has been skiing for only five years. However, in this time she has become a force to be reckoned with on the slopes. Heavey just proved this a few weeks ago when she walked away with two provincial golds at the slopestyle competition in Lake Louise.
This past weekend, Heavey took two bronze medals in the Mogul provincials hosted at Fernie Alpine Resort.
Heavey has been training with Fernie Freestyle, coached by Nathan Bundschuh for the past three years.
Originally from Ireland, Heavey and her family moved to Fernie in 2008. She took up skiing with Fernie Freestyle because of her older brother’s dedicated involvement in the club. After learning the ropes, she started to compete in slopestyle competitions three years ago.
“I like competing in slopestyle competitions because it gives you the chance to express yourself through the tricks you’re doing,” said Heavey.
Heavey’s father, James, saw her starting to do switch grabs, and thought, “This is one of her things, that she really passionately likes, so we’ve just been trying to support her.”
Heavey just returned from a tour in Whistler, Penticton, Lake Louise and Castlegar. When in Whistler, a coach who had seen her at a previous venue offered to take her out and train her. He turned out to be a big name in the coaching industry.
A personalized style comes out in Heavey’s skiing, partially to do with her obsession with skiing switch. This makes her stand out against the crowd.
“I started doing more switch tricks than I did forward tricks, and I just found it easier for me,” said Heavey.
Her parents, James and Mary are happy to support her in her passion. However, the rules are simple; if she wants to participate in a certain competition, she must pay for half. This has not stopped her, and she continues to work hard to raise money in order to allow herself these trips.
Heavey has taken an interest in rails, which is a little uncommon for a girl. Usually this is a genre of skiing dominated by males.
Her biggest trick this year has been a switch 360, and she is working on her front flips.
So far, the hospital has seen Heavey three times due to ski crashes. However, precautions have been taken through special protective equipment.
Right now, Heavey is generally competing against people one year older than her, although she has competed against older still.
“It is sometimes kind of difficult,” she said, “But it gives you somewhere to figure out where you want to be or need to be in a years time.”
Heavey competed in the B.C. games last year in the slopestyle competition, and came in fourth overall. Usually the minimum age entry for this competition is 13, however her scores were good enough to gain her entry, despite her age.
“It’s been awesome, seeing her come from this really quiet, young girl that really didn’t say much, could ski, but not really that well. Now we’re going and competing against girls who are 17 years old, and we’re competitive,” said Coach Bundschuh. “So seeing that progress, it’s amazing.
”Her work ethic; you have to stop her. She’ll just keep going until she’s extremely exhausted. It’s fun working with her,” he added.
Bundschuh believes fearlessness has been the biggest achievement for Heavey. A timid skiier in her first year, the 12 year old is now throwing down switch-ones over 35-foot gaps in the park.
“That change has made a big difference,” he said. “The hardest part about this sport is just a mental game.”
Heavey’s biggest inspiration is Sarah Burke, freestyle skier and four-time Winter X Games gold medallist and half-pipe world champion in 2005. Heavey has completed many school projects on her, and knows much about her as well as her sponsorships. One of her many dreams is to be sponsored by her.
“For one of my projects last year, we had to pick an inspirational global citizen, and I did it on her,” said Heavey. “Because I feel that if she hadn’t started skiing and pushed her limits, women’s skiing and maybe even men’s skiing wouldn’t be where it is today. So she is one of my biggest inspirations.”
In terms of how far Coach Bundschuh sees Heavey going, he believes the sky is the limit.
“If she keeps healthy, she could go as far as she wants,” said Bundschuh.
Heavey is already looking ahead, where she hopes to compete in the Junior Nationals in Whistler, come April. Before this, she hopes to gain a local sponsor, as well as a spot on the Alberta team.