Hello, my name is Graham Houtsma, and I joined the Bridger Ski Foundation Pro Team this year after skiing for four years at Bates College. While at Bates College, I studied Political Science, specifically concentrated in international relations and security. My hope is that one day, in the distant future, that I can use my degree to get a job with the government intelligence community, but we’ll see. I am originally from Aspen, Colorado where I spent most a large part of my youth running, biking, and skiing around the mountains in my hometown. I am very excited to be training with the BSF Pro team this year as I pursue my goals of obtaining a World Cup start.
So far, this summer has been a big chance for me in terms of the amount of training and how I approach my training. In years past, my attitude towards summer training has been to hit the hours hard knowing that I would be backing it off the fall when I would have less time on my hands to train due to the demands of school and other activities outside of skiing. Now, the number of hours that I’m doing is as high but more consistent for the year as the amount of training that I’m doing has increased.
Outside of the tradition forms of training, I’ve been exploring other ways to stay active and explore my new home. Tennis has been the primary one, as I use to play in high school but stopped in college due to the demands of training, school and trying to maintain so type of social life:). But it’s been super fun to get back into it, all be it’s taken a bit to shake off the rust and find my swing again. So far, the summer has been a blast and I’m looking forward to the fall and the forth coming race season! Stay tuned for more!
