Here at In The Winning Zone we like to take a fresh approach to sport.  We look at the pluses and the positives.  We also like to champion up and coming young talent. 

Jacobina (Beanie) Milne-Home is one such example of Scotland’s new breed of talented youngsters.  In fact, she is one of the first of her kind in this country, as her sport itself is a relative newcomer to the international circuit – freestyle skiing.  At 23, she is currently ranked at 16th on the IFSA (International Free Skiers Association) World Tour ranking – a pretty tremendous achievement considering she funds her own competitions and is the only Scot on the tour.

Now, most sports have contests called the ‘National Championships’ or the ‘International Cup’.  But not freestyling.  No sir.  These guys are way to cool to get caught up with such boring contest names as that.  Let’s not forget these guys are performing death defying, gravity mocking, super acrobatic mid-air stunts for our viewing pleasure.

So here’s a list of some of the contests Beanie has medalled in recently:  ‘The Armageddon Slopestyle’ (1st); ‘The White Stuff Sick Trix’ (1st); ‘The SNO!Zone Half-pipe Championships’ (2nd) and ‘The Quiksilver Big Air Championships’ (1st).  The last two came just last month (March).

Now, maybe we’re wrong, but would bowls be a more appealing game to watch if it were called ‘Clash of the Ball Bashers’?  Or would darts possibly become the spectator sport of the masses if it were renamed ‘The Spinning Spike Showdown’?  Maybe.  Maybe that’s what we’re doing wrong in so many sports.

In The Winning Zone had a chat with Beanie when she had a morning off from her working / skiing schedule in Verbier, Switzerland.  Here’s what she had to say…

WZ:  Hi Beanie, thanks for taking the time to speak to ITWZ.  First of all, congratulations on your performances last month at the Brits Championships!

Beanie: Thanks. I was really pleased with my results from the British Championships this season. I haven't ridden much park this year but the atmosphere was great and everyone was really helping each other out, so it was a chilled environment in which to compete.  I controlled my nerves a lot better than normal and felt it really improved my performance.

WZ: So, tell us a little bit about your skiing background.

Beanie: In my gap year I worked in Glenshee for the season, and then went over to New Zealand.  Then while I was at the University of Northumbria studying Sport and Exercise Science, to keep skiing I went to New Zealand during the summer holidays.  I left uni in 2005 and did the New Zealand season in February.  I’ve skied all my life at Glenshee basically.  We used to go up at the weekend as kids.  We lived in Kinross which was just and hour and a half from Glenshee. 

WZ: So how do you pay for such a lifestyle?  Do you get funded?

Beanie: I have ski sponsors and I get goggles and protection.  But I don’t get any money, just products.  And I don’t get any funding.  Snowsport Scotland doesn’t do any freestyle funding.

WZ:  So who coaches you?

Beanie: Well I haven’t had any coaching yet.  I was going to be coached by Pat Sharples [Britain’s first professional freeskier] or Andy Topping [Top Brit freeskier] before the World Cup, but it was cancelled, so I won’t get any coaching unfortunately.

WZ: So do you basically have to coach yourself?

Beanie: I went on one of Warren Smith courses in the summer and got coached by Pat, but that’s been really the only coaching I’ve ever done.

WZ: It’s hard to understand, seeing that you’re ranked 16th in the world, that you don’t get any coaching or funding.  How do you feel about it?

Beanie: It would be great to get coaching and a bit of funding.  Even if my entry fees to the comps were covered, because they are about €120.  The cost of your accommodation, lift pass, entry fees and travelling back and forward to competitions adds up.  I really want to go and do the last of them in America in April, but it depends how much work I get and whether I can afford it.

WZ: What do you need to do to get funded?

Beanie: I don’t know.  I’d probably need to talk to a few more people, but I don’t know who to go through to get funding - I’m the only British girl on the tour but I think my ranking is good enough.

WZ:  Yes, well we certainly agree with you on that one.  So if you wanted to improve and get an even higher ranking, what would you need to be doing to achieve your peak performance?

Beanie:  Training full time pretty much.  You have to stay fit and make sure that you skiing every day.  You just have to get out there and ski and make sure that you are pushing yourself to improve.  There are young people coming through now in freestyle from an early age so you just have to really be enthusiastic to keep improving.  I think you have to do it more for yourself than anything else.

WZ:  And what has been the highlight of your skiing career so far?

Beanie:  Probably last year in the World Tour when I got 7th.  That was my first big mountain competition.  The other six guys went through to the final, but they’d all been competing on big mountain for a while so that was good.

WZ: So where did you pull that performance from then?

Beanie: I didn’t expect to do very well, but a friend helped with the psychological stuff as I get really nervous before competitions.  I don’t really know what he did, but I got to the top of the course and I was very chilled and relaxed and it was brilliant.  He looked at the mental side of things and I think that probably helped.  So that’s what I’m working on, my mental performance.  I really need to push my mind. 

WZ: Do a lot of skiers do that?

Beanie: I think so.  Some use imagery to visualise the line and what they are trying to do, just to get yourself in the right mindset for it.  With big events, and people dropping 60ft cliffs, if they aren’t in the right frame of mind it can be very dangerous.

WZ: Dangerous is putting it mildly.  So what gives you the courage to take on such daredevil challenges?

Beanie: I suppose I don’t see it as dangerous because I’ve been skiing all my life.  I just got used to skiing and wanted to push it and try harder.  I never thought I’d get into a competition, I didn’t think I was good enough – I thought ‘I can’t do that’.  I didn’t’ realise that the British were at that level and competing throughout the world.  Dark Summer (A British snowsports magazine) hold a girls competition, and that’s how I got into the competing side of it. I was 20 then. 

WZ: So is fear and trepidation a natural part of your job then?

Beanie: Yeah, I do get scared but generally with freestyle you know what you’re doing and you wouldn’t try to do anything that is beyond your capabilities.  I’ll try stuff that I haven’t done before and I’ll get nervous but I know that I can do it.  So I don’t think I’d do anything dangerous.  Obviously accidents happen and mistakes happen – you fall at the wrong point and it can go horribly wrong, but you can’t really think like that.

WZ: Have you ever had a serious accident? What’s the worst thing to happen to you?

Beanie: No, I’ve been really lucky.  I’ve only had a few injuries.  I broke my heel landing short on a kicker at one of the competitions, and I broke my thumb this summer when I was landing a jump.  Probably one of the worst moments was in the Big Mountain competition in Les Arcs last year.  I came off a small cliff and didn’t know what was underneath, but couldn’t stop.  I just closed my eyes and hoped for the best, but luckily I was fine!

WZ: What do you think is necessary to give you the extra edge in top level competition?

Beanie: I do think it’s mental because by the time you get to this stage, you know everyone can ski well, so it has to come from the mind.  You have to believe it and want to achieve it.  Probably all the competitors have similar standard but if you “believe” then you’re a step ahead – I do think it is that mental side. 

WZ: So at that level ability isn’t that important because it plateaus off?

Beanie: By the time you are up in the competitions, it’s maybe a case of looking at it differently, and finding different lines than everyone else.  You need to be imaginative and creative. 

WZ:  So is this the best job in the world?

Beanie:  I couldn’t be doing anything else, I just love it.  I consider myself so lucky.  It is honestly the best!

WZ:  Thanks Beanie.  We’re going to stop talking to you now before we get too jealous!  Good luck for the season.

Beanie:  Thanks

RO

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