As a child, what’s the one bad thing about the Christmas holidays?  After two weeks of presents, games, TV and chocolate, it’s easy to suggest most run-of-the-mill chores are unpleasant, but surely the first day back to school in January is the earliest and biggest bummer of the year for youngsters.

Well, it is for most of them anyway, but probably not for Hope Whitelaw.  For this particular Perthshire 13-year-old, the post-Christmas blues aren’t likely to kick in until early summer, if at all. 

While her school-mates and peers up and down the country are trudging their way through ice and slush to the school gate, Hope is bursting through the start gates at the top of a snow-covered mountain in France, relishing her time amongst the nation’s elite at the British Ski Academy.

When her parents took her skiing at Park City in Utah as a wobbly-legged three-year-old a decade ago, they never have dreamed that she would develop into one of the UK’s brightest snow-sport prospects since the turn of the century.  Though they might have guessed, as even then she appreciated the quality of the resort she was in.

“I remember the resort having good snow, even though I had never skied before!   There was a baby slope, but I was soon able to go round the whole resort,” Hope told In The Winning Zone.

Not bad at an age when most of us are still figuring out the more essential art of walking.  It didn’t take long for Hope to progress beyond the regular boundaries.

“I got better than my mum and dad ages ago!  But I’m not sure when I started beating the other kids.  I don’t really think of things that way.  I just like to go out and do my own thing.  I like to be competitive.  My first proper race was in Glenshee, when I was seven or eight.

“My first big race, though, was probably the British Championships at Meribel, which was two years ago.  I was 11 and I remember seeing how many people were racing, the publicity and how much it actually meant to people.  There were over 150 girls at it.”

 Hope admits to being nervous at this first big junction in her competitive career, if only briefly.  After the pre-race jitters, all was well as soon as she left the start gate.  Surely a signal that she’s a natural performer.

At the end of that winter season in 2007, Hope was selected for the British Children’s Ski Team.   And in her second year, she became British champion, winning the slalom and overall titles.  In both figurative and literal senses, Hope’s feet have barely touched the ground since.

“I’ve travelled to France, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Italy for competitions. I went to Abetone Italy in March this year, the competition there is known as being like a mini children’s Olympics.  

“I really enjoyed that.  The best children from all the countries were there, all of us skiing against each other.  There were children from France, Spain, Japan, India, and loads of other places.  I came 39th, which is very good for my age-category.”

Which takes us back to the beginning.  Hope has barely seen the inside of her Perthshire high school in 2009.  She may unofficially rank within the world’s top 50 for her age-group, but at just 13, she already realises there are more important things to worry about. 

Having already been given advice by Scottish skiing-god Alain Baxter on the financial challenges of forging a career on the slopes, Hope is determined to see her education through, even though she was only in school for a couple of weeks between New Year and Easter in 2009, such are the time commitments of the Academy.

“I miss quite a lot of school , but they support me 100% in all my subjects, and if I miss out anything the teachers will give up their time to help me catch up, which I’m very grateful for.  I do want to be able to finish school.   I want to go to university and get a good education.”

Also, Hope studies for three hours a day, six days a week at the ski Academy.  So anyone thinking that she has it easy out there is far mistaken, as she explains.

“Our day usually involves a ski session in the morning – we get up at seven and stay out for four hours, then we come back for lunch.  Sometimes we race, sometimes we do drill work, gates or slaloms and stuff like that.  It’s really good fun.  Drills can be a pain sometimes but you get through it!

“In the afternoons we do school work for three hours and in the evenings we do alternate days of fitness – running, balance and coordination stuff.  Then after that we can do what we like, there’s a hot tub to relax in or we can watch TV.  We have a full day off on Saturday.

It’s a hectic schedule with plenty packed in.  But it’s definitely worth it, says Hope.  Her skiing has improved significantly, marked by the performance of her country at this year’s World Schools National Championships.

“We came second, and beat England, racing against all the different countries.”

Hope struggled to decide whether finishing second or beating England was more important.  But from an objective viewpoint, for a country like Scotland – with almost non-existent skiing opportunities and facilities in contrast to North America and continental Europe – to place so highly in a global competition is nothing short of spectacular.

And if Hope can continue to rise on a tangent that arcs as high and steep as Mont Blanc, then we can expect to see plenty more of her in the future.

“My big targets are to win the British Children’s title next year, the Youth Winter Olympics in 2012 and the Winter Olympics in 2018.”

For the girl herself, it’s not a question of ‘Hope’.  It’s simply a matter of time.

RO
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Hope and her family would like to thank The Scottish Building Society, Asda, Peak Leaders and Perth Rotary for their kind support and sponsorship of her career to date.
www.peakleaders.com