When and where did skiing start?

Is 21 too old to start Alpine Skiing?

• I'm 21 (Turned 21 Jan 8, 2014) Is it too late for me to start Alpine Skiing and be any good at it? Like have a chance at competitions? Is it too late for me to start any sport ...show more

• Answer:

  No, you can start whenever you want. You will have to train harder, but that doesn't mean you can't. If you plan on just "picking up a sport to get in the olympics" as what it seems with a lot of people right now, my guess is you do not have the work ethic to commit to a sport and achieve that level of success. Skiing is a partly historical sport, and partly execution sport. I will explain... Historical sport. This means that you need to have many years of practice under your belt for the best results. Learning how your body and skis react to different conditions. Learning how to master your equipment to perform to how you need it to at any moment. So it is training your body to react to your skis as second nature, and it is teaching your body to control your equipment based on forever changing slopes as second nature. You don't get that unless you practice, practice, practice. Execution based. This means that the sport is highly technical and not all muscle. Some sports are based on muscle mass, some sports are based on endurance, some sports are based on artistic interpretation, and other sports are based on form. Basically said, while you need muscles to perform at the highest levels, it doesn't make or break you. (Take sprinting for instance. You could have the best form in the world, but if you don't have the quads, you aren't winning the race.) So what does all of this mean? You can be taught execution. This is form that is very well documented and trained over the centuries of skiing. This is learning how to set your edges, shift your weight, control your stance, plan your runs, etc. The problem is, that is only half of the sport. You need to have being on your skis and getting evrything out of them, be a second nature, so you can focus on execution. Get it?