 Poster: A snowHead
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13-year-old Fionn Ovington from Cambridge has attracted the interest of coaches for the Special Winter Olympics, having skied black runs only three days after starting the sport.
His exceptional talent became obvious on a trip to Andorra last winter. That, in combination with Fionn's autistic needs, has qualified him for a training session at Chill Factore in Manchester on 10 June.
This report from Cambridge News.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I came in to say "I taught myself to ski in a day, up to parelell turns, I should be in the olympics"...then i see the word 'special' was omitted from the thread title.... 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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primoz, I think you may have missed the bit about the boy being autistic.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I regularly ski with a 10 year old autistic child, who nails any slope in front of him at break neck speed. Who do I contact to get him signed up for the Paralympic squad?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Primoz I usually agree with all your views, but come on, the kid is autistic.
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I suppose one reason for this lad's speed down the hill (and this is not to detract from his evident athletic ability) is a lack of fear. A lack of fear - if taken to extremes - is not necessarily a Good Thing.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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autism covers a very wide spectrum, much of which has zero impact on the kid's skiing ability
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beanie1 & DAB, does autism actually affect someone's ability to ski? I've got no idea (no real experience of autism), but I thought it mainly manifested as a social interaction disorder...I'm not sure how that would affect a solo sport like skiing.
Having said that, fair play to him - I wasn't caning it down black runs after three weeks, let alone three days! 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Autism isn't smething that would hinder learning to ski, all credit to him for being really good really quickly but the fact that he is autistic shouldn't affect how good or bad a skier he is.
Don't patronize the boy, give him credit for being a great, natural skier not for being a good autistic skier.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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ChrisWo, not their ability to ski, but certainly their ability to be instructed in skiing by methods used to teach people without autism. Doing my adaptive instrutor course soon, not sure if this is a module we will cover, but would be very interested.
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| ChrisWo wrote: |
beanie1 & DAB, does autism actually affect someone's ability to ski? I've got no idea (no real experience of autism), but I thought it mainly manifested as a social interaction disorder...I'm not sure how that would affect a solo sport like skiing.
Having said that, fair play to him - I wasn't caning it down black runs after three weeks, let alone three days! |
Hmm. I'm pretty sure my (then) teenage girls were in lessons with an Autistic or Asperger's boy a few years ago. They said he was quick, but simply didn't care about bashing into people. Come the GS race at the end of the week, he went hell for leather, but clipped a gate. It was on a steep pitch so it was quite spectacular and he slid a long way. He then remained utterly motionless on the course for about a minute. Everyone thought he was unconscious, or dead. As soon as someone neared him he got up, retrieved his skis and straight-lined back to the base - past a couple of beginner/intermediate home run choke points. He wasn't seen for hours.
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You know it makes sense.
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Being on the autistic spectrum in no way affects someone's ability to ski, although someone with "core" autism might have such profound communication and other problems that they would be unable to ski (I suspect "autism" is being used here to refer to someone on the autistic spectrum). My 11 year old son has Asperger's (albeit he is in mainstream education) and skis Black runs comfortably (his party piece is skiing on one ski, with his poles on his head like horns, although he now does it when he is not near anyone else). He is a less aggressive skier than his "neurotypical" sister. We will often take him down a run for the first time, which we are comfortable he can ski, without letting him realize how it is graded, and only tell him afterwards that it was Black (if we tell him before, he might flatly refuse to ski it, if we tell him after, he will happily ski it again). It is not that people on the autistic spectrum cannot appreciate danger, they can. However, they may not pick up normal social cues as to danger, thereby making them either less risk averse or more. They may also not pick up cues as to problems they are causing others, although they can be told. Skiing is a godsend for our son, as he has no interest in team sports like soccer. He doesn't "get" the social element of them, nor does he see the point of competing for a ball and scoring goals. It has no interest for him whatsoever, whereas he loves skiiing.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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"Fionn" now there's a name for a skier if ever there was one!
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FAQ
