Less ski racing improved Edward Przybyla’s ski racing.
The Hampshire Regional junior stopped attending weekend competitions. He spent more time in the park doing jumps. Powder days showed him new lines down the mountain.
Skiing, a part of his life since age three, became fun again.
“It made my whole mood and personality better. It definitely translated into the skiing,” said Przybyla, the Daily Hampshire Gazette Boys Skier of the Year.
Some coaches would admonish their top athletes for competing less in the discipline. Hampshire coach Jane O’Riordan witnessed the benefits of an integrated approach.
“He’s special as a racer because he likes to do the stuff in the park. He likes doing bumps, he likes doing jumps, he likes skiing in deep snow. All those different types of skiing all help to make you a better racer,” she said. “Sometimes you find racers that only race on the race course or hard snow, but I think all those different kinds of skiing actually help you because it enhances your balance, which is one of his strong points. I think it’s really good for your skiing.”
Finding the fun in skiing again became one of Przybyla’s goals before the season. He’s been racing since he was “eight or nine” years old, starting in the developmental scene before moving into the race scene. After being “thrown in” to the sport, Przybyla had to interpret his relationship to it.
“It’s something that’s been up and down, hit and miss,” Przybyla said. “It’s a lot of times I get to be with my friends that I’m very much enjoying it.”
Przybyla plays football for Easthampton in the fall and baseball for the Raiders in the spring. Those pursuits helped him develop bonds with his teammates and learn to value team success over individual glory. That’s why multiple times this season he missed a gate near the bottom of the mountain and instead of skiing off for a “did not finish,” Przybyla popped back up, hiked himself up the mountain and went through the gate correctly to register a time for his team.
“One of my favorite race. Not his best race, but my favorite,” O’Riordan said. “That’s very admirable because he’s being a team player. A lot of kids say ‘eh, heck with it.’ He doesn’t do that. That helps the team time, too. It says a lot about what you’re doing.”
The Raiders won the PVIAC South team championship, and Przybyla was the South’s top individual finisher. He was the fastest racer down the giant slalom course at the PVIAC individual championships, also taking third in the combined category and sixth in the slalom. At the state level, Przybyla took fourth in the GS.
But while he’s got a shelf full of skiing medals and trophies from a long career racing (though he is just a junior), Przybyla found a particular joy in mentoring his younger teammates. As a regional school, Hampshire often rosters seventh and eight graders so they can learn the sport and develop.
“I liked taking those guys through and teaching them what I know and teaching them to go further. It makes me feel really good when these guys that I taught them a few things — simple things — but still monumental things about ski racing and they get faster times, they get higher places. It makes me feel really good,” Przybyla said. “Whenever I taught them about it I see the light bulb goes off and it makes me really proud to see it clicking.”
He’s still putting the pieces together himself.
“I’m having fun and going all out as well as being on the line between out of control and in control. That’s a very fine line you have to walk,” Przybyla said. “I felt like I honed it in this year. I used to be way out of control, but it worked out many times.”
Zach Ames, Hampshire Regional
Weston Den Ouden, Mohawk Trail
Sebastian English, PVCICS
Liam Green, Mohawk Trail
Dawson Kelly, Hampshire Regional
Keller Mahoney, Northampton
Thomas Michaelson, Northampton
Gage Patenaude, Mohawk Trail
Edward Przybyla, Hampshire Regional
Teddy Scott, PVCICS
Wyatt Sisum, Mohawk Trail
Jon Dunn, Hampshire Regional
Clayton English, PVCICS
Oliver Johnson, Mohawk Trail
Ben Maskosiej, Mohawk Trail
Evan Novak, Hampshire Regional
Ben Oates, Amherst Regional
James Scott, PVCICS
Alex Schreiber, Mohawk Trail
Alex Sirios, Northampton
Phineas Tuttman, Mohawk Trail
Billy Warren, Hampshire Regional