Grade: 9
Sport: Freestyle Skiing

“Ever since he was little, every time we went skiing he’d always end up wandering off into the trees to find jumps he could go off of,” Richard Thomas’ sister, Emma, recalls.

Richard Thomas is a Freshman at Orono High School and a man of few words, but in no means a man of few tricks. Richard slopestyle skis which involves skiing down a hill and hitting a series of jumps and metal rails. The judges not only grade you on your ability to do the tricks but how difficult the tricks off of these jumps and rails are.

Some kids are sitting with toys in their mouths at three years old, but Thomas has been skiing since then. He joined a ski racing team in kindergarten and there’s no sign of stopping.
“I think that the best way to get better in this sport, is to ski as many days as possible during the ski season, and to work hard during practice. I try to ski five or six days per week during the season, and I do trampoline training three to four days per week in the off season,” Thomas said.

Richard said, “I immediately loved Freeskiing, but it was very challenging making lots of practices, because I was also playing hockey. I did both winter sports for many years, then when I was in 6th grade I decided that I wanted to focus on skiing for my winter sport.”

He hit the ground running and worked hard to get better. When he ski raced his practices were at Hyland Hills in Bloomington. Thomas said, “I always wanted to get to practice early, and stay late after practice, so that I could ski the jumps and rails in the terrain park.”

“After 2 years of being on the racing team, I found out that there was a team at Hyland Hills, Nybora Freeskiing, that all they did was ski the terrain park. I knew this is what I wanted to do, and I asked my Dad to sign me up for that team when I was in 2nd grade,” Thomas said.

Second grade introduces kids to commas, reading a clock, and skiing off of slopes and rails? Maybe not, but dedication is a powerful thing and even a second grader can know what they want.

Participating in a sport that the United States Ski Team Website refers to as a, “Dynamic sport featuring some of the most innovative events and highest-flying tricks in the world,” would require some practice. Advancing in slopestyle skiing requires an extreme amount of discipline and practicing six days out of the week, traveling around the country, and being invited to practice at the Olympic Development Camp during the summer is just that.

Thomas is the last to tell you about his skiing and the first to make you laugh. Emma Thomas said, “I’m so proud of Richard because he always sees the best in things. Even though his freestyle skiing causes him a great deal of stress by missing a lot of school and the pressure to learn new and complicated tricks, he is by far and away the happiest kid I know. He never fails to put a smile on my face.”

Passion is infectious and Richard’s sister got incredibly excited when talking about her brother skiing. Emma said, “I can’t imagine a time in Richard’s life where he won’t be skiing,” She has high hopes for Richard and could not express how proud she is of how hard he works.

With Thomas’ love for skiing becoming an intense year round season, he does face some issues. “One of the biggest challenges that I now have with skiing, is that a lot of my competitions and training are out of town in mountain states. A lot of the kids that I compete against live in mountain towns, or go to ski academies, where their school program is set up around their ski training and competition schedule.”

Traveling has made it harder to find a balance, but Thomas was quick to bring up how big of a help Orono has been. Thomas said, “Orono school has been great to me, in helping me stay in school at Orono while having so much travel out of town for competitions and training, but it is very challenging for me to miss so much school. Many people have told my parents and I, that it’s time for me to move out of state to pursue my skiing, but I’m trying to become a professional skier, while still being able to graduate from Orono High School.”

Richard may have to work harder at finding a balance but he does have some practice facing obstacles. He continues to go to school and hang out with his friends but has not lost sight of what he is working so hard for.

Thomas has won his age group for the last two seasons in the U.S. Ski Association National Junior Championships for Slopestyle skiing. In January, at The Rev Tour’s Slopestyle event, which is the minor leagues for professional Freeskiing, Richard finished in 3rd place. These accomplishments are huge for Thomas and he has goals of professional skiing and maybe going to the Olympics, but is aware of how hard that really is.

Richard’s parents are extremely supportive of Richard. “Richard’s Mom and I have been very supportive of him pursuing Freeskiing, because we know how much he loves it, and how good he is at it, but it is very challenging as a parent. It is potentially a very dangerous sport,” Thomas’ dad said, “Watching your kid hit 80 foot jumps while doing multiple flips and twists in the air, is super intense.”

Richard’s parents, Pete and Nicole Thomas, make sure Richard is doing everything with a good head on his shoulders and being smart about what he’s doing. They emphasize Richard doing safe tricks and doing what he is trained for. Mr. Thomas expressed how important it is to keep Richard healthy, but continue to support Richard doing the difficult tricks he loves, effortlessly.

Mr. Thomas recalls, “The time that I was most proud of Richard in skiing is probably when one of the Olympic coaches told me that they really liked Richard because he was such a great skier, but also a quiet and humble kid.”