A Fenwick teen won a gold and a bronze medal at the OFSSA Alpine Skiing Championship last month at Blue Mountain. Joseph Mergl took first place in the slalom competition, and placed third in giant slalom.
Joseph got into the sport at a very young age. “I was about three years old when I started skiing,” he said, “and by the time I was seven I was competing in races at Holiday Valley.”
That early start has paid dividends so far in his young career. He is the only boy from the South Ontario School Association to win a skiing gold in the last twenty years. It was a feat made all the more impressive by the extenuating circumstances surrounding race day: “There weren’t enough beds the night before,” he said with a laugh. “I spent the night on some couch cushions and didn’t get a lot of sleep.”
The sport is traditionally dominated by athletes who live closer to practice slopes and have more opportunities to hone their craft. Joseph, however, has not been deterred by these geographic obstacles, and instead endures a difficult travel and training schedule to ensure he can be at the top of his game. “In the off season I do dry land training three times a week,” he said. “Throughout the rest of the year I train 5 days a week on the hill.”
Without a suitable training space in Niagara, Joseph spends the winter months in the Catskill Mountains of New York State. The eleventh grade student completes all of his school work online, keeping in touch with his teachers through email. “It’s pretty difficult, but I make it work,” he said.
While Joseph would love to compete at the Olympic level one day, he is equally as comfortable with his back-up plan. “Both of my parents are vets,” he said, “and that’s been something that I could definitely see myself interested in.”
For now, however, Joseph will continue to train and compete, chasing big dreams down steep slopes.
