After the varsity soccer team qualified for CCS in a tough tied game against Santa Clara on Friday, Feb. 12, freshman Isabella Taylor wished she could have stayed with her team to celebrate. Instead, she hunched over her car seat, scribbling over the remnants of her math homework as she began her weekly four-hour drive to Tahoe.

    Eight hours later, Taylor caught a bus at 6 a.m. to get to the Sugar Bowl Ski Resort, prepping for another day of ski racing on the Sugar Bowl Ski Team.

“Driving up every weekend for ski team makes me very sleep deprived, but it’s totally worth it because I’d sacrifice anything for something I love to do,” Taylor said.

During the November to April ski season, Taylor usually practices with the Sugar Bowl Ski Team from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. every weekend day at the resort, though she also spends some of those days at races at various locations.

While it’s been tough to juggle two different sports, Taylor said she brings the same mindset to both endeavors.   

Both prior to and during the races, Taylor said she makes sure she is focused because skiing, like soccer, is not just a physical sport but also a mental exercise.

    “I mentally prepare [for each race] by picturing the slope in my head,” Taylor said. “I have to make quick decisions depending on the condition of the run and remove all the fear and anxiety I may have of messing up. I have to try to become fearless.”

    Taylor began skiing at the age of 4 when her parents, both avid skiers, took her on her first ski trip.

    "Before I joined the ski team, it was mostly my dad who taught me,” Taylor said. “I have only had one ski lesson in my life prior to joining the ski team, which is really rare."

Only six years after she started skiing, Taylor travelled to Winter Park, Colo., for her first competition: the 2011 National Standard Race (NASTAR) Championships.

“The environment at the NASTAR nationals was so supportive and very exciting,” Taylor said. “Going down the course itself was so much fun that I knew I wanted to do it again.”

After her great experience at NASTAR, Taylor, her 13-year-old brother and father all joined Open League Racing, a recreational racing program. From 2012 to 2014, Taylor competed in 20 to 30 races with the Open League Racing program. But after two years with the recreational program, Taylor said she didn’t feel challenged enough and wanted more professional training, so she joined the Sugar Bowl Ski Team.

Currently, she competes in the Slalom, Giant Slalom and Super Giant Slalom events.  All three involve skiing through a series of gates, which are marked by pairs of red and blue plastic poles. The events differ mainly by gate length: slalom is the shortest race with the least distance between gates. Both the giant and super giant slaloms have longer, paneled gates.

Taylor plans on continuing to juggle school and skiing throughout high school and even into college.

From her skiing experience, Taylor said she not only has become a better athlete, but also has learned from her mistakes, building more confidence to face her next challenge, whether joining a college ski team or competing in the Olympics.

But most of all, Taylor said she has learned to trust herself.

“No matter how much advice the coaches tell me, it's really up to me on my ability to push my limits,” she said.