Ski team at Mt. Spokane brings World Cup racer back to his roots

Elite athletes stepping away from the pinnacle of their sport to work with kids is nearly unheard of – unless you know what’s going on with the Spokane Ski Racing Association (SSRA).

Longtime U.S. Ski Team member and former Olympian Tom Rothrock retired from competition last May. Today he can be found on the slopes of Mt. Spokane, sharing his wisdom with junior racers.

Rothrock grew up in Wenatchee. He’s been living in Liberty Lake with wife Angie and young son Preston since last year. He’s a 2002 Olympic skier and had four World Cup top-10 slalom results in his career. He was named to his third consecutive World Championships team last season.

So far he has no regrets settling into his first winter without competition after nine years on the U.S. Ski Team.

“No, not yet, if you can believe it,” he said. “I just got tired of traveling all the time, chasing the winter around the world. Summers we were in New Zealand or Chile, then Europe in the fall. Once the season starts you go to Austria and Germany, back to Canada and the United States, over to Japan. It wears you down.”

Rothrock and SSRA program director Chuck Holcomb have known each other about four years. When Rothrock announced his retirement, Holcomb asked him to join his staff.

“This is a chance to get back to my roots,” Rothrock said. “I feel obligated to give something back to ski racing by working with kids. It’s a good fit.”

Rothrock is SSRA’s juniors coach. He’s working with the more advanced racers on the team age 13 and older.

“Tom has brought a lot of excitement to the organization,” Holcomb said. “We feel blessed to have his experience and perspective as an athlete from the elite level of his sport. He’s one of the latest who have dedicated their hearts and souls to the program. It’s a whole staff effort when kids succeed.”

Junior racers at Mt. Spokane are guided by a high-quality coaching staff. Holcomb is a three-time Junior Olympian and former collegiate coach. Last season, the Pacific Northwest Ski Association named SSRA head coach Mark Burandt Outstanding Youth Ski League Coach of the Year.

Rothrock’s presence is bringing the outrageous aura of international ski racing down to earth for the developing athletes on the team.

“The kids really look forward to skiing with him.” Holcomb said. “It shows them that an individual who has skied in the Olympics and toured on the World Cup for several years is a human being just like they are. He humanizes the elite level of ski racing for them. It allows them to dream more tangibly about their goals.”

As far as goals for his junior racers, Rothrock said he just wants them to have fun as they improve.

“Once I get them, these kids are pretty far advanced as far as their ski technique,” he said. “But there’s a lot to learn about ski racing that I can help them out with. I’ll be training with them quite a bit, actually running gates, kind of easing my way into retirement.”

One thing Rothrock misses in his retirement is training hard in the summer with a winter goal in mind. But his competitive nature is being redirected toward the goal to become a fireman. He’s volunteering at Spokane Fire District 8 while he takes Emergency Medical Technician classes at Spokane Community College.

Retirement allows Rothrock to indulge in things he had no time for when his life was dedicated to bashing gates at high speed on solid ice.

“I love having a powder day,” he said. “That’s something I’ve been missing because I’ve been training the whole time. I actually had one of my best powder days at Lookout Pass about two weeks ago. But I still love getting up there, setting up a GS course, ripping it and having fun.”

You can take the boy out of racing, but you can’t take racing out of the boy.