Name: Sarah Reid
Sport: Skeleton
Hometown: Calgary, AB
Nickname: Rider, Sadie
Favourite Sports Memory: I wanted to try and choose one specific memory from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, but it was way too hard! Those two weeks in Vancouver were everything that the Olympics stand for! I felt so honoured and lucky that I got to be there and watch so many of my fellow Canadian athletes, and athletes from all over the World take part in something so special. I won’t forget one second of it, so the whole two weeks have to be my favourite memory!
How you got involved in your sport: I grew up as a ballerina! After 10 years in balet I decided it was time to try something new, and wanted to give bobsleigh a go. My career as a bobsledder was short and sweet (I am way too small, and was too young at the time!) and I was put in skeleton school instead. I loved it right away and have been in it ever since.
The moment you knew you wanted to represent Canada: I remember being so excited to get my team speed suit the first year I made our National Development team in 2005. I was so proud it had Canada on the back and the maple leaf on the arm. It wasn’t until later that year when I watched skeleton compete in the 2006 Olympics, that I was overwhelmed with this feeling of wanting to be a bigger part of it all. I just remember feeling such a strong sense of National pride, pride for my own sport and my own teammates, and thinking “I want to do that too.”
Favourite Quote: “It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt
CAN Fund Testimonial: With the support of CAN Fund, I’m able to overcome the financial barriers that could prevent me from being the best I can be in ones years time in Sochi. With their support, I know nothing will be left to chance on the start line next February.
Best Result: Bronze Medalist at the 2012/13 World Championships in St Mortiz, Switzerland.
Share one valuable tool that you use on a daily basis that helps you to be the best athlete you can be: Don’t take yourself too seriously. Whether you’ve had a good race or a bad race, take what you need from it and move on. If you spend too much time dwelling on what could or should have been, or patting yourself on the back, you’ll miss your opportunity to learn from it.
Who is one person in your life that has impacted your career and what was it that they taught you: Is it too cheesy to say my Mom and Dad? I grew up in such an active, loving, supportive home where I was taught that results don’t define the quality of the person you are. They taught me the importance of sportsmanship and enjoyment in sport, and without those tools and those two people, there is no way I would be where I am now.
Have you read any articles or books or watched any videos or movies recently that really inspired you: One video I watched recently that had a huge impact on me was the Sports Illustrated SportsKids of the year video about brothers Conner and Cayden Long who compete in Triathlons together. Cayden, the younger of the two has cerebral palsy, and his older brother Conner competes in triathlons with him by running while pushing him in a chariot, and towing him on a bike. It is such an inspiring, amazing story that absolutely blew me away. Here is a little boy who just loves being active and competing, and wants nothing more than for his younger brother to experience the joy of competition as well. It just completely puts things into perspective about what is important in life, and I think it’s an amazing story of sportsmanship, team, and love. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_Lax4zFFoA
Fun Facts: One funny fact about me that not many people know, is I am a huge sleepwalker and talker!!! I always have been! I will get up in the night and walk around or talk your ear off… Being my roommate on tour must always be an interesting experience. I’m lucky all the gals on my team are patient with my constant late-night yammering!
