Author:  Melanie Gow, fan of Jennifer Heil and hopeful Olympian

Seeing Jennifer Heil win silver at the 2010 Winter Olympics made my dream of becoming an Olympic gold medalist realistic. I have met Jennifer many times in my life and she is a great and humble person. She has given me many tips on how to focus, relax and how to be confident in myself. She is such an inspiration in my life because she is also studying commerce at McGill University, which means she wants a business career after she is done skiing. I also want to pursue a business career after I am done freestyle skiing.

I am a freestyle skier.   I ski and train at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary about 5 times a week. Whether it's spinning or flipping off jumps and in the halfpipe or lifting weights in the gym, I train about 40 hours a week.  I am also a high school student at the National Sport School; this school helps me excel in school and in my sport. There is a low student to teacher ratio, the classes are flexible, the teachers are understanding and all of our classes are online. Before when I was in a regular school I could not keep up my grades while I was away on trips skiing.

Skiing makes me relaxed, it helps take my mind off any stress that I have, it helps me think and it also gives me an adrenaline high that nothing ever has before. Recently I injured my knee off a 60 foot jump. I don't know for sure what I injured in my knee, but my doctor thinks it was my ACL (anterior cruciate ligament).  If she is correct, that means I am not allowed to ski for 6 months.

This injury is a huge setback for my skiing career. I was crushed to know that I couldn't ski. I tried to be strong by accepting the horrible news but I couldn't fight back the tears. Knowing that I couldn't do the one thing in my life that makes me so happy was the biggest heart break I have ever had.  It was almost like it had been taken away from me.

Each day I try and be strong, I try to look at the positive side and know that when I am back on skis I will be stronger and better. When I am stronger and better I will train as hard as I can to pursue my dreams of becoming an Olympian just like my idol Jennifer Heil.