Upstart Ontarians lead charge to end Quebec's freestyle dominance
By David Michael Lamb
for CBC Sports Online

Boredom with traditional skiing drove Jeff Ord to freestyle.

"I used to race, way back when," says the 17-year-old. "I got bored of racing, so I switched over to freestyle and started doing it at my home club and worked my way up to here."

17-year-old Amy Sisam says top-level coaching has made a huge difference to Ontario skiers

Ord is one of eight freestyle skiers who will compete for Ontario at the Canada Winter Games in Bathurst and Campbellton, N.B.

The Ontario skiers, who trained just outside Collingwood, are considered underdogs in an event that's long been dominated by skiers from Quebec, but they are hoping for an upset.

Ord, who describes himself as "pretty stoked" for the competition, is going to New Brunswick with the goal of bringing home a medal. "It's exciting," he said. "I'm really looking forward to it, and have been for the past year."

Teammate Andrew McKeever is a year younger than Ord, and has slightly more modest expectations. He describes himself as "still learning" about skiing.

"I want to go to the Games and just do my best," McKeever says. "If I go there and have a good run -- a personal best for me -- I'll be really happy with that."

But a number of the team members say they have a serious chance at medals. It's only recently that the sport has been able to churn out this kind of talent in Ontario.

Andrew's dad, Colin McKeever, is one of their coaches. He said the success of the sport depends on how involved parents are. These days, he said, the parents are enthusiastic participants, and that's leading to results on the hill.

"Its one of those things that has a natural ebb and flow, depending on the people who are interested in driving it," Colin said.

"If there's a critical energy at the top -- in the parents -- then it gets revved up again and off it goes for a few years."

Some of the skiers, like 17-year-old Amy Sisam, have also benefited from elite-level coaching.

"I've been going to Whistler for the last three summers to train on the Blackcomb glacier, so that's tons of fun," Sisam said. "It's all World Cup and Olympian coaches, so it's really neat to have them day after day."

She called the training "intense," but added that "it's also a lot of fun out there."

Intensive training is pushing skiers like Sisam to do things that haven't been done before.

Colin McKeever said the inspiration comes from some of the edgiest of sports.

"It's evolving out of skateboarding and halfpipe," he said. "All the tricks coming out of skating and halfpipe are now being put into these mogul things and big air events, so it's really upped it."

There is little dispute that Quebec remains the team to beat this year

But Jeff Ord exudes confidence, and remains convinced he could go home with a medal.

"I think a lot of the other teams have had a lot more training and more facilities and funding and stuff like that," Ord said.

"But we're better skiers."