Snow flies from beneath Rohan Brown’s skies as he careens around the gate. His reflective goggles help to hide the look of intense focus. It’s a movement performed so quickly that it looks effortless. But in reality, years of practice and preparation led to that maneuver.
Senior and captain, Brown began skiing early on in his life. As soon as he joined the Brookline ski team as a freshman, he worked to achieve the high goals he set for himself. His work ethic has inspired those around him as he achieved more and more success.
Brown said he was introduced to skiing by his father at the age of four but only began racing competitively in 8th grade.
“My dad skied, and he also raced in high school and in college. And so he introduced me to skiing really young and then eventually got me into racing,” Brown said.
Junior teammate Tovah Falck was impressed by Rohan’s focus and leadership from the time she first met him as a freshman. She said he was very focused on his and the whole team’s success.
“His attitude was very, like, he wanted to do well at skiing. He wanted the whole team to do well. So he talked about it a lot,” said Falck.
Keith Carson, the varsity and junior varsity alpine ski coach, said that Brown has served as an example for the rest of the team and has been good about guiding other team members to success.
“He was a role model. He’s a very good skier, and other people learned from watching him ski and seeing his technique. In practices, he also tried to help other skiers with advice on
on technique and ways that they could be faster,” Keith Carson said.
According to Matthew Carson, a junior who has known Brown since he joined, Brown has adapted to his team leadership role, giving advice and reviews to those who need it. Part of the reason for this, according to Matthew Carson, is because he’s the only senior on the team.
“He is the only one in his grade. But he didn’t really have a problem with that this year at all. He was able to guide everyone, help everyone out,” said Matthew Carson.
According to Keith Carson, Brown came into the season with high goals this year. And with his work ethic and focus, he was able to obtain those goals.
“He was third place in slalom and seventh place in GS [Giant Slalom]. And that and by winning the league first place in the league that allowed him to represent Massachusetts in the Eastern High School Championships, which is a really difficult goal to attain. So he had a very remarkable year,” said Keith Carson.
Brown credited some of his success to his pre-race mental preparation. According to him, his routine is designed to build up confidence and focus for the race ahead.
“During inspection, I’m really trying to envision myself and what I’m going to be doing in the course. Getting into the start, I’m really just trying to build the confidence in my skiing and set the goal and the tone because I know that I’m capable of certain things and a good finish,” said Brown.
According to Keith Carson, Brown’s recent success in the conference is the result of years of this type of preparation.
“It’s not something that he did in one year. He’s been working at it for years,” Keith Carson said. “This is the culmination of a long time for Rohan.”
