As a freestyle moguls skier, Gage LeBlanc is used to ups and downs.

After all, his is a sport in which athletes navigate 160 knee-high bumps of solid snow and ice, then launch off of two huge jumps—spinning, flipping and twisting through the air to gain points. 

But for the last two years, for Gage, the highs and lows weren’t restricted to the slopes. 

Following two knee surgeries, the 19-year-old was second guessing the direction his life was heading. 

“I was asking myself ‘am I still wanting to ski?’” he said. “I didn’t know if I still had the same dreams and aspirations.’”

Since he was 14, Gage had invested a lot of himself into pursuing his freestyle skiing goals. For years, he trained hard with the Jasper Freeride team, pushing himself to go bigger, turn tighter and learn more complex aerial stunts. As a result, at 17, Gage earned an invitation to ski with the Alberta High Performance Mogul Team. His dreams of one day skiing with Team Canada were lining up.

Of course Gage didn’t do it alone—and he would be the first person to say as much. There were his parents, his coaches and his teammates, of course. Balancing the myriad expenses of skiing—lift tickets, travel, equipment, and insurance—was a challenge at times, requiring careful planning and prioritization for him and his family. To help fund his goals, along with working multiple jobs, organizing fundraisers and shlepping countless bags of refundable bottles and cans, Gage had also, over the years, approached his community for support. 

“I had contributions from across the country, and from my community,” he told The Jasper Local in 2022. “I’ve always had a hugely supportive team behind me.”

Because of that support, Gage felt a sense of obligation to those who backed him. He wanted to do good by his community. People were counting on him, he thought, to take the next step in his skiing journey. And he was always motivated to show them he could.

“I’m super determined,” he said after gold medal winning Olympian Jennifer Heil endorsed his skiing journey.

So when Gage’s forward momentum slowed down—when he got hurt, and when he eventually started to have second thoughts about his skiing goals—it felt worse than wiping out on competition day. He thought if he was no longer able to ski at a high level, he would be disappointing his community. But if skiing was out, should he pursue college? University? Go into a trade?

Suddenly, the teenager felt the weight of the world pressing down on him.

“I was really concerned about letting people down,” he said. 

Recovering from injury far away from home, Gage was feeling increasingly isolated. He was spending more and more time on his phone, pushing guilty thoughts of avoiding his physiotherapy away with more and more doom-scrolling. He wasn’t eating right. His sleep suffered.

“I wasn’t myself,” he recalled. “I was somebody I didn’t even recognize.”

Luckily, there is someone who can always recognize him: his mom, Beth. After many phone calls between them, one day, something about what she said stuck. He realized it wasn’t Gage the skier who Jasperites wanted to see succeed, it was Gage the person.

“She reminded me that people didn’t support me for the sport, people supported me for who I am,” he said. 

That person is someone who likes to be outside. Who likes to feel useful. Who likes to spend time with his family. 

“I’d gotten away from being active and being around the community I grew up in,” he said.

Talking to his fellow athletes helped, too. He realized he wasn’t alone in feeling lost when the sporting path takes an unplanned detour.

In time, with the help of those closest to him, Gage made the decision to say goodbye to a career in skiing and instead pursue an apprenticeship as a heavy duty mechanic. He’d ski for fun, he decided. As soon as he said it, a weight lifted from his shoulders. 

“It felt like I was getting back to being myself,” he said. 

But he did have some unfinished business. He needed to tell his community—his supporters—the new plan and acknowledge that he could have been more transparent, earlier.

“I should have been in touch with people sooner to tell them I was parting ways with competitive skiing,” he said. 

“And to thank them for all their support.”

He’s doing that now. And he has another message—aimed not at his backers, but at those who might be considering a similar path in competitive sports.

“Stay true to yourself. You don’t have to change for anybody. And don’t forget your roots.”

Gage said he was lucky to always have a safe haven in his home to come back to. He hopes as much for young athletes.

“People are in your corner,” he said. “Even if sometimes it feels like it’s just you.”

Bob Covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com