Hello
Welcome to Canadian Wintersports Cross Country Skiing Coaching Services. My name is Julian Smith, I am a professional cross country skier for the National Team Development Centre Thunder Bay, I am a student of the sport, I have goals that I am passionately working to achieve and I would love to help YOU reach your goals in the sport that I love.
My Story
I am also a Lakehead University graduate in Biology, I am a lover of art, food, design, and I love a great conversation. I believe that as humans, we have the innate desire to connect and communicate with one another, and that if we do so well, we can achieve some incredible things. In a coach and athlete relationship, communication, honesty and openness is highlighted and I hope that we can work together, communicate openly and achieve something awesome.
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Favourite race distance and why?:
My favourite race is sprinting, skate or classic. I love the speed, passion, competition, and head-to-head racing that it showcases!
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Results: ​
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19th Classic Sprint 2019 Lahti U23 World Championships
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2-time Junior National Silver Medalist
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3rd Skate Sprint 2019 Canadian Nationals
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2019/2020 Canadian National Ski Team member
A sports highlight:
The moment that I crossed the start line at my first World Juniors race in Almaty, KAZ, and I knew that I had just taken my first step on the international stage of my professional career. It is a memory that I will carry with me through my entire life.
Athlete Moment:
It is hard to mention only one, but the overarching theme of my athletic career is that any given moment is just part of the process, and sometimes you don’t even know what that process is and it can be part of more than one. While a single moment can be part of a workout, or a camp, or a race or a travel day, it is also part of becoming a better skier, becoming a better human, building a friendship, or learning a lesson that will help shape your life.
Favourite place to ski:
It breaks my heart to ski so infrequently on my home trails of Sawmills Ski Trails, home of Georgian Bay Nordic, but they will always and forever be where I build the foundation of my skiing career and I love that dearly for that reason.
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Preferred training mode or favourite workout:
I love roller skiing in the summer heat. A tough intensity session on a hot day with the team, and a swim in the lake afterwards is hard to beat.
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Coaching Moment:
I have the privilege and honour of helping coach the Lakehead University Ski Team this year at the OUA Championships in Sudbury, ON. It was heartwarming, eye-opening and deeply intriguing to see the other side of the sport that I love and to experience the sport from an extrinsic focal point. Rather than focusing on myself and what I could do to better myself, It was refreshing to be laser focused on the athletes that I was there to support and help achieve their goals.
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Work:
I am a server at Caribou Restaurant and Wine Bar and I volunteer at The Habit which is not for profit coffee shop run out of The Urban Abbey which supports a local women’s shelter.
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School:
I graduated with an HBSc in Biology from Lakehead University after 7 years of parttime school while skiing all over the world.
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Favourite podcast, website, book(s):
Huberman Lab is a great podcast full of deep and easily digestible information on topics from recovery, sleep and performance that can provide insight into all facets of life and sport.
I love watching New Generation Track Club which is a YouTube channel about a track team in Oregon with the goal of making professional running more accessible to the public through giving a backstage look into the lives of the team members.
If you are ever looking for a little motivation, search “The Hunt: Inside the Portland 5000” on YouTube. Or simply watch Miracle on Ice, when coach Herb Brooks says, “This is your time…now go out there and take it.” I promise you will be fired up for your next session.
I am currently reading Shoe Dog by Phil Night who is the creator of Nike,
and the three books that I would recommend everyone read would be
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Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck,
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The Tiger by John Vaillant, and
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The Liberator by Alex Kershaw.
Personal:
Currently Residing (City/town) – Thunder Bay, ON
Hometown – Oxenden, ON
Home Ski Club – Georgian Bay Nordic
Current ski team – National Team Development Centre Thunder Bay
Ski Team -
Years in Sport - 23
Other sports and activities: While skiing in the sport I have pursued excellence in, I also love running, hockey, golf, mountain biking, tennis, volleyball and sailing. Outside of school and sport, I love photography, playing the guitar and singing, baking, drawing, pottery, and design from clothing, to landscape, to furniture.