Kelowna’s Ryan Moffat likes to go downhill fast — sometimes too fast.

Moffat, the Active Care Athlete of the Month, not only has a penchant for speed that earned him a berth on Canada’s alpine ski team at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway Feb. 12-22; but it almost cost him in his bid to compete for the first time in Europe against the best under-18 racers in the world.

He crashed twice, once in the giant slalom and again in one of two slalom runs at qualifying races at Panorama Mountain Resort near Invermere, B.C. But the Okanagan Ski Team member had the tenacity and talent to “lay it down” in the last of four races on the final day to earn one of just two spots on the Canadian team.

“It wasn’t the way I had it planned, but it worked out okay,” said Moffat of his performance against the 15 top U18 skiers in the country invited to compete for the Youth Olympics spots. “I learned a few things from putting that extra pressure on myself, and I’m hoping to make it pay off in Norway.”

In his second season on the Okanagan team, the Active Care Athlete of the Month has little idea how he’ll stack up against the world’s elite, but he’s excited about the opportunity to find out.

“I don’t want to get my hopes up too high. I just want to do the things I’ve been working on in training and go as fast as I can — without crashing. If I get to the podium, that would be awesome. If not, well I just want to enjoy the experience. I’ll be happy either way”.

That’s not to say he won’t be going all out. His coach, Derek Trussler, has no doubt about that.

“Ryan is very determined; works really hard; and puts everything he has into what he does,” says Trussler, the longtime ski racing mentor in the Valley. “He just puts his head down and goes for it — very aggressively. If anything he’s sometimes too aggressive. He’s still young and learning, but I have to say he has just as much, if not more, potential than anyone I’ve ever coached.”

Moffat finished last season ranked No. 1 in Canada in giant slalom, fourth in Super G and eighth in slalom among about 130 registered U18 FIS skiers. Those rankings — with the help of his first FIS overall podium finish (bronze) in Idaho last year — earned him the invitation to compete for a berth at the Youth Olympics.

With his second-place overall finish at Panorama and a first place among U18s at a recent Alberta Cup slalom event at Nikiska, Moffat appears to be on the fast track to his next major goal of making Team BC next season.

“That’s the plan,” conceded the Rutland Secondary School student, who wrote his final exam earlier this week. “I’d love to ski with those guys, but we’ll just have to wait and see how the rest of the season goes.”

He’ll have to be invited to try out for the provincial team and then earn a spot during training in high locales such as Mt. Hood and Chile in late summer and early fall.

“Making the provincial team will mean more quality training, better competition and more events to compete in,” noted Moffat, also a member of the Canadian Sports School in Kelowna. “That all sounds great to me.”

Growing up in the Joe Rich area, Moffat began skiing at Big White at age three and started racing in the Nancy Greene program. He graduated to the Big White Racers at 11 and by 12 he had earned a spot on Team Canada at the Whistler Cup, the most prestigious ski racing event in North America for youth skiers.

In the first of five trips to the event, Moffat raced to a silver in slalom and a bronze in the combi event against some of the top skiers in the world in his age group.

He was hooked.

Now training four days a week at Apex Mountain in Penticton with Okanagan Ski Team members Reece Howden, Gavin Rowell, Devon Monroe and Brooke Lukinuk, Moffat is also in the gym working out two days a week, showing what it takes to be an Active Care Athlete of the Month.

He’s in Kimberley for BC Cup races this weekend, putting into practice what he’s been working on in training.

“I know I have to deal with the issue of finishing more races,” Moffat admitted. “But really, I believe more training and putting more miles on the hill will solve that.

“This week we went over all of my DNFs (did not finish) and looked at why I didn’t complete races. It’s really a matter of replacing bad habits with good ones. And that takes time and repetition.”

Competing against the best in the world at the Youth Olympics won’t hurt either.

“It will be a great benchmark for Ryan, that’s for sure,” said coach Trussler. “If he has his best runs, he will be competitive and in the ballpark with anyone out there.”

Honourable Mention: Ashlyn Day

A starter with the Immaculata Mustangs since Grade 9, Ashlyn Day already has four provincial senior high school girls basketball championships to her credit and is well on her way to a fifth. Following a 27-point performance in a 50-49 victory over St. Thomas More Knights of Burnaby in the final of the B.C. Catholic championship, Day, now in Grade 11, was selected to the first all-star team and chosen as the most valuable player of the tournament.

Honourable Mention: Tekarra Banser

It was a year ago that Tekarra Banser set her sights on Canada’s biathlon team for the 2016 Youth Olympics. The 17-year-old Telemark Biathlon Club member finished second in all three qualifying races and second overall among 10 girls (16 and 17 years old) vying for the right to represent their country at the prestigious international event. The Youth Olympics in Norway will be Banser's first experience as a member of Team Canada.

“It’s an awesome feeling, especially when I think about how much focus and hard work it took to get to this point,” said Banser.