John Smart is applying the same dedication and discipline that made him one of the world’s best mogul skiers to his life away from the bumps By Andrew McCradis Community Editor ohn Smart is asking himself the same i questions thousands of university graduates ask themselves every year in Canada. “What am I with my life?” “Is that.really the price of houses these days?” “Where should I get mar- ted?” ; But for the Lions Bay 31- ear-old, these questions are coming relevant seven years after he graduated from the University of British Colum- * bia with a commerce degree. ~ What's he been doing all - those years? ce Well; just like many of his post-graduate __ brethren, “Smart set off to see the world after receiving his diploma — though for him .the world often unfolded from the top ofa snow-covered mountain, ; As a member of Canada’s ‘World Cup freestyle team, Smart has lived the life many young mogul skiers only dream about as they ride the chairlift br the umpteenth time — five months of the year in European and North American ski resorts competing against the world’s best, then seven months of down-time in Whistler (OK, so there is a a little thing called dryland training). "Bur all that ended before summer as Smart did what his heart, mind and body were telling him to do: hang up the skis. “I probably had my mind made up right at the beginning of the. season,” Smart reflects on the decision to end his first - career. “Right at the start of the season I knew it was going to be a tough battle for me to put in a good year, to regain focus. * And it was.” Despite winning a bronze medal in Aleenmarkt, Austria, on March 15 of this year, Smart knew that it was over: “What's i. missing is the commitment and the determination. I've just learned that you cannot be an athlete at this [evel without that.” Some would say. he learned the hard way, by coming out of - a self-imposed retirement ill-prepared physically and mentally to - take on the challenges of a World Cup season. (At the end of -Jast season he said he was through but as the summer went on he decided he wasn’t ready to retire.) ” “Because I had taken most of last summer off and had decid- ed not to ski this past year the challenge to try and refocus was more than I expected,” Smart admits. ~ But’chalienges arc what motivates the man, and despite his loss of focus on the slopes, his vision on other fronts has been 20/20. . "For the past five years Smart has overseen Smart Mogul - Camps, a summer operation. on Blackcomb Mountain for devel- ‘oping young skiers. And fast summer, he produced and direct- going to do ‘ed Smart Mogul Skiing, an instructional video sponsored by Blackcomb. “Ir was a fun project but a lor of work,” he says of the video. “And of course I didn’t want to put out anything other than the absolute best I could. Jt was a lor of fin bur it certainly took my mind away from skiing last summer.” That face is revealing in itself since it was probably the first time in Smart’s memory that his mind was not thinking about skiing. When he and his family moved to Lions Bay from Cold River, B.C., when John was 10, his first passion, hockey, began to take a back seat to his new-found love. And though his hock- cy coach — his dad — probably wasn’t too impressed with his pupil's changing allegiances, once John started going to istler on weekends, there was no turning back. That’s not to say Smart didn’t try other sports. As a student at West Vancouver Secondary, Smart ran cross-country and even suited up for the footbail team. “I liked playing football until I was hit," he says with a laugh. “The play was over and sorne guy came into the pile to impress the coach and knocked my knee and jammed it. I was in excruciating pain. After that I just figured ir just wasn't worth it. Between the ages of 15 and 18 it became apparent that Smart had what it takes to be a world-class mogul skier. In both 1980 and 1983 he placed second in moguls and fourth in aeri- als at the Nationals. Of course, freestyle skiing at the time was one of a number of fringe sports that didn’t offer a long-term career. “At that time | looked at the World Cup freestyle circuit and the future and it didn’t impress me, and the competition didn’t Personal Prepare for boarding: Lions Bay's John Smart and flancée Julia Snell ‘strap down their wind- surfers as they prepare to hit the road for a three-week trip to Oregon. Smart retired from the World Cup freestyle skiing circuit aarlier this year and is stoked about life after skiing. warrant me targeting my life towards it,” Smart says. “I enjoyed: the sport purely “because I loved it.I didn’t look at it as a career.” So off to university he went, with no thought of that “ski thing”. Then, a funny . thing happened. 7 ; “Halfway through my degree the sport started to change... it had become much’ more’ disciplined,” he ~ explains. “And then I bumped into a couple of guys 1 used to compete against at SAMEEES the national level and looked NEWS photo Paul McGrath = at what they were doing — and compared their lifestyle to mine — and made a lifestyle decision. I'd had enough of 18-hours of studying and stress a ay.” : So in 1986, he tried out and made the national development team. Two years later he, was on the national core team, and a year after that was a regular on the World Cup circuit. He kept up his studies during this time. And then came the watershed. Mogul skiing was granted Olympic status. ; “ID remember exactly, when that came through,” Smart ° recalls of the announcement that began hiss Olympic dream. “I was studying for final exams and the decision came through the radio, My roommate came over and told me and I really didn’t care about the exam at that point, That was when I made a con- scious decision ‘Alright, I’m geing to the Olympics.’ ” And go he did, placin at the 1992 Albertville Games and seventh at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics. Other carcer highlights for Smart include a second-place fin- ish in the 1992-93 World Cup’ Grand Prix standings (behind fellow Canadian Jean-Luc Brassard); winning the semi-finals at the 1993 World Championships; and in 1990 he rekindled Canadian pride in mogul skiing by winning the country’s first medal since 1985. ood ° a But that’s all behind him now, as he looks to the future and a myriad of opportunities. a itting in a Whistler watering hole during the recent Atlanta Olympics, Smart looked relaxed and happy with where life has taken him (this despite having just spent two days sitting in front of a computer in his parents’ Whistler condo, pouring See Smart page 12 af growth TV opportunity beams in. By Michaei Becker News Editor ‘SUCCESS TV is here. Og Mandino, business philosopher Jim Rohn, self-esteem expert Dr. Nathaniel Branden — offer televised sessions on personal excellence. It’s all beamed into homes from the Dallas uplink station; where the programming is ma) \ NEWS photo Brad Ledwidge CHARONNE Sinclaire is a West Vancouver home-based affiliate with The Peoples Network, a TV network geared to personal and professional growth programming. wes ’ TPN Ot LR IR Se ED TE Oe ee we ee ETS + Pe Ce a EE EB Charonne Sinclaire of West Vancouver has it and she wants to share it with you. Sinclaire is a financial partner with The Peoples Network (TPN). TPN, based in Dallas, Texas, was launched in February 1995, It’s quite literally a growth: area. The personal development industry is huge, worth approximately $31 billion annually in North America. Popular corporate and personal growth fig- ures. — people fike sales trainer Brian Tracy, Bruce Jenner, John Bradshaw, super-sales guy eevee eraew ew eee eee filmed and shot heavenward a distance of about 22,000 miles. The Galaxy 7 satellite bounces everything back to home receiving dishes in less than a second. . . As a ‘financial partner (an affiliate) with ° TPN, Sinclaire works from home. Her goal is to spread the word on the network and plant lots of dishes in homes throughout: North America. The plan is to make the service avail- able throughout 40 countries in the next four See Network page 16 Pe Me Oe ee