Landing it right: Emmett’s story

I started skiing when I was about five years old and my brother was seven – and a year later, we were doing black diamonds with 12-year-olds! But skiing is scary. When I was first trying to do a front flip, that was probably one of the scariest things I've done on skis because you can't spot your landing, and every time I kept on hurting my shins. So front flips are easy to ‘commit’ to, but hard to land. Backflips are easy to land, but hard to commit to.

In Park City, I did get to work on my front flips with Bino. What was different was the way he coached me. He’d say, “If you want to do this, I'll help you, but if you don't want to, it’s totally fine.” That was good because he didn’t pressure me. Usually, I go at my own pace trying new tricks, and I don't like feeling pressured. So it was just super fun with him helping me and coaching me. It felt like he was supportive and not pushing at all.

Skiing with Bino and Aaron was also pretty cool because they told me everything, like what they had to deal with growing up. They have the same story and got made fun of at one point in their lives. Bino said that when he does tricks and double back flips, he thinks about his haters. Then he goes for the run and lands it. If he doesn't land it, he gets up and tries it again until he does. So that's something.

I remember being bullied a little in second grade. A lot of my friends stood up for me, and the others stopped doing it. I'm actually still friends with the kids who were not so nice to me. I also remember that after Bino first messaged me back, I told everyone about it. I was like: “A pro skier texted me! He’s my new best friend!”

It’s kind of funny, because I see so many older people with hearing aids. If they have hearing aids, it’s because they're losing their hearing. But I think if you're born with hearing loss and people still make fun of you, you just have to ignore them and not care. And when you have hearing aids, you can give your friend one of your hearing aids and listen to music together in class! But I don’t wanna do this, especially in math, which is one of my favorite classes. Also, my teacher is really nice, and I’m not gonna risk it.

This summer, I’ll be doing some dry-land training at Copper, a ski resort that’s not too far from home. There’s a lot of working out and trampoline work, which will help me get more competitive if I decide to start competing next season. But I want to keep practicing anyway because I might want to be a skiing videographer or photographer. I always liked photography, and a few years ago, I took pictures whenever I went somewhere with my brother. When I met up with Bino and Aaron, I saw how the film crew making this cool video had to come off the jumps – so they had to get really good at skiing, too. A lot of my friends from the ski team want me to bring my Insta360 camera up to Copper, so I’ll probably do that when I go there to train.

One thing actually happened with that cool video they made of Bino, Aaron and me. A lot of people on my ski team reposted it, and my brother's friend, who’s a snowboarder and on the same ski team as me, saw it. She has hearing aids, too, which we never knew about. But after she saw the video, she messaged me to tell me. She had been hiding it and was embarrassed about her hearing aids, but now she's kind of been promoting the fact that she wears them. She even posted something like Deaf girls rock well! after winning a dance competition. So that was pretty cool. I didn't really think about the fact that I maybe helped someone else, but, you know, it's nice.

I actually think it would be kind of cool if someone did a program for skiers with hearing aids, because then I could meet more people like me. But when I wear them, I forget about wearing them, and just kind of enjoy hanging out with my friends.

Emmett wears Phonak Audéo^™ Paradise hearing aids.