Team work makes the dream work for Kennedy-Sim

Ash Knight - olympics.com.au

Sochi Olympian Sami Kennedy-Sim looks the epitome of ‘under-control’ heading into the PyeongChang Winter Games, relaxed and smiling with an aura of Australian spirit and pride.

The Ski Cross athlete is fresh off a two-week stint in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, where she was surrounded by Australian teammates and Olympic Champions, also looking for success come February.  

“I was there alongside our snowboard cross athlete Belle Brockhoff and also had some really good training with the Canadian team who have the current Olympic gold and silver medallists,” said Kennedy-Sim.  

“It was really invaluable for me to go and make the most of the experience.”

But it was the off-snow bond that formed between Kennedy-Sim and Brockhoff that allowed the pair to stay relaxed and enjoy the intense training block. 

“It was so great for me to train with Belle and have somebody to have some a little bit of respite with in the afternoons,” said the 29-year-old who spent her down time creating hilarious content on social media. 

“If you've seen our Instagram feeds you know we had a fun couple of weeks recreating people's silly Instagram videos and stay tuned for more - there will definitely be more!”

“It does get a little bit lonely on this competitive road, so to have somebody who's also trying to better themselves all the time and is eyeing similar goals to you but isn't necessarily your direct competition was so good to be around.

Fellow Sochi Olympian Brockhoff also spent a few weeks in Saas Fee and said having a familiar Australian face around made the training environment feel like home. 

"We have known each other for a while now so we hung out almost every afternoon," Brockhoff said. 

"Most of the time we found ourselves laughing, sometimes on the ground with our abs hurting- at the silly things we did and filmed alot of it on social. When I'm with a good mate, I feel really comfortable and do silly stuff."

Melbourne-native, Brockhoff also echoed that having a training partner from a different sport made her a better athlete on the mountain. 

"At the same time, it was awesome to have a team mate there, regardless of Sami doing Ski Cross. She works hard in training and is continually bettering herself," said the 23-year-old. 

"Its always refreshing to have that energy around your training camp. It gives you more motivation. I'm really excited the next time we are in the same resort!"

Manly-native Kennedy-Sim also found inspiration from Brockhoff's major knee injury which she worked hard to rehabiltate earlier this year as well as a number of other injuries among PyeongChang hopefuls. 

“I'm absolutely motivated by our whole team who have had some massive injuries in this last year, coming into the Olympics which isn't necessarily ideal.

“It shows people our true colours as athletes and we've got some strong people in winter sports, so it is really motivating for me to have these sorts of people around me.”

Kennedy-Sim was joined by fellow Australians, World Champion Scotty James (Snowboard Halfpipe) and Russ Henshaw (Snowboard slopestyle) which made the training environment feel just like home.

She said the strength of the Australian Team heading into the 2018 Olympics is pushing her towards her best Olympic performance. 

“I'm so proud to be part of this, women dominant, winter sports team. The team is looking really successful coming into the games. 

“You never know what's going to happen on the day and I know that everybody's working really hard to make sure that they can put their best performances down.

“Ultimately we do have a really strong team. We're Aussie, we're the underdogs and I'm really proud to be part of that.”
Kennedy-Sim said she learnt a lot from her Olympic debut experience in Sochi and training with the attitude that she can overcome anything thrown her way. 

“I've been setting myself up to make sure that I can deal with whatever issues come up on a day to day basis.
“I can't predict that now in October but in February I'll be ready for anything.

The next four months for Kennedy-Sim will focus heavily on training following by six Ski Cross World Cup events before Christmas and another two in January. 

After that it’s all systems go for PyeongChang 2018.