Kelsey Serwa started skiing at Big White when she was two, started racing in Nancy Greene when she was six, won her first ski racing gold medal at age 10, and is the current Canada Games champion. Now, at age 18, the Kelowna native has been named to the 2010 Acceleration Team - part of the largest-ever Canadian Alpine Ski Team in history.

The Serwa family has a long and illustrious connection to Big White Ski Resort. Indeed, Kelsey's grandfather Cliff Serwa broke trail and built the very first road up to the local mountain in 1962. Serwa and Doug Mervyn were the very first pioneers of the ski resort, and visitors to Big White still pass the Serwa excavation pit on their way up to the mountain.

Kelsey graduated from Kelowna Secondary School last year, but has lived a nomadic life for the past couple of years once she started posting impressive results. "Kelsey had to learn a lot of her lessons between training sessions and races," says her mother Terri. "The ski team has financed tutors, she's done distance ed on the internet; all kinds of different educational styles. We are very forunate that the teachers and staff at KSS were so flexible - she couldn't have achieved her honours status without it."

Derek Trussler is the FIS Coach for the Big White racers, and coached Serwa when she was just starting to make her mark on the BC scene three years ago. "I could see that she had a lot of drive and passion right off the bat," says Trussler, himself a former Canadian Alpine Ski Team member. "She really has a great feel for the snow and it didn't take me long to realize her potential."

Serwa is thrilled to have the opportunity to train with the team through to the 2010 Winter Olympics. An Alpine Canada Alpin press release states: (the racers) were selected in the spring to participate in an intensive summer program that included dryland and on-snow training, but had to earn the right to stay with the group for the remainder of the season.

"I am so relieved," she exclaimed. "Our last camp was stressful because it was our final chance to show the coaches our progress and I knew at the end I would either be disappointed or elated. When I heard my name, a wave of relief rushed through my body – I have never wanted anything so bad!"

Serwa is joined by former BC Ski Team athletes Georgia Simmerling of West Vancouver (Grouse Tyee Ski Club) and Elli Terwiel of Heffley Creek (Sun Peaks Alpine Club).

Kelsey's exploits and the challenges she faced while training for this day can be found on a blog on the BC Alpine website.

LINK: http://bcalpine.com/news/article/?1300

The Kelowna Ski Club/Big White Racers have put several skiers on Canada's National Team, including Tim Gilhooly, now a physician in nearby Vernon, and Gary Athans, a successful realtor who lives in Kelowna.

For more information or to interview Kelsey Serwa, please contact:

Steven Threndyle, Media Relations Officer, Big White and Silver Star Ski Resort; sthrendy@shaw.ca
Ph: (250) 764-2143;  Cell: (250) 718-2143