Fly Girl
For World Champion skier, Brittany Greenwood, water skiing isn’t just about competition ... it’s a way of life.
By: Brittany Greenwood / 7- minute Read
Skiing is literally in my DNA. Both my mom and dad are champion water skiers and they taught me and my brothers to ski when we were just little kids.
I was three years old the first time I skied.
My parents provided us with positive encouragement. They were good examples for us. They still ski and are still really passionate about it. My mom was winning national championships when I was a little kid, so I guess I got the idea that I could do that too. But competing was one of those things that evolved for me over time.
When I was 12 years old, I jumped 104-feet off a ski ramp going 28 miles-per-hour. When I landed I learned I’d broken the jumping record for girls under the age of 13. I don’t know which was the more exciting: Being suspended in mid-air or setting a new record. Both were incredible. I was hooked on skiing from that point on.
After I broke that jump record, my dad and I sat down and put goals together for the following year. We thought I could continue to push the National record and win another National Championship! Skiing had always been fun for me, but at this point, I realized there was also an objective. I was starting to grow up, and it was time for me to take ownership. I no longer needed my parents to encourage me to practice.
Over the next two years, I won back-to-back National Championships. What was next? The World! Literally the World Skiing Championship. The next year, I was able to go to Junior World Championships and placed fourth. All the hard work and dedication was paying off. Then in 2011, I was competing at the Junior US Open in Kansas when miscalculated my timing when approaching the ramp and crashed. I immediately knew I was in trouble. Pain shot through my arm.
Just like that, my life changed.
My elbow was broken and I had to have surgery and do rehab all summer. I was pretty bummed. I suffered from extensive nerve damage in my hand and lost my ability to grip objects — including a ski rope. (I eventually got my grip back, but my nerves are still damaged.) I was 16 years old and counting on a college scholarship. After the accident, I didn’t know what my future would hold.
That summer, to make matters worse, I put on a bunch of weight as my arm and hand recovered from the trauma. When I was cleared to ski again a few months later, getting back on the water was difficult. Skiing had been fairly effortless before, but now I felt the resistance of my body. I hit the gym hard that fall, determined to get ready to make a comeback. By spring, I was back in shape and thankfully my elbow wasn’t bothering me.
I was set to compete in my last Junior Masters when I crashed again at the Junior Masters in the finals. This time, I tore my ACL, MCL, and labrum in my hip. It was another heart-wrenching moment. I couldn’t believe it happened again! My injuries were really bad. I would have to have more surgery and more rehab. I was so angry and upset with myself. I was out of the competition again! Even worse, I felt like I’d let my parents and my coaches down.
I’d just been accepted to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and was supposed to ski for their team. Now that was in jeopardy too. Was this the end of my skiing career? Did I really want to continue skiing competitively? As much as I loved skiing and the ski community, could I come back after two major injuries? I was struggling mentally, second-guessing myself and my future as a skier.
Fortunately, I have an incredibly supportive family and circle of friends who rallied around me and helped me through this tough time. In particular, my friend Chris and his sister Charlotte, stepped in to give me perspective.
Chris was two years older than me. We met at a Junior US Open in 2010 and spent time together at the Junior World Open in Italy. Charlotte, his sister, was a year younger than me. We hung out together and got to be great friends. Chris went to college at Lafayette and he recruited Charlotte and me to go to college there, too.
Skiing in college was a game changer.
In competitive skiing, I was only skiing for myself. I was under the US flag, but not on a team. On a college ski team, it’s not about individual performance. You have multiple scores to make up the team score.
In a lot of ways, college skiing took me back to my childhood when I spent my days at the lake hanging out with everyone on the dock. There was still pressure to do your best and win, but it was tempered because you always had your team backing you with other scores. We all trained together. I got to ski with new people. I had a new fire lit within me. I didn’t just want to ski for myself, I wanted to get better for the team. I wanted to do better so we could place higher. I got excited about skiing again. By my senior year in 2015, after coming second every year, we won the Collegiate National Championship.
While others had moved on from skiing, I knew I wanted to continue so I started making new goals for skiing every year. I want to jump this far. I want to be on the podium and break more records. I wanted to begin my career as a dietitian/nutritionist to help other people feel better and take better care of their bodies. Although my career was getting started I did not want to lose my passion and drive for skiing. Yet, life had changed. I had to rely even more on my family to help me with my training. I would ski early in the morning and late in the evenings, before and after work to keep up with my competition. Needless to say, we were able to step into a routine and find balance that has led to me skiing on the US Team multiple times over the last several years, accompanied by new records and accolades.
Then last fall, “my friend” Chris asked me to marry him — and I said, “Yes!”
This past year has been a bit different because I wanted to enjoy being engaged and planning our wedding — and I wanted to have fun skiing. I let go of my expectations of what I’d be able to do competitively and enjoy this time in my life, once again finding balance.
I continued to ski but competing wasn’t my priority. So I was really excited when I ended up placing second at this year’s Elite Masters with a jump of 160’ at 33 miles an hour.
Here’s the amazing thing about the competitive water-skiing community. Even though you’re competing against your friends, we always support each other. Even at the Masters, the most prestigious tournament in waterskiing, where people should feel all this pressure, I could hear my competitors cheering, “Go get it, Britt!” That’s a very special dynamic that you don’t find in other competitive sports.
When I was three, I could not have imagined how the waterskiing community would become my extended family. I’ve formed relationships with people who are my age as well as with their parents. Often the entire family travels as a whole. Everyone is welcoming and inclusive. There are good morals and values that go hand-in-hand with this sport. Now, Chris and I want to carry that tradition forward and instill it in our family, just as our parents did for us. Water skiing and the sense of community that comes with it is in our DNA — and we want to pass it on.
About Brittany Greenwood
I’ve been a registered dietitian/nutritionist for four years. I became interested in nutrition because of waterskiing. In high school, I wanted to learn how to eat better to feel better and perform better. Eventually, I wanted to share this information to help people. My family is all still skiing and training on the ski lake my dad built in Arkansas. Competing together on the national and international level. While skiing is a major part of my life, we enjoy other activities, such as mountain biking and cross-fit. I love to help others not only improve their nutrition but their fitness too.
