College Sport: Twins stick together on slopes to success

Luke and Gia Hughes will study by correspondence overseas. Photo / Greg Bowker

Freestyle ski pair head abroad for Northern Hemisphere winter.

Kristin School twins Luke and Gia Hughes are going places with their skiing.

Downhill, mainly, and at great speed.

The 17-year-olds, who have just finished Year 12 at Kristin, are gearing up to head to the American and European winters to train, race and generally immerse themselves in freestyle skiing.

Incredibly, they returned identical results at the North Island schools champs in September at Ruapehu, winning gold, and both came second at the junior nationals in October.

That was especially satisfying for Gia, who has only moved to com-petitive freestyling in the last few months. And credit to Luke, there is wider competition in the boys' ranks.

All those hours doing moves on the trampoline at their Coatesville home has paid off. With a distinct lack of snow in the northern region they do practise at Snowplanet nearby, but that has restrictions on height and space, so the tramp does the trick. That is when they are not training in Wanaka at the Cardrona ski field.

Gia is also a talented horserider, but that is on the backburner as she rises up the skiing ranks.

She explains some of the mindset honed by their coach Pete Legnavsky, who is based in Wanaka.

"I'm focused every second. You are always thinking of the trick after that because it's so technical," says Gia. In about 45 seconds her run will be over. It is short, sweet and intense.

Is there sibling rivalry with Luke?

"It's not a rivalry. I look up to Luke because he's at a much higher level than I am. He teaches me stuff and he always tell me not to do stuff because he doesn't want me to hurt myself."

There needs to be an element of fearlessness about freestyle skiers. Broken bones - and the Hughes twins have had their share - are an occupational hazard.

Luke started skiing when he was 10 but only in the last 12 months or so has he got serious about the training, travel and competition. He placed ninth at the New Zealand Open this year, up against some veteran skiers. Now he is rated the 150th best freestyle skier in the world.

Younger brother Nathan is showing promise too. The Kristin ski team has more depth than most northern region schools.

Now the plan for the twins is to do correspondence school in 2016 as they hit the Northern Hemisphere slopes. The competition will be intense, but the whole family is meeting in Montana for Christmas. By March they should be in Europe, skiing the French Alps in very different conditions to what they find at Ruapehu or Cardrona.

Coming up

Thursday
Softball
Junior one-day tournament, Rosedale Park, Albany, from 9am

Friday
Athletics
New Zealand SS track and field and road champs, Aorangi Track, Timaru
Rugby Sevens
Condor 7s, Kelston BHS

Saturday
Athletics
New Zealand SS track and field and road champs, Aorangi Track, Timaru
Rugby Sevens
Condor 7s, Kelston BHS

Sunday
Athletics
New Zealand SS track and field and road champs, Aorangi Track, Timaru
Rugby Sevens
Condor 7s, Kelston BHS, open finals day

Monday
Cricket
Gillette Cup (boys): NZ Cricket High Performance Centre, Lincoln University, Christchurch, from 10am (Westlake BHS is the Auckland rep)

Tuesday
Cricket
Gillette Cup (boys): NZ Cricket High Performance Centre, Lincoln University, Christchurch, from 10am
NZCT Cup (girls): Fitzherbert Park, Palmerston North.