William Boisjoli loves strapping on a snowboard and zipping down a hill. He started seven years ago and remembers his first time like it was yesterday.
"Oh it was so nice, going fast and going up the big wall," said William.
Now aged 16, he gets to snowboard every single day as part of a sport-study program at Polyvalente Saint-Jerome.
"I snowboard four days a week with Sport-étude in the morning, and three mornings on weekends and Saturday and Sunday we go with the contests."
William competes in slopestyle and the halfpipe, and is freestyle provincial champion for his age category.
He also competes at a world cup level and has a solid spot on the provincial team.
"What I love about snowboarding is to be free and having fun and pushing myself to the next level," said William.
His coaches recognize his skill and his determination.
"When he started he wasn't the best, but as he was getting older and started training a little longer, he started passing other kids that had more talent," said Brian Smith.
"We started seeing through hard work that he was getting better than maybe the kids that had more talent than he had in snowboarding."
Smith offers up William as living proof that practice really does make perfect.
"If you sit on your talent and don't work hard that doesn't bring you anywhere. He's the opposite. He works really, really hard."
Smith said William is on track to qualify for the junior worlds and the 2018 Olympics.
"In the halfpipe he can do back to back 720's which is one 720 with two full rotations, and then he'll go into another two full rotations," said Smith.
"Let's not forget he's only 16 years old. He's so young and he's doing tricks 19- and 20-year-olds are doing."
We are always on the lookout for new talent, so if you know a great amateur athlete in your community, email Randy today and they may end up being profiled as one of Randy's Rookies.
