Not for Shepparton’s Victoria Richardson.
The pre-teen is a certified shredder on the slopes who sets up shop at her second home, Mt Buller, over winter, all in the hopes of playing dress-up of the grandest order — an Australian flag at her back with a gold medal slung around the neck.
“I’ve never wanted to do a normal-person job, I’ve always wanted to do something different,” she said.
“I thought, ‘what about the Olympics?’ and that’s what I have always dreamed about since I was young.”
Strapped into skis since she was 18 months old, Victoria has been on an upwards trajectory — on a downwards slope — for almost a decade.
But as soon as she could swap to a board, that was ‘all she rode’.
In the same vein as children learning to walk before running, Richardson had to spend four years skiing before becoming eligible for the bindings.
From then on during the snow season it was either Mt Hotham or Mt Buller every weekend to engage in programs offered at both mountains, with dad Scott wanting his daughter to reap every benefit possible.
Which for Victoria and her parents meant travel — and lots of it.
“We knew it was a commitment of every school holiday in winter and every weekend from Friday night to Sunday,” Victoria’s mother, Clair, said.
“It was a massive ask and I don’t know if Victoria was old enough to understand, but she was as keen as a bean and wanted to do it.
“Then at about six or seven years old we realised how good she was on the snowboard, and because of her progress, Mt Buller approached Victoria and put her into their Snow Squad, which is for kids wanting to pursue the Olympics in future.”
Endlessly sliding down Buller would eventually pay dividends for Victoria, where her talent was being picked up left, right and centre.
First was Snow Squad.
Then, a certain Australian Olympic snowboarder took notice.
“Belle Brockhoff got in touch and said she was a little firecracker and she’s going to go far,” Clair said.
“That was pretty exciting for Tori to see an Aussie female who’s in the Olympics reach out to her.”
More recently, further recognition has been awarded from Mt Buller’s powers that be.
Last month Victoria was given the shoulder tap to advance from Snow Squad to Race Club, where she’ll take her next step towards her green-and-gold dream.
It comes after just two career races – the first of which she finished second in – making the magnitude of her climb towards the peak even more outstanding.
But just because summer beckons, it doesn’t mean Victoria can rest.
As her budding career snowballs and what started as a bit of fun becomes far more serious, Victoria has been enrolled into gymnastics to build core strength, flexibility and fitness for snowboarding.
“Going forward it means making an even bigger commitment — if I want to do flips and stuff, I actually have to know how to do them,” Victoria said.
“I’ve always been a competitive person, so it’s what I’ve always wanted.”
Competitive drive is something rarely witnessed at such a young age, and Victoria has bags of it.
With two eyes eternally fixed on her target of a Winter Olympics debut, she is ready to do whatever it takes to reach the sport’s summit.
In fact, Victoria is so confident, she already has her first words prepared for when she hits the international podium.
“I’d say thanks to Mum and Dad for helping me get there,” she said.
6°C