An Intimate Interview with Samuel P. Dougherty
by Samuel P. Dougherty
So your blog has been
inactive for over a month. Rumor had it you were dead for a while. What’s your
excuse?
Well it’s obvious I’m not dead. I feel more alive than ever,
actually. It must be all that Alaskan air and rollerski intervals. And I’m trying to cut down on my excuses.
Before we get started, how exactly do you pronounce your last name?
Dough-er-tea. Three syllables. Cookie dough, er as in ergonomic, and tea as in what you drink. If you say it fast, it starts to sound like Doherty, which is a totally different animal.
Alright. Got it. So tell me, Dough-er-tea, how did you get involved in
Biathlon?
It’s a funny story. It was the winter of 2003, and I was at
the Ski For Kids Day at Kincaid Park in Anchorage, which is basically a winter
ski fun day hosted annually by the Anchorage Junior Nordic League (the Alaska
equivalent of New England’s Bill Koch League). There was a biathlon station
that day where the kids would try to hit pie plates with slingshot-ed lemon
drops. I had only shot a BB gun before in the Boy Scouts, so the thought of
shooting a gun was pretty intriguing at 11 years old.
So you’re a Boy Scout.
Eagle Scout, yes, among other things.
Like?
Well I enjoy music. All types. I play the guitar and DJ on the side when I have time. I was also in the Anchorage Youth
Symphony for four years, I played French Horn. We were pretty good, too. We
toured to Sydney and played in the Opera House a few years ago.
Very Cool.
Totally. I wasn’t the only skier in that group either. It
seems as though skiers in general are quite the musicians. I like food too.
So Skiing is…. Just another
hobby for you?...
(laughing) Not exactly. Skiing is a lifestyle for me. It’s
how I stay fit. A fit person is a happy person, and a happy person is a fast
person. So personal fitness and staying healthy is the main goal. No matter how
far I go competitively in the sport, I will never look back longingly at my
time as a skier, because I plan on always
being a skier, whether it be as a racer or as a weekend warrior.
But in a perfect
world, you’d be a professional Biathlete.
Correct. At least for a while. I’ve been training with the
Alaska Winter Stars for six years now with that goal. We’re all family there. I
think you kind of have to be family with those you train with. I mean, who else
are you willing to get creamed by in a rainy time-trial and still wish them the
best this next season? But seriously, the idea of becoming a “career biathlete”
in America is incredibly daunting to me. I mean, only a few people can make it
that far and stay at that level for their entire career, but what about the
fringe athletes who spend just as many years trying to make it to the top and
never do? What do they do after 20 years devoted to one thing they can’t accomplish?
That’s why I’m getting an education: not as a fallback if I don’t make it as a
professional athlete, but for my normal life after (or instead of) my athletic career.
Sounds practical
enough. The Alaska Winter Stars is one of the more accomplished ski teams in
the nation, right?
There’s a certain amount of celebrity that comes along with
belonging to the same program that trains names like Kornfield, Packer, Patterson,
Glen, Treinen, Norris, and others. I mean, those names are basically synonyms
for speed in the ski world. Largely due to my brother’s successes, the
Dougherty name has gotten coverage as well. It’s cool. I’m not saying I can
keep up with these guys, and I did have an inflated ego for quite a few years
while riding the coattails of these titans to state championships and national
championships, but then I got to the age where I had to start proving myself at
Senior National Championships a such, and it was a rude awakening to realize
that I still had a long way to go.
So the ultimate
question: are your accomplishments overshadowed by your brother’s?
Well, I’m bigger than he is, so my shadow is also pretty huge.
(laughs) But in all honesty, we’re on separate paths. Andrew has an incredible
amount of self-discipline, and I have no doubt that if he wants to make it big
in Nordic skiing, he will know how to do it and succeed. My desires are more
along the lines of biathlon stardom. At least for a little while, to see how it
feels.
Is it true you raced for Team Alaska in Snowshoe Biathlon?
Yep. It was the 2006 Arctic Winter Games. Those races were the best. I tried to qualify for Nordic skiing, and didn't make it, so I tried to qualify for biathlon, and didn't make it. So I went for snowshoe biathlon. We were required to wear mukluks and lampwick bindings on traditional snowshoes, and we waddled around the same course as the skiers. Those races were so exhausting, but we raced at night to tiki-torch-lit trails. The Canadians were amazing, and it was cool to see the Russians and Norwegians dominate the ski biathlon. That was my first international competition. Good times.
You've come a long way since then. You are about to
begin your Sophomore year at Montana State University in the School of Business.
How does that work to compete at your level in a non-NCAA sport while being a
full-time student?
It doesn’t. Simple as that. I stressed myself out in a
really unhealthy way last season at school trying to train on my own and
continue to be at the level I wanted to be. I tried to walk on the MSU Ski
Team, and my speed just wasn’t there. It was a wakeup call of sorts for me; I
realized that it takes more than heart at this level. But I also realized that
there is no right way to become a professional biathlete, so there must not be
a wrong way either. I’m in no hurry.
So, what you’re
saying is….?
What I’m saying is it takes an incredibly fast skier and a
deadly accurate shooter to even compete on the world level, and I am neither
right now. I’m not even going to talk about the financial investment. The only
way to get better is to train, and that’s what I plan on doing. It might mean a
few years more focused on skiing than on biathlon, ya know, try to ski NCAA for
a few years, get really fast and confident while still shooting when I have
time, and then reassess my goals once I’m at that higher level. I also have to
remember that above all I’m in college to get an education.
That decision might
not be too popular in the biathlon community coming from the first place
qualifier for the World Junior Championship Team two years in a row. Don’t you
want to make it three in a row?
It all depends on how my development in the skiing
department goes. If I’m fast enough to make the Montana State Ski Team, I am at
the disposal of those coaches’ decisions, which I will fully stand behind. Plus
the average age of a champion biathlete is 32, so it all goes back to fitness
as a lifestyle. There’s always someone to replace a vacant spot on a team
roster, and if I decide to not go to World Juniors this year someone else will
be more than happy to take my place. I have enough star-spangled spandex now, so it's now all about the result. And it’s always been a dream of mine to
toe up to the start line against my brother in an NCAA race.
And beat him I
presume?
(smiling) That’s not going to happen. I’ve beat him before
though, in Tennis at least.
It sounds as though you and your brother are pretty close then.
Yes. He's paving the way so I can rollerski on it.
So maybe no world
travels this year?
Again, it all depends. It was a definite confidence boost to
halve my results at the Biathlon World Junior Championships this past season in
Finland from my 2011 World Champs results in the Czech Republic. I wanted
top-30 and I got it, for one race at least. However, what I want more than
anything is to get faster, which means listening to my coaches, whoever they
are, and putting all my trust in them.
So what is Biathlon Elite?
Biathlon Elite was an idea of mine to basically get a group of high level biathletes that train together at Montana State and give us a title. It's easier to get noticed and acquire support when there is a team affiliation attached to your success. The East Coast has always been the hub for biathlon, so Biathlon Elite is kind of the West's response to that. I like the idea of student-athletes being the best in the nation. We've seen it for years on the Nordic side of things at least, so why not biathlon? I've talked it up quite a lot, so this Fall is going to be the test of whether the club can be successful. It will have to be a team effort, and more than just myself will have to want it to succeed if it's going to work. The athletes will get as much out of it as they put in. You can learn more about it here.
So what is Biathlon Elite?
Biathlon Elite was an idea of mine to basically get a group of high level biathletes that train together at Montana State and give us a title. It's easier to get noticed and acquire support when there is a team affiliation attached to your success. The East Coast has always been the hub for biathlon, so Biathlon Elite is kind of the West's response to that. I like the idea of student-athletes being the best in the nation. We've seen it for years on the Nordic side of things at least, so why not biathlon? I've talked it up quite a lot, so this Fall is going to be the test of whether the club can be successful. It will have to be a team effort, and more than just myself will have to want it to succeed if it's going to work. The athletes will get as much out of it as they put in. You can learn more about it here.
So what is next for
Sam Dougherty?
Besides everything I’ve just told you? (laughs) Well I’ll
continue to train with the Alaska Winter Stars over the summer, then either on
my own or with the Montana State Team depending on if I make the team or not. I’m
coaching an adult ‘Masters Biathlon’ group and a Junior High/High School
biathlon team this summer. It’s incredibly satisfying and fun to play coach. It’s
great to have the Alaska Biathlon population growing again, ya know, continue
the legacy of elite Alaskan biathletes. And then there’s mountain running….
Mountain Running.
Hmm... Please elaborate
One thing about hanging around athletes all the time is you
get no sympathy. Someone is always going faster, harder, better. Mountain
running is my kind of outlet to challenge myself. My hobby if you will. I’ve
decided to race the entire Mountain Running Grand Prix this year, while I still
can. I really don’t have any aspirations to win any of those races, finishing
is tiring enough for me. I mean, I can’t exactly say that I race up mountains
for fun, it’s more of for a sick satisfaction. You feel pretty alive when you’re
that close to death-by-exhaustion. I’m more fit after those races than I was
before, so I’m happy. Pain for Pleasure.
Is there any advice
you’d give someone thinking about taking the same path to athletic success as
you?
Sure. As I finished the Bird Ridge Mountain Run this year,
from sea level to who knows how many thousand feet up, someone turned to me and
said “It doesn’t get any easier, does it?” And I guess it doesn’t get easier
from a physical standpoint, because you will always be pushing yourself as hard
as you can, no matter your increased athleticism from year to year. But with
experience comes wisdom, and the only way to gain experience is with time and
effort. While hindsight will always be 20/20, after a while you’ll begin to
figure out what you want in and outside of athletics, and you’ll have the tools
and knowledge to make it happen. Use the resources you have around you, whether they are teammates, athletic facilities, or superiors. Make what you have the best it can be instead of wishing to be somewhere better. And remember to stretch out before and after
exercising. And drink chocolate milk, that always makes me happy.
Words to live by. Well Sam, Thank You for your Precious Time
No Problem, I love interviews.
