Doing sport at any age is the leitmotif of this man who still skis.
Playing sports is often a goal, but it is not always easy to do it every day, especially when you move forward in life with professional or family responsibilities. However, it is necessary to exercise regularly and this is what Taylor, an 85-year-old British man, decided to do.
Taylor didn’t exactly choose the easiest sport to do. Whether you are young or old, skiing is a demanding sport that uses many parts of the body. This is perhaps why the man says he is still “fit and flexible” for his age in a long interview for the British newspaper The Telegraph.
As he explains, Taylor wasn’t necessarily predestined to play sports. He used numerous subterfuges to avoid PE lessons at school, preferring “a good book” rather than a sporting activity. But then how did young Taylor go from rejecting the sport to practicing skiing every winter?
“Life”, quite simply. Employed in the IT department of Rolls-Royce in Derby, Taylor was transferred to Glasgow a few years later. A transfer that changed his life as one of the members of staff who was responsible for welcoming him was secretary of the Glasgow Ski Club and took Taylor to the weekly parties.
If at first it was “a way to pass the time, to go for a drink”, the trend quickly changed when, during the New Year period, his friends forced him to come skiing every year. He agreed to go to Glenshee, in the Cairngorms, Scotland.
After several trips, Taylor took things more seriously, realizing that “if you want to ski safe, happy and relaxed, you have to learn how to do it right.” From his forties, in the 80s, the Briton joined Down Hill Only, the English ski club in Wengen. He even took the opportunity to bring “his nieces and their children” and introduce him to this new passion that he has never abandoned until today.
Aged 85, Taylor now does his daily sport, but rejects any form of conditioning or gymnastics. “A lovely walk in the Dales, up to ten miles,” is the skier’s credo. In winter, on the slopes, there is no special preparation other than a few stretches. Taylor has one piece of advice: “Ski in safe places and in good conditions. When skiing, it’s good to have space around you. Never go halfway when it’s thick. world, it’s expensive and there are too many bad skiers,” he dares.
Taylor also discussed the changes and technical developments in skiing between helmets, wetsuits and buckled boots, also highlighting the “horrible period in the early 1970s when the fashion was for shiny outfits that looked like trash bags “. With his age, Taylor now prefers to ski in style, “I don’t do nasty difficult things anymore, like attempting couloirs.” A way to be able to continue skiing until “90,” something that “shouldn’t be a problem.”
