Brewer skier, 14, trains in France

BREWER – Few people get to spend two weeks skiing the French Alps, training side by side with the French World Cup team. Keegan Kilroy, a Brewer native and Carrabassett Valley Academy freshman, is one of those few.

Kilroy and his six freestyle-mogul teammates recently returned from Tignes, France, where they got an edge on the competition back home.

“It was the best snow I’d ever skied,” said Kilroy, who attends CVA in Kingfield and usually trains at Sugarloaf Mountain.

The CVA students trained with their coach, but they were usually alongside the French World Cup team.

“Just watching them helped my skiing,” said Kilroy. “I’d try to step it up one more level.”

Kilroy knows he improved a lot in just those two weeks.

“I’m skiing a lot smoother and faster than at the end of last year.” He said the trip was a “key factor for me doing well this year.”

Kilroy didn’t just learn about skiing when he was in France.

“Going out and buying stuff at the grocery story really made me want to learn how to speak French and be able to carry on a conversation,” he said.

Kilroy is studying level II French, and said he had some basic conversations with the members of the French World Cup Team and people in town. He and his teammates also kept up with their usual academics, doing the same amount of work, but learning from packets instead of classes.

CVA science teacher Karen Lanoue-Egan traveled with the team to help the students with their lessons and to coordinate their frequent cultural experiences, according to Rick Bisson at CVA.

Kilroy flies down mogul courses, doing tricks off jumps at the bottom. He gets judged on his skiing, his tricks and his speed. The 14-year-old has been skiing since fourth grade and started competing two years later.

He loves the competition.

“It’s always pushing you. [It’s about] training hard and doing something with your life,” he said.

In the last couple of years, Kilroy has learned a lot about working hard, both in athletics and everyday life. The young entrepreneur started up his own hotdog stand two summers ago to help pay the necessary tuition, competition fees and travel expenses that go along with attending CVA.

He said he convinced his dad to take out a loan to get him started. He parked his cart in front of Home Depot in Bangor, and with the help of his friend Ron Whitcomb – a quarterback for the University of Maine football team – his business turned into a success.

Kilroy is proud he paid back the loan that first summer and made some money on top of it. The other costs are covered by financial aid and his sponsors, Preti-Flaherty law firm and Darling’s. He said that without his hotdog stand and his sponsors, he wouldn’t be able to go to CVA.

He also notes the support he has received from his family, especially from his father, Tim Kilroy, and the DiGravio family. Ron DiGravio has been coaching Kilroy since he started competing and treats him like one of his sons, according to Keegan Kilroy.

Not everything is about work, though. Keegan Kilroy also knows the importance of having fun.

“If you don’t have fun, you’re not going to perform at your best level. You won’t be able to go to the next level and succeed,” he said.

He can’t wait for next weekend. It’s the first competition of the year.

“I’m getting a little antsy. I just want to go out and compete,” he said.