Ski jumper compares Olympic experience to engineering program

Michael Nell is a man who knows how to get a jump on the competition. That could be because he was a member of the 2006 Canadian Winter Olympic Ski Jumping Team and a competitor on the Canadian National Team for four years. But it could just as easily be chalked up to his 2010 award for Best Mechanical Project from the Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineers in their Senior Design Project contest, and his dynamic ability to balance various volunteering commitments while graduating from UVic with a distinguished academic record.

As a ski jumper, it would be difficult to call Nell a man for all seasons, but he seems determined to add that title to his long list of credentials.

By Nell’s own admission, he became involved in engineering even before he knew what it was. “I’ve always enjoyed looking at things, figuring out how they work, how they were made and how they could be improved,” he says. A lego-heavy childhood and an affinity for repairing his bicycle helped nudge Nell towards his current career.

But if variety is the spice of life, then Michael Nell must be a man who enjoys his curry. With an active body to match his active mind, he began ski jumping in Calgary at the age of 15, and reached appropriately great heights.

Nell began as part of a program intended to bridge the gap in ages between the National Team, and younger athletes who were still working their way up. After that, things just sort of snowballed. Before he knew it, he was competing at the US Junior Olympics, then the World Junior Championships in Europe.

“Ski jumping rapidly took over my life,” Nell says. In 2006, he found himself representing Canada at the Turin Olympics.

“My experiences during training, competition and travel, and the lessons I learned about hard work—and teamwork—helped me to excel in school and at co-op jobs,” says Nell, who has completed four different co-op positions in areas ranging from project engineering to research and development prototyping.

He also volunteers with ActNow BC, a BC government program promoting the importance of healthy, active living. “Pushing people to be their best is one of the most memorable and rewarding things I can think of,” he says. After being recognized by the Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineers and completing his degree at UVic, Nell has proved that he is willing to push himself just as hard.

“Graduating from engineering and getting to the Olympics both require a substantial commitment of time and effort,” says Nell, when asked to compare the two experiences. “Both have amazing highs and devastating lows—times when you realize there’s nowhere else you’d rather be, and times when you want to give up, quit, and walk away. Both introduce you to amazing people and expose you to unbelievable opportunities. And in the end, both of these endeavours end up giving you a new perspective on life, opening doors and developing you as a person.”

Nell can be found on the ActNow BC Athlete Ambassadors page: http://www.actnowbc.ca/ambassadors