When Ethan Nass joined the ski team for his fourth and final season, he was unaware of the challenges ahead of him. Challenges unlike any he faced in his prior three seasons. He now had new responsibilities that would not only force him to step up as a leader, but to also step up as a veteran skier.

Nass is a four year member on the Grand Haven High School ski team, which means he brings experience and knowledge to the slopes along with his drive to win. His goals for this season were sidetracked when senior Lauren Klaasen, a four year member of the girls ski team, broke her collarbone in the first race of the season. Klaasen was a vital leader for both the boys and girls teams, which meant someone had to fill her void. Nass chose to step up.

“He (Ethan Nass) is a great leader for the team, especially for the guys,” said Klaasen. “He makes sure everyone is ready for the races and if he sees that you’re struggling he will offer advice on what he does to conquer the situation, hopefully helping you fix it.”

Besides being a leader for the team, Nass has also become a leader on the slopes this year. Despite not having much snow to work with, he has made the best out of the conditions and this season is shaping up to be one for the books for Nass.

“This year I have been placing in the top ten for every single race except one race in slalom,” Nass said. “This year is definitely one of my greatest accomplishments in skiing because of how well I’ve been skiing, which is much better than I thought I would be. Performance wise I’ve been better than ever before. Conditions wise, this is hell on earth for skiers.”

Nass isn’t new to skiing either. Despite being on the high school team for the past four years, he has had many experiences before high school that have made him the skier he is today.

“I was really young when I started skiing, I can’t even remember how old I was,” Nass said. “Nothing really got me into skiing per say, it was always just something that I was interested in, and once I was able to get on a team I jumped right on that. The way I understood it, the ski team just meant I would learn how to go faster.”

Nass also has some extra help this year with a new coach joining him out on the slopes. Coach Ben Stone has done a lot of work with Ethan this year and can see nothing but potential coming from him as both a skier and a leader.

“He pushes every team mate to be better, and challenges them on the snow,” Stone said. “Last week he fell on a course, back to back, in a race. Most would’ve stopped after that but Ethan came back in Slalom and got seventh place out of 62 racers. He ripped it up, which was a super proud moment for me as a coach.”

Ethan isn’t just a phenomenal skier and leader though. He is much more than just a member of the ski team, and enjoys the simple pleasures of life.

“Really I’m a pretty quiet guy,” Nass said. “I read, hang out with friends, and play video games all the time. I’m always down for whatever.”