Ellie Sato Returns from Injury to Lead Young and Promising Ski Team

Last January, Ellie Sato, then a junior at and reigning MVP, was shooting downhill in a high school slalom race, crouching and leaning in around a gate when her ski got caught and her leg twisted backward as she tumbled. She was escorted off to learn she had torn her knee's anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) — on the side opposite the one she tore the previous winter — and would be out the rest of the season.

After reconstructive surgery and eight months of recovery away from her favorite sport, Sato is back on skis and hoping to help lead a bright new Whitefish Bay ski team to state.

"I definitely learned that it takes a lot of effort to get back to where you want to go, and you have to keep at it to get something you want," Sato said.

Sato had some catching up to do, she said, because many serious skiers don't stop practicing in the off-season. There are camps out west, and dryland training at home.

"It felt like something was missing," Sato said. "I never knew what to do with myself. I definitely missed it."

For Sato, who started sking at age 3, and racing at 6, skiing has always been a central part of life. She had trained and raced with the Parks Junior Ski Team and Ausblick Ski Race Team, and went to the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association Junior Olympics four years in a row. On the high school team, she took seventh at the state competition her freshman and sophomore year, and placed second in the slalom event her sophomore year.

So Sato strapped back into her skis as soon as she could in August, skiing in Vail, Colo. and on a family vacation in Chile.

"Once I was back in skis it was liberating to know I could still ski," she said.

Getting back into slalom racing was nerve-wracking, having torn an ACL two seasons in a row in gruesome crashes, but Sato said the risk is worth it, and sometimes motivating.

"I like how there's always a risk," she said. "It pays off taking the risk and it's really rewarding when you finish with a good time. When you fall it sucks, but you know you can do better."

Her skills, experience and attitude have been an important asset to this year's team, coach Matt Skinner said, especially with 20 new skiers. Sato is the girls team captain, and Matt Frick captains the boys.

"Ellie adds leadership to the program ... with her determination, her willingness to be injured twice and keep coming back, and her love for the sport," Skinner said.

Of the 20 new skiers, only three had raced before joining the team, and 17 are freshmen, Skinner said. Before they could get on a hill, Sato helped facilitate dryland training. And now she helps out at practices and races, teaching newer skiers how to inspect a course for safety hazards. 

"I can have her pull out a small group of kids and work with them," Skinner said. "It's been really fun watching all of them grow and change and become better skiers and better racers."

At their first race Jan. 5, a giant slalom at Sunburst, the boys and girls varsity teams took third, and Sato took third individually. The team had its first slalom race of the season Wednesday night, where the girls team placed third with strong performances from Ellie Sato, Midori Ando, and Sara Coffey. Noah Katz, Matt Frick and Luke Schedler led the boys to a fifth place finish.

"It's early in the season, and I'm really excited about our prospects," Skinner said.