The 20-year-old was riding urban, doing ski tricks on an outdoor railing and stairs in Nelson, B.C., when he fell and hit his head.
The veteran Edmonton skier seemed fine. He went down the rails a few more times, with no one aware he had suffered a serious brain injury.
The full extent of Schooler’s injury became clear the next day when friends found him unconscious in his bedroom. He was airlifted to hospital in Kelowna, where he died the day before his 21st birthday.
While Schooler usually wore a helmet when he was skiing, he wasn’t wearing one at the time of the incident Saturday night.
“Sometimes it may not necessarily be cool to put a helmet on,” Schooler’s brother, Aaron, said Thursday. “My parents want to get across the message that it ruins lives. A helmet might not have prevented this, but it would have been a step in the right direction.”
Schooler grew up skiing with his family. He was well-known in Edmonton’s ski community. He moved to Nelson last year to take a ski resort management course at Selkirk College, returning home to Edmonton in the summers.
Schooler was entering the final semester of his two-year program and was to begin a work program Monday at Whitewater Ski Resort.
Bob Falle, head of the college’s hospitality and tourism program, said students and staff have been devastated by Schooler’s death.
“They’re taking it pretty hard,” he said. “It’s been a difficult week.”
Falle said he was personally surprised that Schooler wasn’t wearing a helmet when he was injured, as he always wore a helmet skiing on the hills.
“In that class, it’s 100 per cent wear helmets,” he said. “Everybody does.”
But Falle said it is sometimes different on the street.
Riding rails is similar to skateboarding, with skiers and snowboarders stunting and doing tricks in urban areas.
Aaron Schooler said riding rails was one of the things his brother loved most.
The youngest of four boys, Schooler had been skiing since he was young. After racing as a youth, he took up skiing again as a teenager. He was working toward a life that centred around ski hills.
“He was planning out a career,” Aaron said. “He was loving life.”
Aaron described his brother as quiet but adventurous, a “well-like guy who got along with everyone.”
Aaron said the family has been touched by the outpouring of grief from people around the country. “It’s just insane how many people he knew. Everyone is talking about him as such a nice person and such a nice man.”
The family donated his organs.
Students at Selkirk College are starting a sticker campaign with the message “I Will,” to encourage helmet use.
On Internet ski and snowboarding forums, friends expressed shock and sadness, and urged others to learn from the death.
“It seems to be that helmets are showing up less and less in urban videos but i please PLEASE urge everyone to think of what could happen if you don’t wear one, and do hit your head ...,” one person wrote. “(T) his was a huge wake-up call to everyone around our college and i hope it’s a wake up call to a lot of people. Don’t let it come to having this happen to you or one of your friends. Be safe. Brain injuries are the #1 killer in Canada.”
A memorial will be held next week for Schooler in Edmonton. Falle and the school will hold another memorial at the end of the year as part of the graduation ceremony.
No comments:
Post a Comment