Skiing Professionally

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I have loved skiing since I did it first when I was 7. I always loved the freedom of having the whole mountain to yourself, the feel of having snow all around you, the ease in which you can move and the cold climates and snowy days. From the first time I skied, I was a natural, which really struck a chord since I'd always been really clumsy at sports. I would have liked to do it compeditively, given that I could get good enough but I feel like I missed my chance. I was between Richmond and Colorado College in my college search and I chose Richmond because of its business school, which I don't even want to do or major in anymore. I feel like I screwed up the chance I had to follow my dream. I don't know if I would be doing it there anyways since my parents don't support it at all andI would feel obliged to spend more time on academics. I really don't feel happy where I am though and don't know what I want to do. I'm thinking about a degree in Psychology, Biology or neuoscience but I just don't enjoy it as much as I think I should if the rest of my life will be based on it and I get the "what is the point" thought when I hear people say that psychology degrees won't get you any money, though I don't care about money but fulfillment. I would like to do something related to skiing and be able to ski regularl since competitive skiing professionally probably isn't a stable profession and I'm not overly athletic. I don't know where my life is headed but unless I do something, I feel like I will default into a semi-miserable life of 9-5 cubicle apathy, which I seem to have already, minus the cubicle. Any thoughts?

I have this problem in my life, I basically fell in love with ice skating. But I'm 21 years old, male, meso-endomorph bodytype, and poor (figure skating is a rich man's sport.) I too, suck at everything athletic except for skating and weightlifting to a point. I really love being on the ice, though. It's wonderful. It's my favorite thing on Earth. But, it's not a "realistic" goal to be a pro figure skater. But I love it.

Anyway, as far as a professional "path" the sport probably won't make you much cash just competing. Unless you get to the Olympic level and have a charismatic/eccentric personality like Sean White or something. What could make you some cash, though, is coaching. Skiing, I'm assuming is a rich man's sport like ice skating, ice skating coaching costs like $50-80 an hour, so if you can coach, that's decent money. You could potentially also open an equipment shop. To coach well, it'd probably help to have a college degree in, say, exercise science or physical therapy or something like that. Many sports bodies prefer coaches and trainers to have qualifications like that. Doing that you can make good money, but uh, it can sporadic money, too. That's the tradeoff, making consistent money doing it. Most ice skating coaches I know do, say, accounting or something on the side. You could maybe do PT or something on the side.

But yeah, competitionwise you may not make tons of cash, the aim is coaching, but you'd be in much better demand as a coach with competitive wins behind you. IE, the $50 coaches have no competitive history, the $80 ones are champions.

As far as advice besides that, it's tough. Follow your dreams, or be happy being unfulfilled and mediocre. One is risky, the other is generally not. Good luck and God bless.