For a moment, Edward Przybyla felt weightless.

He threw himself completely into the ski turn and levitated in free fall. Every previous time gravity took over and forced him angrily back to the snow. Coaches in his weekend program wanted him to try the risky but rewarding method of negotiating an alpine course.

“They were telling me it was faster, that made me want to do it,” said Przybyla, a Hampshire Regional senior. “I do a lot of things very fast. I like the feeling of going fast and letting things happen. Sometimes it gets me in trouble.”

This time it got him out of trouble. Rather than focusing so hard on mastering gravity, Przybyla surrendered to it. His skis hit the snow and carried him through the gates to the next turn.

“It was just the fact that I wasn’t thinking about it so hard,” Przybyla said. “It was a natural motion, and I just let it happen.”

That was the first step. He smoothed out the process and made it his own this season.

“It takes a lot of guts,” Hampshire coach Jane O’Riordan said. “You get that feeling of free falling into it. You have to make that leap. It’s a scary thing. I think he already knew what he was looking to do and was very self motivated. ”

Przybyla accelerated because of it in his final high school season. He placed sixth in the boys giant slalom at the state championships and also qualified for the slalom. The Hampshire boys captured the PVIAC South team title for the third year in a row. Przybyla was the top boys skier in the PVIAC South and won the PVIAC individual title.

“Especially after being on the team and not being much of a leader, when you become that leader it’s a proud moment when you see everyone coming together that you’ve worked so hard for,” Przybyla said.

Przybyla has skied for Hampshire since he was a seventh grader. He was once that kid looking up to the seniors and wanted to be that for his younger charges. The Raiders fielded one of their largest teams ever, and they all followed Przybyla.

“He really grew into that this year. There was a lot of seventh and eighth graders. Wouldn’t you want to ski like him? You hang on his every word,” O’Riordan said. “Some day he’ll be a great coach because he has a great eye for looking at people skiing and what people need to do and work on. He can do that for himself, and that’s a higher level of sports when you know what you need to work on without anyone telling you.”

He’ll carry that self awareness into the next stage of his life. Przybyla will join the Air Force after graduation to be a plane mechanic. He won’t be going that fast in the air, but he’ll help others do it.

“My main thing is I generally wanted to be on my own and get out into life,” Przybyla said. “I know what I want to do and as long as I stick to this, I can get there.”

FIRST TEAM ALL-STARS

Charles Ames, freshman, Northampton

Beckett Baird, freshman, Amherst

Weston Den Ouden, junior, Mohawk Trail

Dawson Kelly, senior, Hampshire Regional

Keller Mahoney, sophomore, Northampton

Gage Patenaude, junior, Mohawk Trail

Edward Przybyla, senior, Hampshire Regional

Wyatt Sisum, eighth grader, Mohawk Trail

Phinneas Tuttman, sophomore, Mohawk Trail

SECOND TEAM ALL-STARS

Grayson Bishop, eighth grader, Mohawk Trail

Jon Dunn, junior, Hampshire

Clayton English, junior, PVCICS

Ben Haugsjaahabink, senior, Amherst

Oliver Johnson, sophomore, Mohawk Trail

Ben Makosiej, senior, Mohawk Trail

Evan Novak, senior, Hampshire Regional

Matthew Owen, senior, Amherst

Alex Schreiber, junior, Mohawk Trail

Alex Sirois, junior, Northampton

Isaac Stith, eighth grader, Hampshire Regional

Billy Warren, seventh grader, Hampshire Regional

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