Liisa and Andrew Chisholm

Liisa and Andrew Chisholm are third generation Estonians who grew up knowing their Estonian-born great grandparents and grandfather. They have been lucky enough to meet many of their Estonian relatives both here and in Estonia as well as spend several vacations with them. Their Grandpa, Enn Kaarsoo, was very proud when they and their cousins, Alison and Callum McLeod received their Estonian passports and began to learn the language.

Andrew:

Ever since I joined biathlon five years ago, it seems that it has become the centre of attention in my life. I am in grade 12 at Sir Winston Churchill High School in Calgary and am set to graduate in June of 2009. I also applied and was granted my Estonian citizenship just over a year ago. As for post secondary education, I have not yet made a solid decision of where to go. My other (and preferred) choice is to move to Canmore, where I will be able to train full time and hope to achieve my goals in biathlon. I will have to have made my decision soon enough.

Other than in April, I am training around 6 days a week. Last summer I was lucky enough to go to Estonia and attend a training camp in Haanja. This was a bit strange at first as my Estonian was limited, but I soon found myself making friends throughout each training session. I was able to train with many of Estonia's top biathletes. Some of the ones I met were Meelis Laht, Martin Pajos, and Tõnis Uiboupin. I trained with them almost every day at the camp, but the exciting part was that after I left Estonia, they came to Canmore this winter for the World Junior Championships! It was an awesome experience having them come here, as they allowed me to train with them on many different occasions. It was in this time that their coach (and my coach from the summer) Tõnu Paasuke helped me with different training methods and skiing techniques. I used their knowledge and integrated that into my own training to achieve results I could not have imagined possible! I won double gold medals at the BC championships and became the Alberta Champion the week after. Unfortunately due to a slight illness and extreme exhaustion I was unable to perform equally well at the National Championships, but there is always next year!