Courtesy of Kyle Tress.
Courtesy of Kyle Tress.
Growing up, Ewing-native Tress never really had a passion for any particular sports. He played team sports in high school and college, but it wasn’t until he was 21 years old that he found an entirely new love for a sport that is seen rarely outside of the Olympics.
“When I first saw the sport on television, I felt an immediate connection to it,” said Tress. “I knew at that moment I was going to pursue it. I never found something I truly loved until skeleton.”
The treacherous act of sliding head first on an open sled down an icy track first appeared in the Winter Olympics in 1928 according to Olympic.org. However, after the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, skeleton was not seen again until the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City—the year Tress fell in love with the sport.
“I began skeleton in 2002 at the age of 21,” said Tress. “I’ve grown up alongside the sport over the past 10 years. When I started competing, skeleton wasn’t particularly well-know. But it has matured into a global sport that is broadcast to millions of fans around the world.”
Tress picked up the sport relatively quickly and was competing internationally by 2004. He competed in two Olympic Trials in 2006 and 2010, but at the time Tress lacked experience in his run toward joining the Olympic team. Nevertheless, Tress is now a part of the United States National Skeleton team and ranks third in the U.S. and 20th in the world.
Tress’s most recent experience with Olympic-level tracks and athletes came this past February when the now 31-year-old competed at the Olympic Test event in Sochi, Russia. According to Tress, the Russians have spent approximately $300 million on the Sanki Sliding Centre and after testing the track himself, he said it is safe but challenging. This track will be used in the 2014 Winter Olympics, and Tress’s ultimate goal is to compete in the event with teammates John Daly and Matthew Antoine.
“Between [Kyle], John and myself we all push each other to be better and it has created an atmosphere of success for us,” Antoine said. The 27-year-old from Prairie du Chien, Wis. has been competing in skeleton for 10 years now. “I hope a year from now the three of us will all be in Sochi because these really are some of my best friends.”
Tress has competed in over 100 international and national skeleton races, but for the past three seasons has competed on the World Cup circuit–the highest level of the sport from which the Olympic team is chosen and the place where he met his two friends and teammates. Tress finished fifth in the World Cup race in November 2012–his best finish to date. But beyond the long hours of practice and racing, Tress realizes the importance of living life and having a good laugh.
“Kyle is someone you can always look to for comic relief,” Antoine said. “We live this sport year round and after months on the road, the lifestyle can become tiresome. Having someone like Kyle on the team allows us to keep things light when we need to and ensures we are always laughing and having fun.”
Between October and April, you can find Tress laughing on the road with his teammates or sliding head first down an icy track at 80-miles per hour. But the rest of his year is is spent running his company Tiny Tribe, a business that develops iPad and iPhone apps.
“Running the company allows me to focus on training during the summer and competing during the winter, so it’s an ideal job for me,” Tress said.
According to Tress, Tiny Tribe’s most popular app is Moodboard, a collage app for creative professionals.
Tress trains, races and runs his company year round, but he has also made time for his personal life, and it just so happens that his girlfriend has taken on skeleton herself.
“My girlfriend Morgan put her law career on hold to pursue skeleton,” said Tress. “She is part of the U.S. development program and has been competing for about three years.”
Tress’s girlfriend Morgan has competed on the North American Circuit and finished fifth in her first U.S. National Championship in 2011.
“I like to think it’s because she has great coaching,” he said.
Tress may help Morgan with skeleton now, but he hopes to coach other skeleton athletes in the future. Tress said if he doesn’t become a skeleton coach after his time as a competitor, then he plans on working to raise awareness of the sport. When he does eventually retire, Tress hopes to write a memoir of his experience with skeleton and hopefully his road to his Olympic debut.
“Skeleton holds such a defining and important presence in my life that I couldn’t imagine walking away,” he said. “I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel the world, make friends from different countries and cultures, all while representing the United States at a high level.”
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