Growing up just outside of Dallas in Lewisville, Texas, Collin Storms never dreamed of competing in any winter sports, let alone bobsledding. It was in the Lone Star State where Storms instead honed his lifetime craft and passion — baseball and pitching.
This passion carried Storms throughout the majority of his life thus far, landing him roster spots at three different schools on the way to collecting his undergraduate degree. While he had realistic hopes of one day pitching in the big leagues, fate had other plans.
One day during Storms’ senior spring at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, he suffered an unfortunate injury. He and his teammates were fielding ground balls in practice and when he popped up to throw, he ripped into his labrum and rotator cuff, requiring intensive rehab.
While Storms sought the expertise of doctors, including Texas Rangers and Houston Astros team doctors, his right throwing shoulder never fully healed. He rehabbed the shoulder to the best of his ability at the ZL Performance center, now in Southlake, Texas, before giving into reality.
However, it was at one of these rehab sessions when something an employee said in passing changed his life..
Christian Ballard, ZL’s COO and director of performance & player development, possibly was joking when he suggested Storms give, ‘I don’t know, bobsledding,’ a try. After about a year working a day job alongside his father, he decided, ‘You know what, it might be time to actually give bobsledding a try.’
So that’s what Storms did, signing right up for USA Bobsled-Skelaton’s rookie training camp. There, his natural abilities came to the forefront on the ice. He did well enough to qualify for their push championships in late September and from there he made the official team, after which he ended the training he was still doing for baseball.
“I had to do something that let me be an athlete. I couldn’t be stuck doing a 9-5 job,” he said. “I’m an adrenaline junkie. I just love going fast. … That’s all this sport is, so it just fit perfectly.”
He’s currently participating in the North American Cup series, having entered his first official competition just last month. He finished second in the four-man bobsleigh and eighth in the two-man bobsleigh events. Now he’s in Park City for his second cup event of the season.
Storms doesn’t see himself slowing down anytime soon, he said, and hopes to make the World Cup and Olympics teams.
“The goal is always to push as fast as you can and get better everyday because things can change,” he said.
That change could be a mid-season promotion to either the World Cup roster or a few European Cup race lists. He’s noticed that selection committee members at USA Bobsled are constantly watching from afar, tracking everyone’s progress across the globe.
To track Storms’ progress, you can call up his personal page on the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Foundation website.
He and his teammates at the Utah Olympic Park on Saturday until the following Saturday, Dec. 16.
Storms and his teammates only receive minimal monthly stipends from USA Bobsled, so one of his former pilots set up a fund called the Bobsled Brothers Fund to help finance travel and competition expenses.