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ABOUT FRODE

Frode Skjolingstad

Founder of Stepping Thru

It all started with a passion for sports and a desire to help others achieve their greatest potential. As a young athlete, I always strived to be the best and to push past my limits. But it wasn't until I started coaching and mentoring other athletes that I found my true calling.

I started Stepping Thru Consulting to help even more athletes break through their barriers, push past their limits, and achieve their greatest ambitions. Because I know that whatever you can accomplish in sport, you can apply to all areas of your life. And that's a truly rewarding and fulfilling journey to be a part of.

The Fun of Competing

I’ve been involved in sports for as long as I can remember, which is therefore my whole life! I played soccer as a kid, and high school was about the fun of competing on the soccer team. In university, I paddled my way to success and our team chalked up many wins against other university teams.

When I Beat My Coach in My First Race, I Wanted to Keep Sliding

I took a class in natural luge at university and found out that I was good at it (and I loved it)! More than pretty good, I beat my coach’s time in my first race and we were both pretty surprised.

That’s how my career in natural luge started.

Sooner than I expected I was on Canada’s National team where I performed better than people who had been competing for much longer than I had been.

I Knew I Would Stop Sliding When I Ended Up in A Tree

After six years on the national team, I was off to compete in the Natural Luge World Cup!!!

However, my glee, my optimism, and my knee got a bit torn up with a bad braking accident during training. But that didn’t stop me from competing. I ranked 43rd in the world, which is quite significant considering there were over 100 people competing!

Back in Canada, my knee continued to slow me down, despite my efforts to keep going with painkillers and physiotherapy. The end of my career was very near.

My final competition was in Blue River, British Columbia on a very steep track. I was braking on a difficult corner and that’s when my knee decided to give way. I flew off the track. I ended up a good 20-30 feet above the ground, hanging out in a tree.

I knew my natural luge career was over.

Helping Athletes Overcome Mental Blocks

After my race career ended, I realized I had some inside knowledge and training that I could use to help other athletes.

Even though my natural luge coach was good, he was coaching the team, he was not addressing my specific challenges. I realized this was a problem when I kept trying to improve my time on a certain curve and couldn’t do it—no matter how hard I followed his instructions. But I KNEW others were doing it better than I was. Something was going on.

After the big crash and some contemplation, I realized I had a mental block that needed work. And then it came to me!! With my degree in psychology, I could help athletes with mental blocks that were keeping them stuck, just as I was stuck.

I jumped right into coaching. I coached the Calgary Luge Club. I also coached during the Alberta Winter Games. After that, I helped Calgary Luge Club athletes place first in their level.

With that initial coaching experience, I moved on to coach at the provincial level and national level. One of the athletes I coached on the provincial/national level ranked as one of the top 10 world sliders.

These Tools Changed Everything

I used the tools I had and the tools I knew from coaching, my experience, and my psychology degree to get many athletes great results.

But then, I discovered a whole new set of tools!!

I noticed that people were using hypnosis and NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) to help people change quickly and permanently—in many different life areas. The application to sports was tremendous and really intrigued me!

I’ve since completed certifications in hypnosis and NLP and have my Master Practitioner of NLP and Hypnosis. The results I've received from my training and the changes I've witnessed in others are beyond what I could imagine to be possible in such a short period of time.

Work on Your Head. Your Body Will Thank You.

You know the saying...if I knew then what I know now...

Well, if I knew then, what I know now, I’m pretty confident my team could have ranked much higher in the world cup.

It’s all about focusing and getting the mind out of the way so the body can do the work it knows how to do best.

And that's what a lot of people don't do. In golf, for instance, many people get so upset that their emotions get in the way of their play. The secret is being calm, being in the zone, and trusting the body knows how to swing the club. That little nugget of information is really a big thing.

The sooner an athlete competes with a calm, clear, and prepared mind—the more their work on physical performance and technical aspects of their game and sport pays off. It’s synergistic.

Coaching people to tap into the highest potential of mind so they can blast through mental barriers is—can I say it—a lot of fun! As much fun as my favourite sport now—motorbiking.

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