1 March 2024
Careers as cool as ice: meet the intriguing Norwegians
Sportspeople are immortalised, held up on iconic pedestals for what they are capable of doing on the field of play.
This same hero worship is rarely found for our essential workers saving lives and educating the next generation – there is an element of celebrity status in sport that makes these athletes feel untouchable. Yet, when we simplify the lives of these athletes, they are often as normal as any of us. They listen to the same music, watch the same television shows, get starstruck meeting a figure who means a lot to them.
And the harsh reality of sport is, many still have to juggle a job, particularly in sports like curling. It is even more prevalent in wheelchair curling. Paralympic and world champions find themselves returning to the office soon after hearing their national anthem play on the major stage.
While most of us have careers that do not carry particular intrigue, two of Norway’s rink competing at the SD Biosensor World Wheelchair Curling Championship 2024 in Gangneung, Korea, carry discussion with theirs.
Geir Arne Skogstad [left], a two-time world champion, and rising star Mia Larsen Sveberg [right] have been influenced in their lives by their disability.
Skogstad’s background is in spinal cord and brain injury rehabilitation, a role that focuses on physical health; while Sveberg’s focus is in music, teaching and sign language, a more holistic route.
“My life is pretty everywhere, I do a lot of different stuff,” admits Sveberg, who has a degree as a music teacher, is the leader of the Norwegian Handicapped Youth Organisation and is studying Norwegian Sign Language so she can officially educate others.
As a music teacher, she plays with a band of people with disabilities in her home city of Trondheim. She plays the piano and sings at gigs and festivals, and works for an agency that specialises in disability assistance recruitment.
For the 25-year-old, slowing down is simply not an option. Although not as political as she once was, she is a disability rights advocate. She was introduced to activism at the age of 11 when her father, who has hearing loss, flew her with him to the capital Oslo to demonstrate for more interpreters in Norway, as well as the use of text on public transportation for those who cannot hear.
Sveberg’s career choice is incredibly remarkable – as well as requiring a wheelchair, she has hearing loss too and must use hearing aids. Due to her father’s condition and her own, Norwegian Sign Language is her primary way of communicating, followed by Norwegian and then English.
However, she must study for a year to be able to teach the language to others, following the same career path as her mother. Yet, the constant in her life will always be music.
“Music has always been with me, no matter what, all through my life,” she added.
“So, I started playing piano when I was six and I did sports all the time at the same time, but at that time I was walking and didn’t have a disability.
“That came around 15, 16 years old.
“So, when my body shut down against me, I always go to the music. That was where I got out my frustration, my happiness, my sadness, everything in my body. Every emotion I had, I could just get it out through the music.”
Sveberg has a very infectious personality, and clearly enjoys expressing herself freely. She has only curled for a few years and felt thrown in at the deep end at the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games, being part of the team that finished seventh. That stage presence has helped her adapt to the ice well when the pressure is on.
“I used to be in front of a lot of people playing music,” she said.
“I still had my calmness with me when I went out at the Paralympics. I knew how to focus.
“I’ve been on the stage since I was a little child, so I learned how to keep my nerves down and understanding the importance to be 100% there when you’re on stage, I take that with me when I play curling.”
Helping others
In contrast, it might take some convincing to get Skogstad singing in front of a crowd, but his day-to-day life is full of supporting people on their road to recovery.
His previous career was also in the music industry, working as a light technician before being forced to switch careers due to a lack of accessibility for wheelchair users. After issues finding employment following the Salt Lake City 2002 Paralympic Winter Games – where he won silver in para ice hockey – he worked in a disability learning and coping centre, falling into the role unexpectedly.
“It was kinda accidentally, actually,” said Skogstad.
“I was out of work for one-and-a-half years, but since I’d been in the resource group for the [local spinal cord organisation] board, I was asked by the project leader to come and take a position in the centre as an employee.”
Also in Trondheim, now Skogstad works at a hospital in the rehabilitation clinic, acting as a peer mentor to help new wheelchair users transition to a new chapter in life, where he shares his life experiences and assists those with the technical side of using the chair.
“The thing I love about the job is when you succeed in helping people change from feeling their life is at some point of end after an injury, you then help them to change their mindset, help them to develop skills and you see the change in their face and their emotions when they get over this, finding a new way to accept the new situation and cope with it,” he added.
Skogstad’s role makes him a connector in disability sport. He is perhaps one the most influential wheelchair curlers in the world as his job makes him be a perfect link between curling participation and helping the recovery process for those with a newly acquired disability. He has introduced others to wheelchair curling, including Mia.
He added, “I was alone as a single athlete in my club for about nine years.
“I managed to have an open day in the spring and three people showed up; then I ended up doing one open night again in the autumn and that was the practice when Mia showed up.
“I went from just me as an athlete in the club to five athletes in one year.”
While Skogstad is now repellent to his musical roots, he has found a new channel through his disability. As Mia picks up the microphone and lets rhythm flow through her on the piano; Geir’s actions on and off the ice are bringing a different type of inspiration to those whose lives have abruptly changed.
“That’s always been the positive part about being an athlete and a peer mentor: being in a position to show that big things are possible despite your injury.”
Written by feature writer Michael Houston
