Pioneer Athlete Spotlight on Sven Grant, Northgate High
Grade: Junior
School: Northgate High School
Sports: Ski Racing and Volleyball
CONCORD, CA (Apr. 24, 2025) — The Grant family has an unusual weekend routine from November to April. They drive over three hours to the Truckee area every Friday night and return Sunday evening to get their son, Northgate High junior Sven, to training sessions with the Northstar Ski Team. The family has maintained this routine for some time with mom or dad driving in good and bad weather conditions.
Sven Grant took up skiing in kindergarten, started on an all-mountain noncompetitive ski team in first grade and began competitive ski racing in fourth grade. He was inspired by his older sister Freya who was ski racing and by three generations of recreational skiers in his mother Hanna’s family in her home country of Sweden. He lists his sports heroes as Swedish Olympic champion skiers Ingmar Stenmark and Sara Hector plus USA legend Mikaela Shiffrin.
When Grant started at Northgate he played on the Bronco volleyball team as well as with the Pacific Rim Volleyball Club. He decided this year that with volleyball practices and games overlapping with skiing that he would not play volleyball. The ski commitment is year-round. Besides being on the mountain every weekend and all school holidays during the winter and early spring at Northstar, he has attended summer ski camps at Mt. Hood in Oregon. Grant does his dryland exercise training primarily at Crunch Gym as well as exercises at home suggested by his ski coaches.
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Multiple medals
All this work has paid off with Grant earning multiple medals for podium placements in age group slalom and giant slalom races in US Ski & Snowboard Western Region Far West Division and International Ski and Snowboard Federation competitions. He has represented California at the Western Region Junior Championships in Washington. His most recent race was at Northstar the day before Northgate’s Junor Prom. He placed first in his age group but missed the awards ceremony to get on the road to attend the dance.
At school he created the Swedish Club to inform the student body about Swedish culture. The club meets once a month and attracts 40-50 students to each meeting. After high school he wants to attend a college with a ski program so he can continue racing and major in engineering.
The Pioneer congratulates Sven and thanks Athlete Spotlight sponsors Dr. Laura Lacey & Dr. Christopher Ruzicka who have been serving the Clayton and Concord area for over three decades at Family Vision Care Optometry.
Do you know a young athlete who should be recognized? Perhaps he or she has shown exceptional sportsmanship, remarkable improvement or a great heart for the sport. Send your nomination for the Pioneer Athlete Spotlight today to sports@pioneerpublishers.com.
Jay Bedecarré
Jay Bedecarré is a long-time resident and writer in Concord and Clayton. He began his newspaper writing career while still a senior at Mt. Diablo High School and he has been part of The Pioneer since its inception in 2003. Jay also operates Bay Area Festivals, presenting events around the San Francisco Bay Area including Bay Area KidFest annually in Downtown Concord.