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Josie Baff won gold at the Youth Olympics in Switzerland and a month later the world descended into chaos.
It was January 2020 – the start of Baff’s HSC year and the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the pandemic worsened, Baff bunkered down at home in Jindabyne and focused on her final year of schooling.
“It definitely helped me focus,” Baff said of the pandemic when reflecting on her final year at Jindabyne Central School, where she was enrolled from kindergarten to year 12.
Baff, who most recently won gold in snowboard cross at the 2026 Winter Olympics, had always enjoyed school, but the 2020 Games were a learning curve in what it took to balance education with elite sport.
“When I went to the Youth Olympics, that was the first time I was away from school a little bit more, and I realised that I had a different career path that I wanted to do,” Baff said.
“That was the first time I actually believed I was going to be a professional athlete.
“I found it a little bit hard [balancing school] just before that, and then I think afterwards the teachers realised that I was pretty serious about sport, and then I got a lot more support around being like more flexible with dates of exams.”
Her success at the Youth Olympics solidified her goal to be a full-time winter-sports athlete, but also made it harder to focus at school.
“It was definitely always important to me to continue it [school], because I was always quite good in school, and I really loved it,” Baff said.
“I was super dedicated, and I am a bit of a perfectionist, so I was always spending a lot of time doing my schoolwork.
“Then when it came to year 11 and 12, after those Olympics, I found it a little bit different to motivate myself to do it, but I managed to do it, and COVID helped.”
Despite having her heart set on being an athlete, Baff entertained the idea of studying when she finished her HSC.
“I applied for heaps of unis after year 12, thinking I need a back-up plan. Everyone always says you need a back-up plan,” Baff said.
“I did a lot of job interviews as well just to get the exposure to that kind of system ... but I wasn’t really interested – my mum just made me do it.”
But Baff always loved studying and learning, and it’s something she said she misses even with snowboarding taking up so much of her time.
For anyone trying to balance both school and sport, not only does Baff encourage it but she thinks it makes you a better athlete.
“I definitely think that you can do both, and I actually think it’s a really good thing to do both,” Baff said.
“I really appreciate the knowledge that I have learned in school, and it carries out in so many different ways, other than like just uni degrees, and however you choose to use what you’ve learned in school.
“I got super-stressed for exams, which I think is because I’m probably competitive and like to put pressure on myself, and that was something that I learned in school … that I could change my approach and trust my process, which is exactly what you do when you’re in sports.
“So I feel like a lot of things that you learn, whether it’s not just like what you’re learning in the books, but how you function, is also super-important for your sporting career.”
- The Sydney Morning Herald’s HSC Study Guide for 2026 will be published online and in the newspaper on July 27. The guide has all the information and tools to motivate and inspire the 80,000 students sitting the exam this year.
