Created: 30 January 2021
Bud Keene, a pioneer in the snowboarding community, has spent the past four decades coaching snowboarders from grassroots groms to Olympic gold medalists; most famously known for coaching Olympic phenom Shaun White and the US Team to 9 Olympic medals. And while Keene has coached a slew of the next generation of freeskiers in his signature BKPRO Progression Sessions he is embarking on a whole new frontier as head coach of the Sierra Nevada University Freeski Team.
“I love coaching skiers as much as snowboarders.” Keene said, “I’m pumped to be working with these athletes,” Keene, known for his passion and charisma, has his sights set on making SNU the place to train for committed student-athletes. “I don’t see why we can’t do the same thing that the Alpine Team is doing, getting kids to compete at the World Cup level and pursue their education at SNU.” The SNU Alpine Team currently has several World Cup contenders training with them along with Olympic hopeful Lila Lapanja. Olympic Freeskiing Gold Medalist, Maddie Bowman, is also a notable SNU alum. “I think the opportunity to compete and get an education at a top-notch college while also being competitive on the World Cup level is something most colleges and universities aren’t offering.” Bud continued. The fact that SNU is located at the shores of Lake Tahoe with Diamond Peak Resort a three-mile trip from campus makes getting on the mountain a daily occurrence even for the most dedicated student. Woodward Tahoe’s foam pits, trampolines, and skate parks are also a stone’s throw away along with premier Tahoe resorts like Squaw, Alpine Meadows, and Northstar.
Bud’s plan is to have his SNU Freeski athletes competing in the local USASA North Tahoe Series putting competition and working up the competition pipeline as the main focus. Working SNU athletes from USASA Open Class to Futures Tour to Rev Tour and beyond. “We’ve got a 4-year college with a meaningful athletic program,” Keene said. “I think Rev Tour and beyond is the goal along with continuing the SNU’s legacy of success at USCSA Nationals.”
Created: 21 January 2021
A few days before the world shut down due to COVID-19, 23-year-old Senna Leith stepped onto his first SBX World Cup Podium at Big White, BC. Now, months later, as the World Cup Circuit is back up and running, we caught a few moments with Senna and to hear about his journey from Rocky Mountain grom to World Cup rockstar and how he is bringing a little custom Aloha to Donek’s quiver of boards.
You’re fresh off a World Cup podium but how did you go from USASA grom to World Cup athlete?
USASA was definitely the start of my career in competitive snowboarding, I started in the Rocky Mountain Series. USASA was a massive part of my development as an athlete. USASA introduced me to a healthy competitive environment, created countless friendships over many many years, and taught me the value of true sportsmanship and work ethic.
Created: 14 January 2021
“I have Autism and so many friends I made through snowboarding helped me overcome Autism” explains twenty-five-year-old USASA Catskill Series member, Zach Elder.
At two-years-old Zach Elder was diagnosed with Autism and despite the physical therapy, occupational therapy, and applied behavioral science at six years old he still was non-verbal. Parents Rich and Karen Elder along with Zach’s older brother Douglas were avid skiers and spent their weekends up at Windham Mountain, NY enjoying a respite from the New York City hustle and bustle which opened some of the first doors to Zach’s snowboarding career. Windham, NY is also home to the Adaptive Sports Foundation (ASF), an organization that provides sports and recreation opportunities for people with physical and cognitive disabilities which seemed like a perfect fit for Zach. “It was great to get him on skis and he loved being on snow” Rich remembers, but three years later, Zach was ready for something new. Zach, who was still non-verbal, made it very clear that he was done with skiing and wanted to snowboard. “I saw kids enjoying themselves snowboarding and I let it be known that I wanted to do that too” Zach recalls.
Created: 07 January 2021
(January 8th, 2021)--United States of America Snowboard and Freeski Association (USASA), along with Copper Mountain, a POWDR resort, announced today that the annual USASA National Championships, originally scheduled for March 26th-April 8th 2021, has been canceled in support of COVID-19 safety regulations and guidelines. Both organizations are optimistic that the event will be able to be held in the 2021-2022 season.
This historic two-week long celebration of the USASA competition season had been held continuously for 30 years before the streak abruptly ended last year due to COVID-19. Each year the USASA celebrates the top freeski and snowboard athletes from all 31 USASA series with coveted invites to the Championship event. The largest event in the world of its kind, this annual celebration hosts over 1000 athletes each week across all age groups, competing in halfpipe, slopestyle, cross, and rail jam, as well as giant slalom and slalom for snowboarders.
Created: 30 October 2020
The hand built, custom crafted Winterstick line up shines below the vintage Winterstick classics of the 1980s.
Photo: Courtesy of Winterstick.
Winterstick Snowboards has a long legacy in the history of snowboarding. In the mid-1970s before snowboarding became mainstream or was much more than a kids’ toy, Dimitrije Milovich dropped out of Cornell University, moved to Utah, and started Winterstick. This was 5 years before Jake Burton Carpenter launched Burton Snowboards, making Winterstick the first snowboard company in history.
In the nearly 50 years since its inception, Winterstick and snowboarding have weathered my changes, but the dedication to building perfectly crafted boards that Dimitrije fostered is still at the heart of Winterstick. Today, Winterstick has returned to its roots of making custom-built snowboards for every rider on the mountain swapping its Utah home for a Maine mountain factory at the base of Sugarloaf. Winterstick hand presses every board in Maine, contrary to the industry trend of outsourcing to other countries.
Created: 03 November 2020
USASA North Tahoe Series rider Cole Valles joins SNU's Snowboard Team making it one of the largest in SNU history.
Sierra Nevada University is gearing up for winter with one of its largest ski and snowboard teams in the university’s history. Twenty-six athletes will make up the 2020/21 SNU Snowboard and Freeski teams with sixteen snowboarders and ten Freeskiers. SNU’s alpine team has seventeen athletes, fourteen of whom are international students. “We are a well-known school in Europe,” SNU Head Alpine Coach and Slovenian native Mihalea Kosi said. “SNU offers athletes from all over the world an amazing opportunity to study while also continuing their competitive careers,” Mihaela, an SNU alumni who graduated in 2018 with a degree in environmental science and global resource management, speaks from experience. SNU is a well-known supporter of student-athletes in the World Cup ski and snowboard communities. 2014 Olympic gold medalist Maddie Bowman is a recent SNU graduate.Current US Ski Team member Lila Lapanja is pursuing her Global Business Management degree at SNU while balancing the FIS World Cup circuit's demands.
Created: 21 September 2020
Big Mountain West freeskier Bennett Balogh is making big moves on and off the hill. Photo: VAST 2019 Nationals.
Jackson, Wyoming is known for its natural terrain and elite pedigree of big mountain snowboarders and freeskiers which is exactly why 15-year-old freeskier Bennett Balogh grew up dropping cliffs and hitting jumps versus doing cruiser laps through a mini-park. It wasn’t until he was 10 years old that a USASA Big Mountain West event came to Jackson Hole and his view of what freeskiing was forever changed. “I didn’t think competing in freeskiing was a thing you could do,” Bennett said. But once his eyes were opened by his first USASA competition Bennett set his sights on the competitive path.
