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.
I worked my way up through the USASA ranks for multiple years until it was time for me to start racing on the NorAm cup tour and start doing FIS events. After a few years on the NorAm tour, I won the tour overall title and made my way onto the World Cup circuit. I split my time between the World Cup tour and the NorAm tour for another year as I developed the skillset required to race full time on the World Cup circuit.
Podium bound. Senna rides to his first World Cup podium on the shoulders of US Snowboarding teammates Mick Dierdorff and Nick Baumgartner.
What was your first USASA Nationals like?
My first USASA Nationals experience was walking in the parade with my team and region back at USASA Nationals in 2008 at Copper. I remember that USASA Nationals vividly as it was my first experience being a part of such a massive event and feeling that energy and community.
How did you get connected with Donek and start riding and designing boards for them?
A couple of years after first stepping onto the World Cup tour, my coach started working together with Donek to make a World Cup level race board, as there wasn’t an American-made board that could compete with the European boards on the World Cup. After testing the boards a bunch with him over a season, I decided to make the move to Donek and become part of the team as the B-1 was first unveiled. The first World Cup that I rode the B-1 in, I got a top-6 result, so that move was a massive success. From there I continued to have lots of success and eventually got my first World Cup podium, which was also the first World Cup podium for Donek. It is definitely safe to say that making the move to Donek was a great decision, and I love being a part of the team. Being in that position with Donek is a huge part of how I was able to have the opportunity to make the Aloha board.
Yeah, tell us about the Aloha and how this board design came about?
This board design came about because I was in search of the perfect board for my preferred style of freeriding, and could never find it. Thankfully I had the opportunity to work together with Donek designing some customs boards and was able to make that perfect board a reality for me - and for those who enjoy a similar ride.
I use the Aloha for everything from ripping carves on groomers to powder days. It is definitely a directional board, but it isn’t limited. It has the aggression to handle lots of varied terrain, but it is also playful enough to make mellow terrain super enjoyable and fun. I can trust the stability of the board on anything. It has a perfect shape to make a splitboard version of as well. The taper and setback on the board is ideal for any level of snow you might find yourself in, and the camber profile combined with the nose shape allows the board to have stability and playfulness in any snow conditions.
Fresh of the press. Senna at the Donek Snowboard factory with his latest snowboard creation, the Aloha.
Why is the board called the Aloha?
I chose the name Aloha because it is my favorite word. Aloha stands for a lot about how I live my life and who I am, and also represents an ideology that I think we all need. When I needed a name, Aloha definitely came to mind, and the spirit behind aloha definitely lives through the board with the fun and surfy feel it provides to the rider. Aloha was also the perfect name for the graphic scheme that I had in mind.
How are you staying focused and motivated during COVID-19?
Staying focused on my goals during this pandemic is definitely tough at times. I haven’t been inside a gym for over a year now, which is crazy to think about. I have had to get creative with my training techniques due to various limitations and situations that this pandemic has given us. In the end though, when you want something bad enough, you find ways to achieve it and to work around obstacles that are in your way. Just gotta keep myself driven and focused on the long-term because these times will pass.
Can you share some advice for our up and coming USASA athletes?
The best advice I can give for the up and coming athletes is to train hard and truly trust in the process. If you follow and believe in the process, and take the steps necessary to achieve a goal, you will achieve your goals - simple as that. Stay hopeful, stay dedicated, work hard, and think long term.
Follow Senna on his journey via Instagram and check out his brand new Donek Aloha here.
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: 20 October 2020
Meet Ali Sacash-Johnson and Leslee Schader, USASA’s newest Series Directors of the Mt Hood Series. 
USASA is a family affair! Leslee Schader and family ready for comp day (left) Ali Sacash-Johnson maximizing some Northwest sunny ski days with her daughters (right).
Ali Sacash-Johnson and Leslee Schader met when their kids who are about the same age (9-12) were a part of the Mt. Hood Meadows Freeride Team. Ali’s kids freeski, Leslee’s kids snowboard. Soon enough they were spending their weekends standing at the top of USASA event courses or taking laps between heats with the whole gang. So when long time Mt. Hood Series Directors Mike and Jen Fitzsimons decided it was time to move on Leslee and Ali swooped in and volunteered to take the wheel.
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.
