Created: 18 February 2020
Zach Elder, Kim Raymer, Sara Wiltse, Devon Keir, Bob Basil, Frank Cabrera and the NAC Team Flyers
The United States of America Snowboard and Freeski Association (USASA) has partnered with the National Ability Center (NAC) to promote and provide a new level of experience for athletes in snowboarding and freeskiing with physical and intellectual disabilities. For the first time ever, athletes with physical and intellectual limitations now have the opportunity to compete in USASA Rail Jam events through exhibition-style events. The USASA has consistently pioneered opportunities for athletes with disabilities over the years, offering boardercross events for physically disabled and slalom and giant slalom events for both physical and intellectually disabled athletes. As the leader in providing events across the United States for Freeski and Snowboarding, the USASA has continued to offer events for all abilities and now has partnered with the experts in the field to ensure a new level of experience for athletes with disabilities continues.
“The goal is to bridge these gaps by working with the experts in the field to embrace athletes of all abilities across the country. There is this amazing community of USASA series directors running events all across the country and we want to be sure all events are available to everyone.” Mike Mallon USASA Executive Director
Created: 05 February 2020
After graduating from high school, USASA Western Washington Series Alum, Cali Carlson found her home to continue snowboarding and her education at Sierra Nevada University. Nestled in the heart of the Lake Tahoe snowboard and ski scene, Sierra Nevada University offers the students passionate about that winter sports lifestyle a place to play and pursue careers in outdoor and entrepreneurial leadership as well as liberal arts. As a sophomore enrolled in SNU’s marketing program, Cali compliments the professors and the tight-knit SNU community with supporting her endeavors on and off the hill. Before she dropped back into a busy semester, we caught up with Cali, the 2017 USASA National Slopestyle Champion, to find out all the good, better and best of USASA, snowboarding and SNU.
Created: 22 January 2020
New Hampshire Series freeskier, Max Abrams, is making waves in both freeskiing and mountain biking.
Thirteen-year-old Dover, Massachusetts native and USASA New Hampshire Series local, Max Abrams, has been making a name for himself in slopestyle -- both skiing and mountain biking. 2019 was a big year for the young ripper. Max qualified for the 30th annual USASA National Championships in his first year of Slopestyle competition AND won the “Best Whip” contest at the US Open CLIF Mountain Bike Slopestyle held at Highland Mountain Bike Park.
When we spoke to Max, we learned that he finds a lot of similarities in mountain biking and freeskiing; from the mental aspect of competing and reading different types of terrain to the DIY attitude the two communities sparked in him.
Created: 23 January 2020
Kiernan Fagan nabbed a gold and silver medal at the Winter Youth Olympic Games Lausanne 2020 (OIS - Queenbourough)
TEAM USA FREESKI
The Winter Youth Olympic Games Lausanne 2020 wrapped up with five Team USA members earning six medals. Team USA was led by U.S. Freeski Pro Team member and Maine Mountain Series freeskier Kiernan Fagan who backed up a gold medal in slopestyle with a silver medal in big air.
"It definitely was an awesome day," said Kiernan. "I'm really stoked to back up my slopestyle gold with another medal in big air! I was super hyped to throw down one of my biggest tricks (triple cork 1440 mute). The energy was really high today and it was amazing to see everyone send it."
Created: 22 January 2020
Sierra Nevada University senior, Gabby Dodd grew up skiing in Durango, Colorado but didn’t discover her love for competition until her first year on the SNU Freeski Team. Known for its programs in entrepreneurial leadership and outdoor recreation leadership, Sierra Nevada University is one of the few programs that offer students, like Gabby, the opportunity to balance freeskiing and snowboarding competition with a full-time college education. As part of the SNU Team, Gabby and her teammates ski nearly every day of the week at any one of the nine local resorts Tahoe has to offer and SNU’s class offerings make scheduling easy. Despite a stacked semester of school and Nationals ahead of her, we managed to snag a few precious moments with Gabby to chat college-life, ski-life and what’s ahead.
Created: 06 January 2020
2020 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS:
Last season the USASA celebrated 30 years of Excellence, Respect, and Fun at our 3Oth annual USASA National Championships! This was a huge milestone for USASA and also a good time to reflect and try to improve for the future.
Looking forward to the 2020 USASA National Championships we are reviewing our current competition groups and daily schedules and have made some adjustments to create the best experience for all in attendance. These finalized event schedules will be available in early February once we have a better understanding of national membership numbers in each age group.
Created: 05 December 2019
Live Like Sam and USASA recently partnered on the USASA National Merit Scholarship Competition, providing five lucky winners with a prize pack valued at $1,500.
We received 150 incredible submissions from talented young athletes all over the country, all of whom embodied the Live Like Sam guiding principles and USASA core values of excellence, respect, and fun in their own special way. Of these 150 applicants, five were selected from each of the USASA regional series:
Each winner will have all entry fees to their respective regional competitions covered for the upcoming 2019 – 2020 winter season. And, if they qualify, each winner will also have their entry fees for the USASA National Championship in Copper Mountain, Colorado paid in full.
