Video: A Day on the Slopes with the BU Snowboarding Team
Newbies try (and fail) to keep up with the pro
A Day on the Slopes with the BU Snowboarding Team
A Day on the Slopes with the BU Snowboarding Team
It takes dedication and a lot of skill to be a member of the BU Snowboarding Team, one of the most popular club sports on campus. The athletes—most of whom have at least five or six years of experience—often hit the road by 3 am each Saturday and Sunday, from just before Thanksgiving through mid-March, to compete in the Eastern conference of the United States Collegiate Ski & Snowboard Association (USCSA). Competitions can start as early as 7 am and run all day. Out of season, the athletes hold weekly training sessions at the Track & Tennis Center, which also provide an opportunity for some valuable team bonding, says team captain Kate Von Iderstine (COM’23).
The team, which launched in 1991, is coming off its best season ever. A record 150 students turned out at Splash in September, interested in finding out more about the club, which this year has 32 members on its roster. And, for the first time, BU swept the Eastern conference regionals, coming in first in men’s and women’s alpine snowboard and men’s and women’s freestyle snowboard. Those wins earned the team its first bid to the USCSA nationals, which took place in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., earlier this month. Unfortunately, the record snowfall there had created unsafe conditions and the competition had to be canceled at the last minute. But Von Iderstine says the team had a chance to do some amazing freeriding while there.
Last month, on a very cold Saturday ahead of nationals, our student producers Kreiver Zhou (ENG’23) and Anna Malygin (Questrom’23) traveled three and a half hours to join the team at Attitash Mountain Resort in Bartlett, N.H., for a day of training. Zhou had never snowboarded in his life, and Malygin had done it only once.
After booting up and practicing a bit on their own, the two hooked up with some members of the team, who showed the two novices how the pros do it. They talked about how they got involved in the sport, the skill involved, and the exhilaration of being on the slopes all day. Take a look.
Interested in joining the BU Snowboarding Team? Email them at busnowtm@gmail.com.
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