First days of snowboarding!

Well, the winter season has started! Sort of…. There’s still not much snow, but as of recently we’ve been starting to get hit by a few storms, leaving up to a foot of snow on the ground. Isaac and Jadyn had the chance to ride the first Gondola up the mountain at Keystone a few weeks ago, thanks to our friends the Tyler’s, who invited them. I’ve been boarding for 5 days so far, and it’s been great. I’m starting to lay out my plans for the season, such as planning my competitions, what tricks to learn this year, how I’m going to (hopefully) podium at some competitions, and how much I want to push myself.

Even though not many runs are open, Copper Mountain still has a small park open, which I’ve been riding at a ton. Although we’ve only been boarding for a little less than a week, it seems like we just picked up where we left off last season in terms of skill, and Isaac and I have both learned many new tricks on the rails that Copper has available in their park.

Right now, I’m looking at the past 3 seasons of snowboarding as preparation for this one. This, at least I’m hoping so, will be my “big year” in terms of competition and learning. Our first season (The 13/14 season), was when we learned how to get down the mountain, carve, get comfortable with a bit of speed, and hit a few small boxes and jumps. Our second season (14/15), our first on Team Summit, helped jump-start our snowboarding. We learned how to ride switch, spin off of some small jumps, hit bigger jumps and started to slide rails, overall getting more comfortable in the park. We got an intro to competing, with Jadyn winning multiple competitions, and ultimately qualifying for the 2015 USASA Championships in boardercross, and placing 7th. As for Isaac and I, while we didn’t get the results that Jadyn achieved, we did start competing with a few boardercross races towards the end of the year (I didn’t place well, as I didn’t really know what I was doing :P).

Now, last season was a big season for us, setting us up for this year. We learned how to spin 180’s, 360’s, and even one or two 540’s off bigger jumps. It was a big competition season, where I competed in 7 boardercross races at Ski Cooper and Crested Butte, taking better placings, learning how to race, how to maintain speed around turns, how to generate more speed, how to pass competitors, and how to fight off competitors trying to pass. My final boardercross competition, at Crested Butte, went relatively well, as I barely missed qualifying for the finals, but won the consolation final, taking 5th place overall. Because of that final race, I ended up qualifying for the 2016 USASA National Championships in boardercross, where I took 42nd out of 74. To end off the season, I even landed my first backflip!

Who knows what this season has in store for me? A gold medal? Top 20 at Nationals? Spinning a 720? Tons of backflips? Well, I guess I’ll just have to wait and see! In the meantime, here’s a video of me on my second day back on the mountain:

Before I finish off this entry into my ever-expanding collection of blog posts about various parts of my life, I wanted to outline my goals for this season, so I can look at them throughout.

Competitions:

  • Top 20 at the 2017 National Championships
  • A medal or two
  • Win a race

Tricks:

  • 720’s (Backside and Frontside)
  • Frontside 540’s
  • Master backside 540’s
  • Switch backside 360’s
  • Cab 540’s
  • Underflip?
  • Layout backflip
  • 270 onto rails
  • Master frontside boardslides

And that’s it (for now, at least)! If you want to see videos of Isaac, Jadyn and me snowboarding, check out my snowboarding YouTube Channel, which I plan to start posting on more (last season I just put videos of our boardercross races on there, not really using it for anything). Visit it here, or search for GabeShreds on YouTube.

 

End of Soccer season!

After a long, fun-filled season of soccer, I can finally say that it’s over. Finishing the season off with a win against Rifle, our final record was 10-2-3, which I personally think qualifies as a good season.

The season started out pretty slow, with me playing less than a quarter of the game on average. At the start of the season, I started out on defense, which I was pretty disappointed at, as I have an extreme liking towards forward, and towards the middle of the season, I got moved up to right wing, and eventually switched to left wing because I could cross it into the middle with my left foot better than most people on the team, and much better than the previous players who played left wing. As the season progressed, I got more and more playing time. Two games ago, I got to start both halves, and I played for around 70 of 80 minutes of the game, which was one, tiring, and two, extremely fun.

Dad and me after a game in Glenwood Springs
Dad and me after a game in Glenwood Springs

Although I didn’t get a goal in the back of the net this year, I had some good shots (not to mention some bad ones where I completely just missed the goal), and in the last game, I took my first corner kick of the season on the right corner, thinking to myself that I hadn’t ever taken a corner this season. I ended up nailing a giant kick, over the keeper’s head, and one of my teammates put it in. That was probably the highlight of the game for me, as I didn’t ever get an actual shot on goal, but overall it was a fun last game, with the final score being 3-1. Here’s a video of my teammate putting the ball in the goal from my corner kick:

 

What’s really funny to me is when I think back to just before the season, when I was contemplating whether or not to even do soccer. I hadn’t competitively played in two years, I hadn’t even kicked a ball for the past ten months, and I’d never actually had to try out for a team before. After I decided to try out, I procrastinated practicing, ending up only getting around an hour of practice in before tryouts.

Tryouts were stressful, because all around me I saw kids my age and older that had obviously been practicing their ball skills, and most of them knew each other, whereas I only knew two or three people. We ran hard, with the coaches timing us on long-distance (well, not really long distance – just one ~1.5 mile run and one ~2 mile run), and I honestly believe that was one of the only reasons I made the team – Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t the worst one on the team, but I definitely was not the best. When we were running those timed runs, I knew that while many people who were trying out had much better ball skills than me, I was probably more in shape than many of the kids there. I ended up being the second fastest Freshman, beating some Sophomores and a few Juniors.

When the end of the third day of tryouts came, I was nervous – I didn’t know how I placed, or if I even made a team. The coaches told us that they had made some tough decisions, having to cut 17 people. When their final talk was over, I returned to the locker room to see my name on the list of people who had made the team. I was overjoyed to see my name on that list, and I couldn’t wait to start playing again.

I’d say my first high school sport season was a good experience – Even though my soccer skills were better two years ago than they are now, I played my part on the team, and compensated for my lack of skill with a ball with hard work and speed. I made some new friends, who I think I’ll be hanging out with in the future.

Well, now that the season’s over, it’s time to prepare for snowboarding – I expect to qualify for Nationals again, and hopefully I can get on the podium in at least one competition this year. I think the past three years of boarding have all led up to this season – This is the season where I’m at the top of my age category, have had previous experience competing and racing, and have had a taste of what Nationals is like. I don’t know what the season after this will look like, I might not even compete, so I think this is where I can really do something worth remembering. The season starts in less than a month, with Arapahoe Basin opening today, and I think I’m ready for it.

Turning 15!

Well, two days ago was the big day! It was pretty fun, if you don’t count the entire school day. Before I went to school, mom surprised me in the morning with some presents, we went to Daylight Donuts and I had donuts for the first time in 9 months, and overall it was a great morning. I got to school, received my math test back (which I did in class in 20 minutes) and got perfect scores, and then that’s where I’m going to stop that narrative, because basically everything after that was uneventful.
After soccer practice ended, mom picked me up from the school and took me to Giampietro’s Pizza, which is basically the best pizza place in Breck. There I met up with the rest of the family, our friends the Heflins, and our traveler/backpacker/smart person/doctor friend Doug, and ate a TON of pizza. Isaac and our friend Bodie had gone shopping on Main Street for me, and got me an abundance of gifts. I got an awesome hat and some shirts from my favorite snowboard brands. After I was done stuffing myself with dairy, gluten, and a ton of other stuff I should not have had that much of, we went to the Breckenridge Escape Room.


Now, I can’t really say anything about what’s inside, but there were some amazing puzzles that we solved, and in the end we escaped with five minutes left on the clock. While this birthday wasn’t as eventful as years past, the time with my family was special to me, and they definitely made me feel like it was. Even with school, we still get time with each other every day, and I’ve learned to make the most out of those moments and treasure them.

I had a soccer game last night, our fourth-to-last, against Glenwood Springs. I did pretty good, but it started storming at halftime and everyone was freezing for the rest of the game. We ended up winning 2-0, which I was happy about. But after missing every opportunity I had in past games to score, I’m getting fed up with it. I see it as 3 games left, 3 last chances for me to put one in the back of the net. If I get put on wing and have a shot, I’m going to just take it. I guess it doesn’t really matter as much to the team, but it’s a big personal deal to me – I feel like I have something to prove to myself, because scoring goals is just something I love to do and I haven’t been able to do it. I’m going to give it my all for the next 3 games, and I’m confident that when I get put on wing, I’ll have a few shots before the season ends.

4 more days!

That’s right, it’s only four more days of being 14 for me, and then I’ll officially be 15 (and able to get my learners permit too…). Unfortunately, my birthday falls on a Monday this year, and since I’m not homeschooled anymore… That means I’ll have to escape from school celebrate either late at night, on a different day, or even better, both!

Offstring YoYoing at Rocky Mountain National Park last weekend
Offstring YoYoing at Rocky Mountain National Park last weekend

It’s crazy to think that one year ago, I was in Nashville, TN, high jumping with not a care in the world (well, mostly). I really have to say, those months that we were in Nashville were amazing. Playing tennis almost every day, getting to high jump and get coached on it twice a week, scoring a ton playing on a rec soccer team, and most importantly, celebrating my birthday on my birthday, having gotten ahead in schoolwork previously.

Well, snowboarding starts soon, since Arapahoe Basin is scheduled to open in the next few weeks, so hopefully I’ll be able to get out there and shred some. Soccer’s been going well, and our last game I finally felt like I played great, even though we lost 3-1. My next game is today, followed by one on Saturday. Without going into too much detail, school’s been going fine. Grades in a few of my classes have gone down, while a few have gone up.

Steering away from that topic, I’ve compiled a list of my top 10 favorite places we traveled to or stayed in the past year – Nashville, Sedona, Atlanta, Austin, Keystone, Vegas, New Orleans, Ouray

  1. Sedona, AZ – June/July 2016 – Definitely at the top of the list. Although the temperature was sweltering hot, I had access to a high school track with a high jump pit, got to play tennis every day we were there, hiked to some pretty incredible places, and went to YoYoFactory. To top it all off, we got to participate in a 5-day Nike Tennis Camp, which I consider to be one of the most fun weeks of my life this past year.
  2. Austin, TX – November 2015, May 2016 – For me, going back to Austin is always an enjoyable experience (unless it’s in the dead of summer and it’s over 110 degrees). Staying for a few weeks last November definitely was a great decision, since we got to see all our friends down south once again. In May, we took a plane down to Austin, and even though it was only for a few days, I packed lots of memories into them. There’s something about Austin that just makes me want to always keep revisiting.
  3. Nashville, TN – August-November 2016 – Staying in Nashville was awesome, for a few reasons. We got to see our relatives, play tennis a TON, and most importantly (for me), I got a high jump coach, and got to high jump around two to three times a week! Celebrating my birthday here was fun, because I had a lot of family there, as my aunts and uncles that weren’t already there flew in from Texas. I had the crazy opportunity to attend a few weeks of a philosophy college course taught by my parent’s good friend, who is a professor at Belmont. I’d say I learned a substantial amount, and I still think about Descartes, Plato, and all the other philosophers and their ideas today.
  4. Atlanta, GA – November 2015 – We only stayed in Atlanta for a few days, but it honestly seemed like longer. We got to do and see many things, once even hitting the Georgia Aquarium, the Coca-Cola Museum, and the CNN Center all in one day. I have a lot of memories here, and I hope to return in the future.
  5. New Orleans, LA – November 2015 – On our way back to Austin last year, we passed through New Orleans. I got the chance to try my first beignet, not to mention a variety of amazing foods. We were only here for a few days, but it was an experience I want to repeat in the future.
  6. Keystone, CO – December 2015-June 2016 – We’ve been to and stayed in Keystone so many times it’s hard not to include it on this list. I have so many memories snowboarding on the mountain here, running snow-covered paths in the winter, and exploring the surrounding county. Although we’re not staying there this year, I know we’ll visit a lot this winter season.
  7. Ouray, CO – June 2016 – Staying here earlier this summer to kick off our summer travels was amazing. The views were amazing, the hikes were amazing, and the town was amazing. Almost every day we’d visit the park, whether it was to play Frisbee, go swimming in the hot spring pool, hang out in our hammocks, or offstring YoYo in the grass.
  8. Flint, TX – May 2016 – Earlier this year, after staying in Austin for around a week, we got the (rare) opportunity to see our best friends, the Halls, at their home in Flint. Just like every other time we see them, we packed a ton into just a few days, and had a crazy fun time. We played tennis, ultimate Frisbee, went for a run in the Texas heat, played some YoYo, and least importantly of all, played some Minecraft 😛
  9. Park City, UT – March 2016 – During the spring season, we took a trip out to Park City, UT with our friends the Burdiks. Although the snow wasn’t great, we had a great time shredding up the mountain with our boards, and in my case, my snowskate. Our friends had just gotten snowskates, and there was a snowboard run all the way down to the parking lot, so we decided to race some snowskatecross (it’s a thing). Naturally, I won. Most of the time. Well, the only time I would lose was when I gave them over a 20 second head start. Anyways, it was a great trip, and I definitely want to return.
  10. Las Vegas, NV – July 2016 – After leaving Sedona, we took a trip out to Las Vegas, Nevada, and before I start summarizing our time there, let me just say it was hot. Very, very hot. And that probably affected my experience there. Well, that and all the smoke coming from various casinos. We stayed at an awesome hotel, and every day we’d go out and explore the city. At night, the city was so bright and colorful it was a bit disorienting. We explored all over, walking all over downtown and on the Strip. I even went for a run in 115 degree weather (wrong idea), and that was… a unique experience. Dad celebrated his birthday here, and we went out for an awesome dinner at Therapy.

So those are my top ten favorite places I’ve been to in the last year! If I have time, I’ll try to write another blog post tomorrow or on the weekend, and I’ll hopefully include some pictures.