“Go big or go home” says it all when it comes to the club snowboarding team’s attitude this year.
With 126 members, the team is trying its best to live up to its
motto. The number of members on the team is a significant boost from the previous year’s team, which was virtually nonexistent.
Club snowboarding was formed in 2002 and had been inconsistent in its membership and participation in competition. That all changed this year when club coordinator Austin DeKoning made serious efforts to bring the sport back to life at the University.
“I loved it,” DeKoning said. “It’s really fun and I really want to see this club develop.”
DeKoning has been working so much to get everyone else on the mountain that he has been unable to compete himself.
DeKoning stressed that although the team already has a large membership, it always welcomes new members, regardless of skill level.
Although the club is still developing, its large membership, weekly practice schedule and participation in competitions show that DeKoning has it headed in the right direction.
For practice, the team charters a bus and spends entire Saturdays at various mountains, including Mount Hood and Bachelor.
The competitions also vary by mountain as Bachelor mainly has slope-freestyle riding and the half-pipe while Hood focuses on border-cross racing.
With the club team still in its developmental stages, it doesn’t compete as a recognized team yet. The team currently sends six to eight members for the weekly individual competitions.
The two members, Casey Mckillip and Brian Shen, are trying to get sponsored by local shops due to their success in recent freestyle competitions.
DeKoning’s ultimate goal is to get the team to Nationals, something that could happen as soon as next year.
“Right now we definitely have a few people in the club that are capable of (making it to Nationals) we just have to get them up to competitions,” DeKoning said.
Members pay team dues of $30 that cover bus rides to the mountain for the entire year. DeKoning says the dues pays itself off after one trip.
To raise additional funds, the club employs an artist, Steven Lopez, also known as FRUSTR8, to design apparel that the club sells to its members and the community either in the club sports office or sporting events.
There are still plenty of opportunities to snowboard this season; the club goes every weekend.
“It’s a great opportunity to meet new people,” said DeKoning. “I would definitely encourage anyone to come out.”