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SSCV puts 10 boarders on two new squads

Daily Staff Writer

VAIL – Ten Ski and Snowboard Club Vail snowboard athletes have been selected to the inaugural teams of the Rocky Mountain Snowboard Tour Colorado.The 10 athletes selected from SSCV were chosen for either alpine or freestyle riding and were placed on either a gold team or a development team in their respective riding discipline.The riders selected to 15-19-year-old gold team are Julya Chapman, Kim Krahulec, Sabrina Ste. Marie, Deacon Maloney, Steven MacCutcheon, Hunter Thompson and Aaron Hallenbeck.The other remaining riders – Lindsey Telling, Broc Waring and Bryan Daino – were selected to the 15-and-under development team.The athletes who were selected for freestyle disciplines recently attended half pipe and boardercross team camps at Mammoth Mountain in California.”The RMST was set up to further develop the pipeline for Colorado-based snowboard athletes as a stepping stone to the U.S. Snowboard Team and U.S. Snowboard Team project teams,” said Ben Boyd, the snowboard director at SSCV. “Athletes will graduate from the series – an excellent grassroots series of competitions that introduce athletes to competitive snowboarding – and into the Rocky Mountain Snowboard Tour, which is a USSA (United States Ski and Snowboard Association) series of Colorado based events that allow athletes to be introduced to higher level competition and put into the Olympic pipeline. The Colorado gold and development teams recognize Colorado’s best under-20 athletes, and lets them train with each other, and be coached by some of the most experienced and professional coaches in the country.” Aside from the 10 Vail selections, other athletes picked for the teams came from all the major clubs of Colorado, including Team Summit, Steamboat and Aspen.”We already have some of the top juniors in the country, and have athletes in this team with pro level experience,” Boyd said. “We want to make sure that the majority of the riders who go to the pro level, whether it be those who aspire to make the U.S. team, or those who aspire to have video parts, come from the state of Colorado.”The Rocky Mountain Snowboard Tour plans to hold between eight and nine events this year in giant slalom, boarder cross, half pipe and slopestyle at resorts all throughout Colorado including Beaver Creek, Steamboat and Aspen.”We started the tour last year as a USSA sanctioned set of competitions,” Boyd said. “Without the support of all the resorts like Vail, Copper Mountain, Aspen, Steamboat and Winter Park, the tour would not be possible. Their support of Colorado snowboarding, from USASA events, the RMST, up to events like The Session at Vail, The Gravity Games at Copper, The U.S. Grand Prix at Breckenridge and The Winter X Games at Aspen can not be applauded loudly enough.”


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