SheJumps: Coaching with Boys and Girls Club

Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, SheJumps is a non-profit dedicated to increasing female participation in outdoor activities. Their goal is to mentor, teach, and build a community for women enjoying open air recreation, whether the women are newcomers to outdoors sports or professional athletes.

- Sarah Newhall

This year, SheJumps launched a program in collaboration with the Boys and Girls Club over the month of March. The Boys and Girls Club is a nation-wide program which focuses on inspiring and enabling the youth in the community, especially those who need it most, to become caring and responsible individuals through guidance-oriented adult relationships and engagement in a variety of enriching activities within a safe environment.

I was privileged enough to coach for one of the four Saturdays in March, where the a group from the Boys and Girls Clubs came up to ski with several of the SheJumpers for the day at Alta.

I spent the day skiing with Shanny and Hilary, exploring Alta and teaching them few fun facts about skiing, powder snow and how to get around on the flats.

 

Shanny working hard to get across the flats

 Hilary working hard at skating

I was so amazed at the girls ability to ski and enjoy everything about it. Hilary skied a little when she was a girl and Shanny had only skied a few days and both of them made great turns and improved super fast. I was so proud of them and so happy to be involved with girls that were passionate about learning.

After skiing all day, the group chilled out and got ready to dig into the massive cookie cake that the Alta Peruvian Lodge had made for Hannah Whitney's birthday.

 hoorah!

 some of the kids swapping stories about there mad skiing skills

 dig in!

 

For more info about SheJumps or The Boys and Girls Club, check out their websites!

Thanks to all the sponsors and volunteers who donated their time and care- it was a really great program to be involved in.

Kaya Turski at the Winter X Games

check out Kaya's gold medal run at the Euro Winter X Games....

Anna Segal takes 3rd @ Winter Dew Tour Toyota Championships 2011

photo care of  Dew Tour

 

Anna Segal has continued to dominate this month, taking 3rd in the final Winter Dew Tour stop at Snowbasin, UT today.

I have to send a major shout out to her and all the girls who have been competing back to back from X Games- to World Championships and now Dew Tour. It takes true grit to physically and mentally tackle these comps. Go ladies (and gents for that matter).

Next stop- Aspen, for some freeskiing on a new pair of fatty pow skis with a crew of radical aussie shred-dogs.

- nat segal

ZOE - double backs !

wooohooo ! check out head coach Zoe doing what she does best in the silky soft, light as a feather Japanese powder......

KATYA CREMA at world champs

one of our favourite 'chicks with stix' gals Katya was competing in the FIS Freestyle World Champs here in Park City in Ski X yesterday.

but things didnt exactly go according to plan... after a false start that saw the other 2 competitors in Katya's heat get a 10 metre head start, the race was run anyway... Katya came second but the other competitor (who got a big head start) complained and got a rerun !

kinda sucks for Katya who has been doing so well and getting PB's with each World Cup race recently.  especially sucks to see the competitor that you beat advance through the heats !

anyway... chin up Kats .. your time will come

Anna wins !

so happy for our very own Anna Segal who won GOLD at the inaugural slopestyle event here in Park City.

I managed to have a quick chat with Anna after her awesome win ! we were so excited and Anna was still a bit shell-shocked but totally elated.... after this she was heading off to ring her mum.....

ANNA takes gold !

those prayers must have worked last night, because today Ms Anna Segal just wrote herself into the history books, by winning GOLD in slopestyle at the FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships !

it was soooooo exciting !

Anna slid into top place with her first run.... and there she stayed !  despite the best efforts by the best female skiers in the world, Anna took gold for Australia ! and she was pretty stoked with this extra special win......

"today wasn't about money or sponsors or points - today was about skiing for my country..." Anna told CwS.

and that is an important point - because slopestyle is being seriously considered for inclusion into the next Olympic Games - roll on 2014 !

Annas’s run was ......... a lipslide on the down rail, a blind 270 out of the a- frame, a disaster on the flat down box and 180 over the bonk feature. On the jumps she did a switch 540 into a huge 720 mute grab and finished off with her patented flat- spin 360.

Anna at the World Championships

so today was day one of the FIS Freestyle World Skiing Championships [#FFWSC11 is the hashtag for those of you on twitter] and our very own Anna Segal has made it through qualifiers and into the finals!

we are so proud of her.......it's a tough field out there with the absolute best of the best "slopestylers" in the world throwing it down!

this morning was a very brisk minus 18 and the event was delayed by about an hour.... the temps made the snow a little sticky and the course a little too slow which is kinda dangerous... these competitors need to go fast and get high !

Anna is on tomorrow (Thursday) at 9:30 am. thats 3:30 am Friday morning in Australia. so say a little prayer before bed tonight gang....


pix: Andrew Clarke