Hi friends, I’m here training in the Netherlands at this state of the art compound with an indoor ski facility where they built a beautiful banked slalom course. It’s pretty awesome, you’re wearing shorts one minute, next you suit up and get inside this “freezer box.” Super grateful to be here, it’s my 3rd time, and I was thinking I’ve come a long way in snowboarding. I never needed to prove anything to anyone, but since I had my accident, I’ve been...
Howdy folks! Like I mentioned previously, I’m getting ready for my upcoming season. Hopes are high, the body has been constantly sore, I’m getting in the zone where I’ll be feeling ready. For sure, with social media these days, you’re always comparing yourself to other athletes. “Oh, these guys are on a training camp doing this & that.” “Oh, that guy already had 50 days of snow training on his belt,” and so forth… Myself? -this is what I have, I train and do...
Hi friends, Less than a month separates me from my 1st race of the season, an indoor World Cup Banked Slalom in Landgraaf, Netherlands. I’m so pumped! Excited and beyond grateful for these opportunities. I’ve been training harder, enjoying seeing the amount of hours I rack up weekly on my Garmin watch! This one in specific I am looking forward to train / race at the location. Much like Finland, I haven’t done very well there in the past. But I have high hopes I’ll...
Hello folks, The schedule is out and most dates are locked for my upcoming race season, exciting! After planing with my Federation in Brazil and Coach Mancha, looks like I’ll be racing the following events: —Banked Slalom (BSL) on the indoor course of Landgraaf, Netherlands in late November. From there, another indoor race was going to follow in the UK but that got canceled (they were just planing that one but never concretized). —Snowboard Cross (SBX) in Grahsgeren, Germany, in late February. —Snowboard Cross in...
Gidday folks, The involvement & commitment that goes on during a race season is serious, I was thinking about it the other day. There’s a lot of things involved and they all play a special & important part in the final result. Things like your equipment, mindset, level of fitness, and so on add up. When competing, ideally you wanna be in the best shape possible and with a clear mindset for the goal at hand. It’s hard to stay “ON” nonstop. You...
Hey guys, I wanted to open up about the “butterflies” I had before the races. It’s all to be expected; to be in that huge stage, huge courses, cameras everywhere, the atmosphere is electric, maybe you couldn’t tell from looking at me (dancing with the coach, trying to keep my mind relaxed) but my legs were SHAKING! Take for instance the Banked Slalom race: I did well on the last day of training pre race, was relaxed, put in some good & fast...
A couple months ago Coach Mancha & I were re-living our journey from Canada to the Paralympics. It was sooo long that I felt like writing this post, so I wouldn’t forget. Number 1. For context, during Covid, China required PCR & rapid tests taken 72 hours apart, from specific approved laboratories. We were in the middle of nowhere in a little mountain town, so getting to their requested labs for testing required taking a taxi or shuttle, an...
Hi guys, Thought I would share this story, otherwise I may forget in the future. Sometimes things go so wrong it’s almost funny, but not in the moment… It was February 2023, I had a photoshoot for Adidas in Portland, Oregon -exciting stuff! A great storm aligned w my trip, so I went earlier to get a day of snowboarding in Mount Hood (about 1,5 hs drive). I’ll take every opportunity to train I can get, specially with this new board I...
Hey guys, As an athlete, last 2 weeks were frustrating; I missed a couple amazing races -including the World Championships I was supposed to compete. It’s tough seeing my friends/rivals posts and YouTube clips of the races I would/could have been in and didn’t go. After Finland I was feeling great, so fit and so ready. I don’t get to these places going all out on the race course, flying high & far on the big jumps —it’s a build up; so...
Hey guys, updating everyone on my season; the original plan changed twice because of lack of snow in Europe. So frustrating! They do have snow, but not enough to build the courses (they need a lot!)From Finland we would go to Spain for Worlds; so when that got postponed to March, we turned our focus to a World Cup & test event for the Paralympics 2026 in Cortina, Italy. We’d extend the trip for another week. I was on “cloud...
