Overview
“Lifting As We Rise” is a motto we swear to and share as students at Ida B. Wells High School. With this motto, we promise to encourage, include and strengthen others to the best of our ability. The Guardian skiing and snowboarding teams held their promises with unwavering loyalty even though their season started two months early due to weather patterns and possibly a new shift in the coaching system and practice site. Our skiing and snowboarding teams are truly model sports teams to look up to.
La Niña and How It’ll Affect the Season
According to the National Weather Service and National Geographic, La Niña is a weather event caused by a periodic cooling of the ocean’s surface leading to a build-up of below-freezing waters beneath its depths. The event lasts roughly nine to 12 months and affects the Pacific Ocean, the Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn.
In addition to the strong winds moving eastward, it creates an influx of snow, rain and colder temperatures throughout the Pacific Northwest, making perfect conditions to ski and snowboard off the mountains of Mt. Bachelor and Mt. Hood. This event occurs every three to five years and forces the snowboarding and skiing teams to start their season two months early and establish their skills while also adapting to changing surroundings, which they’ve done perfectly thanks to their head coach, Jason Elstad.
“I think it’s helpful for a lot of kids, as far as people trying to have more practice before. Although it was just kind of a shock, it was a good shock, and a lot of people are happy about it because it started earlier,” said Olivia Freeman, a junior in her third year on the women’s snowboarding team. Freeman has been snowboarding since she was seven or eight years old.
Adrian Bernatovic has been snowboarding for just as long on the men’s team. “I’ve been watching the pre-season and I’m hyped,” said Bernatovic.
Sydney Collins, a women’s ski team captain and Ronan Allison both agree with Bernatovic and Freeman’s sentiments. Both have been practicing the sport for most of their lives as well and have an optimistic outlook on the season. All members are excited to compete this season.
However, there are still some worries.“Some kids and parents are concerned because it started so early. They’re concerned about the practices, the times, etcetera, because we didn’t have it last year, it’s more confusing this year,” said Freeman.
New Possibilities
In addition to new weather patterns, Collins has been engineering a change that will put everyone in equal financial standing. In the past years, there have been two practice sites for the teams: one at Timberline Lodge and one at Mt. Hood Meadows. At Mt. Hood Meadows, the bus ride, food and coaching are guaranteed. Alternatively, the bus ride isn’t guaranteed at Timberline Lodge, nor is the food, although the coaching is exceptional.
Even with Mt. Hood Meadows promising all these amenities, it is still three hundred dollars cheaper than Timberline Lodge, the favored skiing and snowboarding site used by athletes who can afford the cost throughout the season. This is because Timberline Lodge is better suited for beginners in addition to the tourist attraction of being “The Shining” hotel. Collins has been on this combative journey for a while now. “I think it was a year or two ago, me and my mom proposed to the team, ‘This is too expensive.’ So from there, I’ve talked to the principal and the director of the ski team and the only change they’ve made is to take this bus,” said Collins. “To make the training more inclusive and affordable, we’d want to train at Meadows so we have a confirmed ride and food and stuff like that and accessible for all students.”
The snowboarding and skiing teams are symbols of adaptation and perseverance as they’ve learned to switch their schedule at the drop of a hat, stay readily prepared and motivated for the upcoming season and are willing to lift others up as they climb to the top of the leaderboards of all the competitions that pose adversity.
