Nick capped off his best season yet in snowboardcross by competing in the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The season included finishing third in the SBX overall World Cup standings, winning a World Championship bronze medal as well as having five World Cup top-10 finishes, the final two of which landed him on the podium in second. He gives the Ross Powers Foundation credit for removing some of the financial challenges that were in the way of reaching his athletic goals.
Callan was raised in a rural village in the Wood-Tikchik State Park, on the Bering Sea coast of Alaska. She began snowboarding on the surrounding mountains, snowmachining as far as her family would take her and following her brother’s lead to the summits. At 12, the family moved to Girdwood, Alaska, home of Alyeska Ski Resort, where Callan joined a snowboard club and began racing locally on the weekends. As her race experience grew, she found herself racing National Competitions and FIS events. In 2006, she earned a berth on the United States Snowboard Team, landed on the podium in her first World Cup snowboardcross in Japan, and later won a U.S. National Championship title. After two more successful seasons, Callan sustained an injury in 2009 that put competition on hold. In need of financial help to continue training and competing, Callan thanks the Ross Powers Foundation for supporting her quest to earn a spot on the US Olympic Team.
“It has been an incredible year. To have this lifelong dream come to fruition, working towards a goal that at times seemed distant and watching the years of sweat evolve into a reality. The support you have given me has been one of the most important pieces in getting to the Olympics. Thank you for all that the Ross Powers Foundation has done for me.
Danny was fifteen years old when he first began competing in professional snowboarding events. While he initially competed locally, his passion and talent offered him the chance to compete in events outside his home state of Michigan. Unfortunately, the time and travel commitment to compete in these events forced him to miss too many classes and jeopardized his academic standing. Not wanting to give up either his academic or snowboarding aspirations, Danny needed a program that offered the flexibility to continue his studies and incorporate more specialized training and extended travel for competitions. His parents were determined to find a way to help support their son’s snowboarding talent when his mom came across the Ross Powers Foundation.
Like many talented young riders, Tyler wanted to attend Stratton Mountain School (SMS) so he could continue his education with the added flexibility of being able to focus on his snowboarding skills. He had all the necessary tools to go to SMS except for one – money. Despite his talents, Tyler was prepared to give up his snowboarding dreams and attend a public high school until he received a phone call that an anonymous donation had been made to enroll him at SMS.
Originally from Salt Lake City, UT, Faye Gulini was 15-years-old when she and her father made the decision to pursue her snowboarding career and moved to Vail, CO. As a public school, Vail Ski & Snowboard Academy was an affordable option for her family. She quickly began to excel in boarder cross and by the time she reached the age of 18, she was competing for a spot on the 2010 U.S. Olympic team.
After graduating high school, Pat moved to Jackson Hole to ride the legendary backcountry and traveled to Torino in 2006 to watch his brother Nate compete in the Winter Olympics. During the race he decided that Vancouver in 2010 was in his future and he moved to Squaw Valley the next winter to pursue his dream. In between competitions on the World Cup circuit, where he was one of only six U.S. riders to land a podium in international competition, Pat was working odds jobs he’d find on craigslist in order to try to cover his competition expenses.
A member of the U.S. Alpine snowboarding team in 2000, Graham has a background in racing, but switched full-on to snowboardcross with the Olympic announcement. He became the first male American ever to win a World Cup SBX and went on to turn solid seasons on the World Cup tour into representing Team USA in the Olympic Games in both 2006 and 2010.