Snowboard team prepares for slaloms

By Lucas Tillman,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

The Davis High snowboard team members exchange friendly greetings while they shuffle onto the track at the under the rising sun, as the first rays of light reached over the sky, bright and early on a crisp Tuesday morning. The teammates form a circle and begin with simple stretches to warm up, telling jokes and praying for more snow.

While the team finishes up their stretches, assistant coach Maxwell Williams starts to number them off into three groups. One group does balance exercises, another does core workouts– egged on by Williams’ words of encouragement, “Come on guys, think of the awesome six-pack you’ll have!– And the last group does cardio workouts.

With a strong cold wind blowing across the track, several of the snowboarders are losing their balance, allowing some laughs across the close-knit group.

“The snowboard team is like a family,” junior Nate Barcliff said.

This friendly group of 17 snowboarders wants more team members.

“I definitely think more people should join the team. We only have three girls on the team, so us three are automatically boosted up to the varsity racing team. Also, the more people on the team the less expensive it is,” sophomore Charlotte King said. “It’s a lot of fun being part of a team.”

Barcliff, who has been snowboarding for four years total and two years for DHS, hopes to do well in competitions again this year. At the California Nevada Interscholastic Ski and Snowboard Federation’s state championship at Northstar in March 2017 the snowboard team secured fourth place out of 25 different teams.

“We usually do better than all the Tahoe teams, it’s pretty cool,” Barcliff said.

Blue Devil snowboarders have a special tradition.

“Every time before the first race, we watch the movie, Cool Runnings,” sophomore Tommy Ryan said.

The snowboard first dry-land practice was on Nov. 17, and their first mountain practice was on Dec. 17. Most races are held at Boreal, Alpine Meadows and Northstar. Their first race is on Jan. 8 at Alpine Meadows.

The DHS snowboarders are itching to retreat from their daily routine and escape up into the mountains.

“We all can’t wait to go up into the mountains,” Ryan said.

If you love to snowboard, the Blue Devils snowboard team is welcoming new members.