Amy Purdy hikes up the hill during a training session on December 18, 2013 in Copper Mountain, Colorado.
Social Media Roundup
Like hundreds of millions of Americans last week, several members of the U.S. Para snowboarding team made sure to have their voices heard in the presidential election. They also made sure to proudly share the news on social media.
Brittani Coury showed off her “I Voted” sticker (her community effort didn’t end there, as she donated blood days later). Amy Purdy said she voted early and thus did not get a sticker, but instead posted a patriotic photo and encouraged others to vote (and then celebrated her birthday later in the week). Mike Gabel voted early as well, sharing a photo of dropping his ballot in a drop off box (safely masked up of course). Gabel also had this message for anyone on the fence about voting:
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Several snowboarders got into the Halloween spirit, often with the help of their little one. Noah Elliott shared a photo of he and his daughter Skylar, he in elaborate Dia de Muertos makeup and Skylar in a perfect witch’s costume. And Mike Schultz’s daughter Lauren was the spitting image of Elsa from “Frozen.”
Brenna Huckaby shared one of the unknown realities of being an amputee. While working out, she noticed water coming out of her prosthetic leg. It turned out Huckaby was working so hard, it was just accumulated sweat coming out of the valve.
In The News
It has been a lonely fall calendar thus far for Para snowboarders and fans alike. Fortunately, it is now less than 100 days until the next major international competition, the World Para Snow Sports Championships. Scheduled to begin on Feb. 7, 2021, the world championships will take place in Lillehammer and Hafjell, Norway. In a bit of irony, Hafjell was where the 2019-20 world cup season came to a premature end last March as the coronavirus pandemic spread in Europe. The world championships will be historic in that for the first time, snowboarding, alpine skiing and Nordic skiing will hold their respective world championships together in one place. … Brittani Coury was featured in an episode of She Explores, a podcast about women in the outdoors. Coury discussed advice for beginners on the slopes, ranging from practical tips on
getting started with equipment to advice on how to overcome fear: “And like, as humans, we are really good at like psyching ourselves out, but we have the ability to do incredibly hard things. And I guess that would be my, my advice. Just go for it safely.” … Fordham University junior and Paralympic hopeful Patrick DeCrescenzo was profiled in the Fordham Ram. DeCrescenzo has been snowboarding since age 10, and worked with the Adaptive Sports Foundation in New York to hone his skills. He has since competed in world cups and has his sights set on the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing. … In news that should benefit all U.S. Paralympic sports, the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee announced on Oct. 26 the hiring of Nitra Rucker as director of diversity, equity and inclusion. In this role, Rucker will lead the USOPC’s diversity and inclusion efforts both internally with its workforce and externally across the Olympic and Paralympic Movement. … Paralympic medalist Keith Gabel will have his equipment on display at the Alf Engen Ski Museum in Park City, Utah, as part of a community fundraiser. Gabel, a Utah native, will be featured alongside other Olympians and Paralympians associated with Park City.
