Send Nick to US Nationals
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I have been given an opportunity of a life time... to compete in Sr.Freestyle Nationals where i will compete against the top skiers in the U.S. Including U.S. freestyle team members. This is an amazing but expensive opportunity for me and i would appreciate any help in reaching this dream.
I have been skiing since i was three years old, through the daycare at holiday valley. I started out with a coach whom loved racing and never let me jump off of rollers and jumps on the side of lift towers. So of course since i was not allowed to jump it only made the times when i did jump all that more fun. It was a forbidden fruit, and i was often in trouble for skiing away from the rest of the kids so i could jump. I thought i was never going to be able to jump with permission, until i was assigned a new coach who not only permitted jumping but encouraged it! He taught me to spin and get higher in the air. I had never been so excited to ski than when i knew i had this coach. I was then put in a weekend ski lesson program (Rangers) a few years later. A friend of mine Quinn O'Rourke told me about the Holiday Valley Freestyle team. This was a team dedicated to moguls. As a ranger we would go and watch the kids ski bumps , my brother and i begged our mom to put us on the team when we were old enough. She did, and i loved it from the first run, i could now do the bumps and jumps that were not allowed in my first years of skiing. I now had a new coach who was extremely dedicated to the sport. He has happily stood in negative weather for hours and hours at the top of our courses on competition days, bent down to clean our boots off and adjust our bindings even if not needed just because he wanted us to feel like everything posible was done to keep us in our equipment. He has made the long car ride to water ramps at Lake Placid to teach me how to not only flip but control my flip and do it safley. As result of this dedication and love he has shown me, i too now love it. i cannot imagine a winter with no moguls, no jumps, no competitions. And so for me to make it to not only jr.natonals which is the top sixty skiers in the U.S under eighteen but Sr. Nationals as well is a thrill. This means that i now get to not only see the professional moguls skiers that i watch on T.V but compete against them. It was always a dream to make it to this high level competition, so for it to happen is surreal to me.
I have been skiing since i was three years old, through the daycare at holiday valley. I started out with a coach whom loved racing and never let me jump off of rollers and jumps on the side of lift towers. So of course since i was not allowed to jump it only made the times when i did jump all that more fun. It was a forbidden fruit, and i was often in trouble for skiing away from the rest of the kids so i could jump. I thought i was never going to be able to jump with permission, until i was assigned a new coach who not only permitted jumping but encouraged it! He taught me to spin and get higher in the air. I had never been so excited to ski than when i knew i had this coach. I was then put in a weekend ski lesson program (Rangers) a few years later. A friend of mine Quinn O'Rourke told me about the Holiday Valley Freestyle team. This was a team dedicated to moguls. As a ranger we would go and watch the kids ski bumps , my brother and i begged our mom to put us on the team when we were old enough. She did, and i loved it from the first run, i could now do the bumps and jumps that were not allowed in my first years of skiing. I now had a new coach who was extremely dedicated to the sport. He has happily stood in negative weather for hours and hours at the top of our courses on competition days, bent down to clean our boots off and adjust our bindings even if not needed just because he wanted us to feel like everything posible was done to keep us in our equipment. He has made the long car ride to water ramps at Lake Placid to teach me how to not only flip but control my flip and do it safley. As result of this dedication and love he has shown me, i too now love it. i cannot imagine a winter with no moguls, no jumps, no competitions. And so for me to make it to not only jr.natonals which is the top sixty skiers in the U.S under eighteen but Sr. Nationals as well is a thrill. This means that i now get to not only see the professional moguls skiers that i watch on T.V but compete against them. It was always a dream to make it to this high level competition, so for it to happen is surreal to me.
Organizer
Nicholas DiDonato
Organizer
Ellicottville, NY