Took my hobby to a competitive level

For ECON 325 portfolio

I have been an avid snowboarder for the last 10 years. I would always look forward to weekend ski trips with my friends and their older brothers who were way better than me when I was in high school. There is something so fun about picking out what crazy color pants and jacket combinations and seeing how many runs we could do in a day.

When I got to UNC-Chapel Hill I missed snowboarding every weekend and I realized it was a sport not that many of my friends had ever had the opportunity of trying. I had heard through the grapevine that there was a club ski and snowboard team, but it wasn’t until my junior year that I was able to fully enroll on the team due to the coronavirus cancelling the past two seasons. I had never competitively snowboarded but thought there would be no better time than to start now.

I signed up for the following competition and drove to Beech Mountain Resort in North Carolina. UNC was just one of about eight teams that were there. When I got to the ski resort I checked in and got my assigned racing jersey with my number, 462. It was a Saturday and the resort was packed. It had just snowed in NC and snow conditions were pristine. The resort had an entire run closed off for the competition. Skiers giant slalom was in the morning and snowboarders was in the afternoon. I did a few runs and then it was our turn to go up the mountain. I did not know what to expect and neither did the other four UNC girls who were also competing in the snowboarder giant slalom. Next thing I knew were all being lined up by number and one by one all the girl snowboarders competing strapped into their boards and went up to the gate. Then I heard my name called, so I put on my jersey, made sure my bindings were tight and went to the gate where I saw the spaced-out flags I would be snowboarding in and out of trying to get the fastest time. The girl at the gate looked at me and through her headphone said “rider 462, ready...go” and I was off. The only thing going through my head was being lasered focused on making sure I went around all the flags because if I missed one I would be disqualified and no points would be added to UNC’s team. When I got to the bottom I was so relieved, do know why I got so worried I would forget to go around, but I was greeted by some of my friends. I quickly checked my score on the live leaderboard and I got 41 seconds which placed me in the top half. I did a few more runs and then called it a day and went back to our hotel.

While I have a lot of room for improvement I loved being able to take one of my hobbies to a collegiate level and compete. The season is still going on currently and I am looking forward to much-needed improvement and making memories on the slopes.