SheJumps @ Woodward Tahoe
SheJumps is a community for women who love to be active and push themselves beyond their limits. They value camaraderie and making calculated risks.
Woodward Tahoe is a training facility by Boreal Ski Resort on the way to North Lake Tahoe. It’s a rad place to get your tricks dialed and generally feel like a badass, but not before you get schooled by some 8 year old groms who really know how to do back flips, rodeos, and mistys.
JUMPING FORWARD
I moved to Vail, Colorado from New York City to pursue my love of snowboarding. For 6 years, Vail was the place where I nurtured my existing passion, and was inspired to acquire new ones. I looked forward to every day in the mountains so I could either learn something new or build on skills that I had been working on. I wanted to push myself everyday to get better at snowboarding. I knew I was never going to be pro but I wanted to be the best snowboarder I could possibly be.
A year ago I moved to San Francisco. This place has it all! I love everything that California has to offer: Food, Wine, Surfing, Beaches, Biking, Camping, Mountains … but wait, the Mountains are now 3-4 hours away. How am I supposed to keep progressing at my passion? And how am I supposed to meet some rad shred betties to get gnarly with on the slopes?
Well that’s where She Jumps comes in! I’ve know about these awesome ladies for some time now, and I’ve been wanting to participate in all their activities, be it Mountain Bike Rides or Avalanche Awareness Training. I live pretty far from Tahoe, and it’s hard to get up there for the day. But not this day! She Jumps was hosting a meet-up at Woodward Tahoe during their Ladies Clinic (which is every Sunday from 5-8 PM). This was perfect, because my boyfriend and I were already planning on heading up to Boreal to get our first turns of the 2012/13 season, and it just so happens that Woodward is at the base of Boreal, go figure! The Snow Gods were looking down, smiling, and telling me to get my shred on.
The first time you walk into Woodward Tahoe you can’t help but smile. The place is truly inspiring. There are groms everywhere flipping, flopping, spinning, jumping, skating, and all I wanted to do was join them. Woodward is not only a place for fun, but also a place for creativity, learning, and getting extreme. There are 3 sections for your enjoyment: a skate park, a trampoline zone with foam pits, and an array of practice ramps.
I ditched the boy and met up with the She Jumps Girls. It was so great to meet some ladies who were just as stoked as I was to push their limits, and get better at the sports they loved. Monica, our coach was amazing. She was excited about snowboarding and really got us energized to try some new things. She created the Ladies Clinic so women could have a supportive environment within the action sports community, and feel comfortable to push themselves to the best of their abilities. It is quite inspirational to be around a group of women who are encouraging each other to reach their highest potential.
The ideals of the Ladies Clinic go hand in hand with the She Jumps Mission Statement, which really drives home how important camaraderie, and taking calculated risks are.
The Clinic exceeded my expectations, and during those three magical hours I tried multiple tricks I had never imagined being comfortable enough to attempt. It all started with front flips into the foam pit, then hand plants, rodeos, and mistys on the trampolines, ending with 180s and transitions on the roller boards in the ramp section. But there were two highlights of my day. The first was jumping off the huge indoor cliff into a foam pit, which was scary for me because of my small fear of heights. And the second was learning how to do a backflip. Katie, one of the trainers, took the time to coach me through the whole process. It was truly incredible how patient she was, and in no time I was doing backflips by myself on the trampoline. A feat I thought I left with my 12-year-old self.
What an amazing experience. It fe
lt so nice to progress my snowboarding again in a way that I thought was
not really possible for me. Not only did I truly challenge myself to jump outside my comfort zone and take a leap of faith in my abilities, but I also learned that yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks, and yes, tricks are not just for kids.
I look forward to spending many more days at Woodward Tahoe stretching my limits even further.