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Finding community at Snowboarding Camp with Kyllan Bays

Finding community at Snowboarding Camp with Kyllan Bays

By October 10, 2023Alumni News, Show Love, Snowboarding

 

I made lifelong friends, which ended up being even more important than my skills on the slopes.

 

by Kyllan Bays

 

This summer tSB continued sending our youth to snowboarding camp along with We Are Camp, and CAPiTA to achieve our collective goal of making snowsports accessible and safe for BIPoC and other under-resourced communities.

 

Here’s what Kyllan had to say about his experience at Snowboarding Camp:

 

On the slopes, I learned new things. It was hard at first and I thought everyone was better than me- most kids were doing cool tricks like backflips. It took me awhile to get used to the snow on the first day, but once I got it, I felt like I had it. I improved my boarding skills more in one week than I did during the whole winter season. By the end of the snowboarding camp, I was able to not only do jumps, but I also did back side and front side 180s off of jumps.

 

I learned other skills that wasn’t even part of snowboarding, like skateboarding and trampoline tricks. When we weren’t on the slopes, we did skateboarding ramps and did flips on the trampoline.

I met friends from all over the world that came to snowboard. I met kids my age, younger kids, and older kids. At night, we played card games with the counselors and cabin mates, and talked with each other. After the snowboarding camp we continue to keep in touch.
There was a supportive environment created by counselors, coaches and other campers. Everyone was social and outgoing. It felt like a really good community. It was the community support that helped my snowboarding skills the most.  I made lifelong friends, which ended up being even more important than my skills on the slopes.