Snowboarding: Catching the slopes?

Steve Virgen

How’s this for irony: A 17-year old girl from Newport Beach loves

to snowboard. But, that’s not where the bizarre twist stops for Newport

Harbor High junior Chanelle Sladics.

She’s actually garnering success from snowboarding. Sladics, who

helped lead the Sailors’ field hockey squad to its second straight Sunset

League title in the fall, is on the U.S. Junior National Snowboarding

Team. And, what’s more, she’s among the elite, as she finished runner-up

in the overall rankings for the Junior Women Division (age 16-17) after

her stellar performance in the USA Snowboarding Association National

Championships, which ended March 24 at Mammoth Mountain.

“It’s ironic that I live by the beach and I’m on the snow,” Sladics

said. “I’m not used to the snow or the mountains. I’m definitely the

beach girl on the (Junior National) team. I always dress different than

everyone else and I’m always freezing.”

Against a field of 40 competitors, Sladics’ highest finish came in the

slope style event. She came in third in the event that includes judges

grading on aspects from height of a jump to risk of a trick. The greater

the risk the more points distributed.

Sladics also finished fifth in giant slalom, a downhill mountain race

in which she was the only one who wore a headset and listened to music on

the way down.

A fourth-place finish in the halfpipe event (winner determined by

judging) also aided the cause for her runner-up position in the overall

rankings.

Sladics’ performance also qualified her for the Junior World

Championships in New Zealand, which will be in September. This summer,

she will train in Oregon, which means she will miss practice time with

her teammates on the Newport Harbor field hockey team.

“I’m going to have to come back and do double-day practices,” said

Sladics, who plays as a link in field hockey.

Sladics is anxious to make the sacrifice and prepare for the World

Championships. With the recent Winter Olympics passing, the snowboarding

trend has skyrocketed and Sladics is on the fast track to finding

opportunities to advance to higher levels in her sport.

Former members of Sladics’ Junior National team include Ross Powers,

who won the halfpipe snowboarding gold medal in the 2002 Winter Olympics,

and Danny Kass, who grabbed the silver medal in the halfpipe snowboarding

event.

“That gives me inspiration,” Sladics said. “I don’t know if I will

ever be able to do that. I have to choose what I want to do. I might want

to go to college on the East Coast, so I can go to school and improve on

snowboarding. The Olympics, that’s definitely something that I can set a

goal for.”

Sladics’ rise to snowboarding success came from a bit of a chance

situation.

“In the beginning of the seventh grade I started snowboarding,”

Sladics said. “I broke my arm when I was skiing, so I had to choose to

snowboard and I liked it. I competed in snowboarding and I never

stopped.”