With the winter sport season well on its way, one athlete in Hood River prepares for what will be an exciting season ahead.
Sean FitzSimons, a 17-year-old junior at Hood River Valley Online Academy, is a completive snowboarder and has been invited to compete in the slopestyle competition at the Dew Tour in Breckenridge, Colo., this December.
The Dew Tour brings together the world’s best skateboarders, snowboarders and skiers throughout the year to compete in high-level competitions that features the creativity and style in each athlete.
FitzSimons has competed in international, national and regional competitions, but the Dew Tour will be his first elite level competition.
“When I was younger, I’d watch the Dew Tour and think, ‘Oh, this is so sick,’ and now I am in it; it’s going to be crazy,” he said. “I am going up against some of the best snowboarders in the world and the guys I grew up watching will be there competing against me as well; it’ll be a real test, but I am excited for it.”
At the Dew Tour, Fitzsimons will go through a rigorous course of rails and jumps.
“The course all builds up to one final jump,” said FitzSimons. “I’ve got some work to do on my rail work and it’ll be a good challenge for me at Dew, but I am confident with my jumps and it plays into my advantage with the course leading up to one final jump.”
The Dew Tour will be his first stop on what will be a long winter season.
After the Dew Tour, FitzSimons has also been invited to compete in the Grand Prix/Olympic Qualifying and World Cup events later this winter season in Switzerland.
The Switzerland event, which is a world cup event, is also an elite event, while the Grand Prix is an international event. The difference between these two event categories is point distribution. At the elite level competitions, there are more points to be earned if you podium (top-three placing), and more points helps to push you forward in the world rankings, which help you qualify for the winter Olympics.
Also, for the last several years, FitzSimons has been competing in The Revolution Tour, a tour that starts in December in Colorado and ends in March in California, and FitzSimons plans to hit all those stops again as long as his other tours don’t conflict.
Last year, he made a list of goals for himself and that list included all the events that he has qualified for this winter season. Now that he has a new list to make, it’s hard not to believe that podium placing at these events won’t be at the top.
It’s no surprise that FitzSimons will be doing a lot of traveling this season, and one problem is he’s a 17-year-old with his only source of income being his winnings from events, and its why Kickstand is hoping to help him out.
Kickstand, a local coffee and kitchen business, will be hosting a party for FitzSimons on Nov. 16 from 6-8 p.m. to help raise money for his travel fees and wish him luck on his long winter adventures.
Last year, Kickstand hosted a similar send off for FitzSimons to help him on his way to Europe for Junior Worlds and the World Rookie Tour.
“It was a hugely successful get together last year,” said his mother, Jennifer FitzSimons. “Sean is incredibly grateful for all the support from friends, family, sponsors and this awesome community.”
This year, Kickstand will be donating items for a raffle and there will also be homemade desserts for sale to help bring in money to support FitzSimons’ journey.
A huge reason for why FitzSimons can even consider traveling around to compete in snowboarding competition is because of his online schooling through the Hood River County School District.
“Being involved with this program is allowing Sean to travel for snowboarding competitions while still maintaining his academics and connection to the high school,” said Jennifer. “We appreciate all that Kelly Running, who oversees the program, does to allow Sean to compete.”
For FitzSimons, the Dew Tour will be his first taste of elite level competition and “it’s easily the biggest event I’ve been invited to compete at,” he said. “Competing well and placing on the podium could mean future opportunities that I’ve dreamed about competing in as a kid.”
It may seem like there’s a lot left on FitzSimons’ plate, but qualifying for a winter Olympics has never been such a reality, and this winter season is a pivotal one for him in continuing to stride for that one goal all competitive snowboarders have in common.
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