Feldblums compete at national championships
Two Warren siblings recently had the honor of competing at the USA Snowboard and FreeSki National Championships at Copper Mountain in Colorado.
Joshua Feldblum, a 2nd grader at ALT School, and Julie Feldblum, an 8th grader at WMS, have been skiing Windham Mountain Club since they were 3 years old and competing in the Catskill Mountain Series of USASA for the last 3 years.
Josh and Julie both compete in Rail Jams, Slopestyle competitions and Ski Cross. During their competition season they compete against athletes from all over the East Coast and score points based on their finishes. Only those ranked in the top Nation wide are offered the opportunity to compete at the National Championships.
Julie qualified for Nationals in all 3 disciplines and performed incredibly well in each. Her training, tricks and skills put her in the top third of the country in a very talented and aggressive group of athletes.
Josh qualified to compete in Ski Cross and Slopestyle. Josh came into Nationals as the Regional Champion in his age group for Ski Cross and finished an impressive 8th place in Country. Josh also brought his skills and big air to Slopestyle and finished in the top half of his field.
Josh and Julie train at Windham Mountain Club on the Freestyle Competition team. Training begins in November and they are on the snow every weekend until April working with an amazing group of coaches and fellow athletes. Both Feldblums spend a lot of time in the terrain parks working on features such a pipes and rails, big jumps and aerial rotations.
Ski Cross is race at which competitors race head to head down a sloped course featuring jumps, banked curves and features a great speed. In Slopestyle, athletes ski down a course through a variety of rails, park features and several large jumps. Points are scored for amplitude, style and quality of tricks. A Rail Jam is competition where the athletes get to showcase their best tricks for the judges on a series of rails, boxes, tubes and more.
Julie and Josh are very excited to continue their training next winter and will be working in the off season on the Watching Hills softball and baseball fields in town.
Courtesy photo