SNOW- Fia Report: Snowbasin Races

Hello everyone! Hope all of you have had some great skiing lately just like I have! Last weekend I had a G.S. race at Snowbasin and I did pretty well in it! On the first day of the race, I won by more than two seconds!

The second day, I was having a great first run until I came onto the pitch and I didn't have my pressure on the downhill foot and my ski rattled off, but on the second run I had the crash of my life! It was pretty insane, my outside ski came off which sent me flying into the gate(which I took out), then my ski flew super high, and I rolled out of it pretty hard!

That's what happens in ski racing and it's life, although I learned a lot out of this race. I'm really looking forward to the next race at Park City and I'm hoping to do really well in it! Arc IT!

.)) Sofia Yubero

Snow-FIA Report: First Race

Hello everyone and Happy Late New Year! It's very exciting to know that this weekend is going to be my first race and it's slalom! The last couple of weeks my coaches have been hammering me and my teammates on slalom by having us skip some of our classes on Wednesday, leaving half day on Thursday, and also on Friday. Even though it's so much fun, it's also hard because of all the homework.

After all this slalom training, finally today we got on our Super-G skis and ripped some turns at Park City. One of my coaches Keely Kelleher who was a Super-G ace helped us with our gliding turns, tucks, and teaching us the patience we must have in order to make the perfect turn. Also, my other coach was using a speed gun and clocking our miles per hour, which was a lot of fun because we were hitting a least 50 mph. The next half of the day we went to the Olympic Park and trained some slalom on this little hill. We got really great training in, with a ton of laps, and I skied really great and some break throughs.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the week of training and this weekend for the first slalom and kombi race at Snowbird. PRAY FOR SNOW!!!!!!

.)) Sofia Yubero

SNOW-Fia Report: Loveland, Florida, Aspen, and now Christmas Camp

Hello everyone,

These lasts couple of months have been really busy with karate, skiing, and trips. Starting with karate, I've been really busy with that lately because I have a really big tournament called Super Grands, coming up soon over the week of Christmas. I get to fly to Sacramento, California on Christmas Day and meet up with my team the next day, which is the first day of competition and I compete Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  At this tournament, if you are one of the top two after day eliminations, that night you get to compete on stage to win an NBL (National Blackbelt League) Belt or first place for that division. I'm really excited and looking forward to that. Now on Loveland, at the beginning of November I took a trip with my ski team to Loveland, Colorado for our fall camp. The coach to athlete ratio was low and we got good training in. Everyday consisted of skiing, study time, and dryland, except one day, our coach picked mentors for us who are PG(Post Graduates) on our academy team. During this time I got to meet my mentor Lauren Samuels (former U.S. Ski Team member), and learn how she manages her time, her pre-race plans, why she stayed with ski racing, and a whole bunch of other stuff. I was really excited about this because we are exchanging emails every Monday of the week and we have two assigned ski days with our mentors (one free skiing and one gate training).

After we got back from Loveland, my friend and I were counting down the days till we got to go to Florida! My mom had booked a red eye flight on Delta, which was horrible by the way and we did not get much sleep but once we got there we went to Epcot at Walt Disney World!!! The next couple of days were such a blast, we went to Harry Potter World at Universal Studios (which looks just like the movie) and of course the Magic Kingdom at Disney World.

Next after Disney World for Thanksgiving I took a trip with my family to Aspen, Colorado. When we got there on Thanksgiving Day and I had Thanksgiving Dinner at Jimmy's a very nice restaurant. The next day I woke up to watching the World Cup racers training right in front of my hotel room and then went skiing at Aspen Mountain with one of my friends and her dad. We went on a adventure to Snowmass which was great and then came back for more skiing at Aspen. That night there was an autograph signing where I saw my friend Hailey Duke and talked to Mikeala Shiffrin. Of course the next day was the World Cup G.S. race and I saw Julia Mancuso rip it up on the hill getting 3rd place. The next day I watched the slalom race and then sadly had to leave and return home.

Well, I'm really looking forward to the race season coming up after Christmas Camp which starts now and runs untill we go back to school next year. I got my new SRD gear and POC stuff and am very excited about that, but we need more snow out here in Utah!

.)) Sofia Yubero

Snow-FIA Report: Welcome to the Team

Hello everyone!!! This is my first year with SRD and I am very honored to have been chosen to be a member of the SRD Team!

This summer was very exciting!!!!! I got to go to Florida to see my cousin graduate, and spend a lot of time with my family and friends. Now here is when my summer really started: After I got back from Florida I had to get all my stuff ready for ski camp in Mammoth with Rowmark Ski Academy. We skied some slalom for 3 days and then we had a break and went to the local Hot Springs for our day off and then finished off the camp with another 3 days of G.S. It was a lot of fun and I learned tons.

One highlight of this camp was getting to see former SRD racer Mikaela Shiffrin, train G.S. with her U.S. Ski Team coach. I was hoping to try some skis but unfortunately none of the companies there had any of my sizes. After this camp, I had a break for about a week and with my parents we went back to Long Beach, California where I was born. While there I got to see my cousins and some of my old friends. Then it was back to Mammoth for another ski camp with Park City.

One of my coaches was Ben Sinclair, who is a really great coach and he taught me a ton of things. I wanted to test some new skis at that camp and got lucky as Atomic and Head had my size for G.S. skis. They were pretty good. It was a 5 day of G.S. camp and I got to meet some new kids from other ski teams. While there the USSA NDS "Flight School" camp was taking place. It was exciting to watch the J2 and J3 athletes including our SRD teammate Breezy Johnson training Super G. I also got to see Ted Ligety and the U.S. Tech Team training slalom.

After this G.S. camp I had a break for a couple weeks to hang out with some friends and play with my yellow labs named Bode and Maggie before I had to get ready for Keely's Ski Camp for Girls!!! This was a great experience.....I got to travel on a plane with 5 of my good friends and that was so much fun! When we landed in Portland, Oregon Keely Kelleher, Jess Kelly, and Katie Hitchcock all former U.S. Ski Team members picked us up. We arrived at Mt. Hood Academy in Government Camp where I got to meet my room mates from Montana. Keely's mom was a really great cook.

The first day of skiing happened to be my birthday!!!!! That first day we skied slalom and my coach was another X-USST member, Libby Ludlow who was really great!!! That night we went to a pizza place in Govy and Keely's mom made me a birthday cake! The next couple days we ripped up some slalom turns and then we got a break day. We went to Hood River to learn how to do stand up paddle boarding, which a was a lot of fun. Then we finished the camp off with another 3 days of G.S. While there I got to try some Nordica skis, thanks to Nordica's Ethan Korpi. They were really great and those are the skis I am skiing on this year.

After the last day of skiing I had to say goodbye to all of my friends and coaches and then we flew back to Utah. I also compete in Martial Arts and not even a day passed before I had to get back in the gym and get ready for a karate tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In Vegas we met up with our karate friends from El Paso, Texas. I had a lot of fun with all my teammates from Pinnacle Martial Arts and also got to meet new people from all over the U.S. at this tournament. Once I got back I had to get ready for my Black Belt test at the end of August. As part of the Black Belt test the other candidates and I had to do a series of 200 push ups, sit ups, and jumping jacks, run 2 miles, and sit in a "horse stance" for 15 minutes. I was the first to finish this endurance test. We went back to the studio and had to perform all the basic karate kicks and punches. On one of my floor kicks I landed wrong and later found out that I broke my finger. We also had to do all these fundamental "katas" or forms, self defense moves, grappling holds/releases, and break bricks & boards and slice vegetables with our Katana swords. My best friend from California, Gigi and my Grandpa flew into town to cheer me on which was great!

The Black Belt test lasted like eight hours and after surviving that the next three days were really a whirlwind & crazy. I had to go to my new school for orientation, attend the official Black Belt ceremony to be awarded my Black Belt, get x-rays of my hand, get a splint made by an Occupational Hand Therapist and to top things off I had to get my braces.

The day after that I started my first day of school at Rowland Hall in Salt Lake City, where I will be skiing for Rowmark Ski Academy. Now, I am back in the gym getting in shape for this ski season. I am really excited for this upcoming ski season and especially trilled to be representing SRD. I can't wait for this November when we go to Copper Mountain for our Fall camp with Rowmark. I am super stoked and looking so forward to ripping up some turns after the snow falls and I really hope to meet all my new SRD teammates!

.)) Sofia Yubero