For some, snowboarding is a hobby to keep busy on cold, winter weekends.  For others, like sophomore, Jonathon Petrou, snowboarding is everything.

            “Snowboarding means a lot to me.  It’s a huge part of my life,” Petrou said.  “Without it I wouldn’t have a way to push my life to the fullest and take risks.”

            Petrou has been snowboarding “ever since I can remember,” and hits the slopes at Wilmot nearly every weekend during the season.  He spends most of his time at the terrain park training for competitions.

            “It depends on what I’m in the mood for,” Petrou said.  “Sometimes I really like to do jumps and sometimes I really like to do rails.”

            Petrou always pushes the limit to perfect old tricks and learn new ones.  He says his favorite trick is a front flip, but he is currently working on his back flip and incorporating spins into his flips.

            “The first time you do a trick is basically trying to figure out how to do it.  The next time is like, ‘okay I’m starting to get the idea of how to do it,”’ Petrou said.  “And then after that, for a long time, it’s basically just trial and error until you finally get it right, and then when you get it right, that’s kind of when you start to perfect it.”

            The challenge keeps Petrou in the terrain park, but he says it takes a great amount of dedication.  Petrou also says the hardest aspect is staying committed to each and every move.  Letting fear take over can ruin a trick and result in injury.  

            “The last thing you want to do is get scared in the middle of doing something and fall,” Petrou said.

            Letting fear take over creates a great chance of falling and injuring oneself.  The two times he let his fear get the best of him, Petrou wound up with a concussion and a variety of smaller injuries.

            Whatever the dangers may be though, competitive snowboarders like Petrou continue to push themselves for the love of the sport.

            “[Snowboarding is about] living your life to the fullest, pushing yourself to the limit,” says Petrou, “and if you don’t give 110 percent, something’s gonna go wrong.”

While the constant trial and error and chance of danger may sound daunting to some, to Petrou this is what makes snowboarding worthwhile. 

            “That’s one thing I really like about [snowboarding], the challenge,” Petrou said.  “There’s always something new around the corner.  You never know what to expect when you’re out there.”