Sims pro rider, Erich Dummer, (left), instructs a student from SOS Outreach at Breckenridge. This week, 38 students will receive instruction from Dummer and two other Sims pros.
While some riders gassed up their sleds for some big mountain riding, Erich Dummer, Seth Hill, and Bryan Daino hit the bunny slopes at Keystone Resort. The trio of pro riders taught an enthusiastic group of preteens the basics of snowboarding at SOS Outreach’s Learn to Ride Program (LTR) this week.
Here’s the skinny:
More than three dozen SOS Outreach students will spend a day at Keystone Mountain under the tutelage of some of the best snowboarders around.
The students, from Greenwood Elementary School in Denver, will receive tips from Sims and Collective Licensing professionals Erich Dummer, Seth Hill and Bryan Daino. The companies have organized such efforts with SOS Outreach for the past few years, and both Dummer and Daino have volunteered in the past.
“I think it’s a great organization because they help underprivileged kids all over the state and bring them to the mountains that I’ve loved for years,” Daino said, adding that he’s volunteered several times, after learning about the nonprofit during a series of competitions held around the state when he was in middle school. “I really enjoy spending time with the kids because every single kid has a smile on their face and is loving life at that moment, and that’s what snowboarding’s all about.”
SOS Outreach program manager Brian Phipps said the students were excited to shred alongside professionals.
“You can just tell how excited they are because they fully listen to every word they have to say and look up to them even though they just met,” he said. “The kids are already thrilled to come up to the mountains and learn how to snowboard for the first time, but when they find out who their instructors will be, you can see in their body language how excited there are to be there.”
Seth Hill said he was excited to join SOS Outreach for the first time.
“I think it will be one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had thus far and I’m really looking forward to it,” he said. “I fully anticipate this being a life-changing experience, and hope the kids will take as much from it as I know I will.”
Erich Dummer, who has volunteered for SOS Outreach in the past, in addition to coaching at other snowboard camps, echoed Hill’s sentiment and said he enjoys giving back.
“Snowboarding is an individual sport, but with this, we’re using it as a group for a greater cause,” he said, adding that he had three goals for participants. “We try to make sure everyone has a good time, that they enjoy the experience of trying something they may not normally do, and, hopefully for some of them, it will give them a new direction in life.”
For more information on SOS Outreach, visit http://www.sosoutreach.org