Skiers, snowboarders ramping up to hit the slopes flying in the spring semester

With cooler temperatures in the air, it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, and that means the season is just around the corner for Liberty University's ski and snowboard team, which is under the direction of a new head coach this year, former Flames snowboarder Tyler Sherbine.

"Kicking off our season this fall, we're repping out some practices, the team's looking solid, the weather's finally cooling down, so our tempo is ramping up now," Sherbine said.

With a majority of this season's roster returnees from last year, the continuity of the team is one of its strengths as it looks to build on a solid foundation left behind by former Head Coach Isaac Gibson.

"We've got some new faces, a lot of old faces, too, and it's been great to … get camaraderie going," junior Tate Gardener said. "The fall's always a nice, slow ease-in to the season and it's been really good to be up here practicing with everybody, seeing how everybody's progressed, learning tricks already, and the progression so far has been crazy. Isaac (Gibson) has still been around, (but) seeing Tyler inherit that role has been pretty awesome. He's been really good as the coach, giving everybody pointers and structuring it, making it really facilitative for progress."

Sherbine said he is trying to pattern his coaching style after Gibson's, as he grew tremendously under him as a competitor.

"I got the opportunity to be coached by Isaac Gibson, who set a great example for me," Sherbine said. "Isaac kind of paved the way of what a coach should look like. I loved his demeanor and I would love to continue the tradition and the culture that he set in place."

He has encouraged team bonding away from the Liberty Mountain Snowflex Centre that has helped strengthen the riders and skiers on the slopes.

"Competition provides a good tempo that all of the riders can feed off of," Sherbine said. "Our dynamic of the team has really grown. This semester alone, we are doing a lot of events outside of skiing and snowboarding, just trying to build those relationships."

"This season, we've upped it to three practices every week, so we've got a lot more time on boards and skis," Gardener added. "That's just naturally made us spend more time together so that's helped us improve also, skill-wise."

Senior snowboarder Jesse Mast said the structure of practices this fall has helped team members elevate their games and prepare for the USCSA regular season, which starts in mid-January.

"This season, we've definitely been starting to take an emphasis on jumps," Mast said. "That was kind of one of our downfalls last year at the (USCSA) national event (in California). A lot of us weren't ready for the size of the jumps or the tricks that a lot of the other competitors were bringing out. This year, we're definitely dialing in, trying to bring that back up to the level where we want it to be."

He said the team is veteran-based and will have an experience advantage when it returns to nationals.

"We didn't really have to bring in a whole lot of new people," Mast said. "It's been really cool building this year, just seeing the guys and the girls I know here improve their skills and build on what they already knew to bring it to the next level next year."

Video by Kylee Lilge and Isaac Gibson, edited by Micah Adams/Club Sports Video & Media Assistant

Skiers, snowboarders ramping up to hit the slopes flying in the spring semester

Players Mentioned

Tate Gardener

Jesse Mast

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