Local kids fly high on PA Freestyle ski team
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Sofia Forlini performs a trick as a member of the PA Freestyle team.
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Sofia Forlini, 15, of Peters Township, is photographed overlooking Seven Springs.
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PA Freestyle team members Hudson Smith, 12, left, and his brother, Colton, 10, have been involved with the team for three years.
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PA Freestyle team member Hudson Smith of Mt. Lebanon races on his snowboard.
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Julian Molinero of Peters Township, left, is shown with his PA Freestyle teammate Sean Marshall.
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Julian Molinero of Peters Township performs an aerial trick.
Ask most kids who play sports what their least favorite part is and they might shrug their shoulders and groan about practice. But the young men and women on the Pennsylvania Freestyle Ski Association team think practice is the best part of the sport.
“Usually during the week, I look forward to coming up and practicing,” 13-year-old Julian Molinero said with a smile.
The Peters Township skier’s event is slopestyle and he recently won a bronze medal in his first competition.
Julian first became interested in the ski and snowboard competition team after hearing about it from his father, Joseph Molinero, who volunteers as a Ski Patrol member at Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Somerset County. The PA Freestyle team is not associated with Seven Springs officially but practices there every weekend from December through February.
“He loves it,” Joseph Molinero said. “What’s neat is that in most sports kids don’t like practice, but he loves the practice.”
“My dad was telling me about it and my friends started joining it,” added Julian, a seventh-grader. “I tried it out for a year then I saw it was really fun.”
In his slopestyle event, he maneuvers through the terrain park while doing tricks and jumps. His eyes light up when describes the course.
“There are jumps and rails and boxes and there’s also rail jam,” he said.
The practice schedule is tough, running twice daily every Saturday and Sunday during winter.
“They get to ski and play after that for a while so they can kind of work on what they learned in practice,” said Julie Smith of Mt. Lebanon, who is the mother of PA Freestyle team members Hudson, 12, and Colton, 10. The Smith family has been involved with the team for three years.
“It’s super fun,” said Hudson, a snowboarder who races in bordercross which pits him against other boarders down a course filled with banks and jumps.
Colton is a skier and enjoys “hanging out with everybody on the team.”
The boys get inspired when watching the Winter Olympics or the X Games. Julie admitted it’s tough juggling schedules and committing so much time. In the end, it’s all worth it.
“The coaches are truly amazing,” she said. “They’re all about the kids having fun while they’re learning and doing things, giving them good techniques. They’re really at a different level than anywhere I could have gotten them, that’s for sure.”
When they’re not training at Seven Springs, these weekend warriors race, throw tricks and compete at resorts around the Northeastern United States. Julian competed in three during an earlier weekend in February.
“They’re pretty fun because you just get to hang out with your friends all day and watch them do their competition,” he said.
He watches the Olympics and X Games, too, and wonders if a competitive career could be in his future.
“I hope to keep going and then try and get big,” Julian said. “If you want to ever make the X Games or the Olympics, it’s a lot of work.”
His dad agrees and is supportive of the time and financial commitment the sport requires. “With kids you have to start out young because they get used to coming up on the weekends and then when it comes time for them to choose sports, this plays a big role in that,” Joseph Molinero said.
Julian also plays lacrosse, but makes sure nothing interferes with his ski practices and competitions. As for juggling the busy schedule, the parents and children find a route.
“You make it work,” Joseph said. “You budget for it. I like to golf, but wintertime is my time. People I work with know that if I have to miss a Friday or Monday or leave work early, my co-workers are great. They understand the passion we have for skiing.”
But without a great coach, none of it would be possible. PA Freestyle Program Director Kim Hakobusic’s passion for skiing and snowboarding dates back to her days as an instructor. She loves teaching and coaching kids with so much potential.
“I like that we’re working with kids that have a drive to be there every week,” she said. “It allows me to coach very high level athletes and work with kids.”
And you don’t have to be an expert skier or boarder to join the team.
“You just have to be able to ski the mountain and be skilled enough to train on the features in the terrain park,” Harkobusic said.
Team members have to compete in at least one event and many compete in several. If athletes earn enough points through regional competitions, they get invited to the annual national finals in Colorado each March. Harkobusic said the group is a U.S. bronze certified team and the program is in the track to the Olympic team.
“So one day, if we have a shining star, they most likely would move from our program to a larger type of academy program that leads to the Olympic trials,” she said.
PA Freestyle team members range in age from 8 to 18. Sofia Forlini, 15, is a freshman at Peters Township High School and is on the mogul team. She’s able to juggle school, activities and the ski team.
“I get my homework done when I get home from school so that I’m more focused on skiing during the weekend,” she said.
She started skiing moguls and wanted to learn more.
“I really like it and I wanted to get better at them,” she said. “My dad went to school with one of my coaches, so they got in touch and I was able to get on the team.”
Parents of the team members are usually avid skiers themselves. Her mother, Lisa Forlini, said the whole family enjoys the activity.
“We got our children into it at a young age,” Lisa Forlini said. “She saw the kids on the team doing tricks and she was interested.”
While competing is fun, Sofia said her favorite part of PA Freestyle has nothing to do with winning. It’s about the social environment that it provides.
“Just seeing my ski friends over the weekend because winter is the only time I see them,” she said.