How aspiring flyers can turn into full-time
freestyle athletes By Emily Cook Up, Up
and Coming
USSA FLY athlete Maddy Olsen takes advantage of camp air time.
Since my early days as an aerialist I have been asked one
question more than any other: “How on earth did you get into
this sport?” I generally laugh, give a stock answer explaining
my history in gymnastics and skiing, and that aerials was the
perfect combination of the two.
Honestly, though, it took a lot more effort than that. Today’s tal-
ent identification, together with recruitment and development
programs help guide a young athlete’s dreams of becoming
the next teen sensation such as alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin
or aerialist Ashley Caldwell, who both made their way to the
World Cup podium before their 18th birthdays. Recently the
team has added a number of resources to support coaches
and athletes of established club teams and to bring new ath-
letes into our sport.
Last season, USSA introduced Young Guns and Young Guns
2, bringing some of the best 12-to- 18 year old mogul skiers in
the nation together to learn from U.S. team staff and athletes
such as Olympians Mike Morse and Shannon Bahrke. At these
camps, athletes and their coaches receive resources such as
access to the Center of Excellence; physical testing; nutrition
counseling; and trampoline, water-ramp and on-snow coach-
ing in order to support their journey to the U.S. development
and national teams. The feedback has been overwhelmingly
positive, leaving the staff, current team athletes and youth in-
spired and motivated for the upcoming season.
The approach to becoming an aerialist is a bit different from
when I started, emphasizing recruitment and acrobatic ability,
with the theory that learning to ski can be easier than learning
to flip and twist. Many of our young athletes learn to maneu-
ver skis on snow after months of water ramping and years of
acrobatics in sports such as gymnastics or trampoline. This
can make a day on the aerial hill an interesting prospect for
new recruits as both the in-run and landing hill resemble the
steepest sections of your local mountain. But the success rate
