New London boy competing in national snowboarding competition
Apr. 3—Some aspects of snowboarding just come naturally for Miles Sattely.
In his second season of competitive snowboarding, the 9-year-old from New London again qualified for the United States of America Snowboard and Freeski Association (USASA) National Championships.
Sattely is competing in the overall competition in the boys "Grommet" age group (9-10-year-olds) this week at nationals, which began Sunday at Copper Mountain in Colorado.
The New London Elementary School fourth-grader again qualified in all five disciplines (slalom, giant slalom, slopestyle, halfpipe and boardercross) this winter as a member of the full-season competitive free ski and ride program for 8-17-year-olds at Ragged Mountain.
Sattely, who placed third overall in the "Ruggie" age group (7-8-year-olds) at nationals last year, placed 35th out of 60 in the slopestyle on Monday and 35th out of 46 in the halfpipe on Sunday.
"I'm looking forward to having fun and meeting new people," Sattely said of competing at nationals again.
Sattely and his dad, Josh, who joined the Ragged Mountain program as an assistant coach this year, are staying in Colorado with a family from Vermont they met on the racing circuit.
Sattely spent the offseason doing dry land training with Josh and learned how to land a 360-degree jump. Sattely said he could barely do a 180 at the end of last year.
Ragged Mountain coach Shane Mahoney said Sattely's physical conditioning and speed have improved. Plus, the youngster has a knack for mapping out and remembering courses, Mahoney said.
"He has kind of a photographic memory," said Mahoney, who traveled to Colorado to coach Sattely and nine other Ragged Mountain athletes who qualified for nationals. "He's able to go through a course and have it memorized and know key spots and places to look for. One course, he actually got home and drew the course out perfectly just from his memory.
"Having that skill is huge. Not everybody has it and sometimes it takes years and years and years to work."
Mahoney, a Windham resident who trained with the Team USA snowboarders before the 1998 Olympics, said boardercross, in which competitors race down a course, is Sattely's best discipline.
It's also his favorite.
"I like it because I get to race with other people and anything can happen," Sattely said. "If you're not doing too good, something can happen and then you can just get in the lead."
Josh said Sattely has also learned from experience that the opposite can happen in the event — one fall can cost you the lead and the race. Sattely can be hard on himself, Josh said, but has learned to move on to the next event and shake off what happened previously.
"I'm a goldfish," Sattely said. "Goldfishes don't have good memories."
"You don't dwell on the bad if you didn't have your best day but you do take away those learnings," Josh said.
The Ragged Mountain program has a GoFundMe page currently running to help cover the costs of sending its coaches out to Colorado for nationals.
Sattely's New London-based sponsors, decking/siding company Modern Mill and The Flying Goose restaurant, helped offset the family's costs for nationals.
Sattely is competing this week on his new yellow snowboard that he nicknamed "Stinger," looking to make the podium in the overall once again.
This year, Sattely has extra motivation to reach that goal: Any Ragged Mountain competitor who reaches the podium in a discipline is allowed to shave a horseshoe design into Mahoney's head. If they podium in the overall, they can shave whatever they'd like into his beard or hair.
"They just can't do anything to my eyebrows or eyelashes," Mahoney said.
