By Harley Nefe
The world’s largest snowboarding and freeskiing competition just wrapped up this week at Copper Mountain in Colorado, and some High Country residents were named National Champions.
The United States of America Snowboard and Freeski Association (USASA) 2022 National Championship took place from April 2-13 with around 2,000 athletes competing from across 31 regional divisions nationwide, including the Southeastern Series from North Carolina.
Six years have passed since the local USASA Southeastern Series returned to the High Country thanks to two local business owners and passionate snowboarders, Andy McDaniel and Donnie Hefner.
“Me and Donnie started it in 2016, and my wife, Stephanie McDaniel, has become extremely involved with it,” Series Director Andy McDaniel explained. “USASA started in 1988, and we’ve been growing ever since. There are 31 series across the country, and we are the Southeastern Series, and kids compete in their age groups regionally, and then they qualify to go compete at the National Championship, and that’s how we ended up in Colorado – taking our kids who qualified for Nationals.”
25 athletes from the Southeastern Series qualified to go attend the National Championship, which was split into two weeks between snowboarding and freeskiing. The Snowboarding Nationals was from April 2 through April 7, and the Freeski Nationals took place April 8 through April 13.
When it comes to the snowboarding division, the Southeastern Series produced two National Champions.
“One was Blake Broussard, and the other was yours truly,” Andy said. This was Andy McDaniel’s second National Championship, and Blake Broussard’s first.
“Blake has qualified the last four years, and we went out in 2017, then he got injured in 2018 for the next time, and then Covid canceled the last couple of years, so this year was Blake finally getting there,” explained Cindy Broussard, Blake’s mother.
For the Snowboarding Nationals, Blake participated in the Boardercross event, where he won all of his heats and then came in gold for the final. “He won first place in all of the events, which was cool!,” Cindy Broussard said.
“Blake was the fastest guy out there that day and deserved to win,” Andy McDaniel recounted. “The course was extremely tight and technical and fast, and there weren’t a whole lot of places to pass. So, that just proves that he is a standout, and I’m looking forward to seeing what he does when he goes to college.”
Blake Broussard is a senior graduating from Avery High School, and he will attend Lees McRae College in the fall, where he was offered a snowboard and academic scholarship.
Blake comes from a skiing/snowboarding family, following in the footsteps of his older brother, Alex Broussard, and his parents, Les and Cindy Broussard.
“Basically, they’ve been doing it all their lives at either Sugar Mountain, Beech Mountain, or Appalachian Ski Mtn., and it’s been more of a fun thing than a competition, but that’s the environment,” Cindy Broussard said. “It’s more of a supportive environment. They all help each other and encourage each other. It’s a pretty tight group of snowboarders out there, and they’ve done it all their lives. They started with skiing and quickly switched over to snowboarding.”
Alex Broussard is currently a senior at Lees McRae College, and he was also a National Champion.
“Blake’s brother, Alex, kicked butt too and won a National Championship in Giant Slalom,” Andy McDaniel said. “So, they are good kids – a great family. The Broussard’s have been involved with us since we started, so I’ve watched Alex and Blake grow up, and the young men – I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
At Lees McRae College, Blake Broussard will be on the Ski & Snowboard Team under Head Coach Aaron Maas.
Maas is trying to make it so that college athletes can still qualify for USASA.
“I’m hoping Blake will keep competing with us when there’s not a scheduling conflict,” Andy McDaniel said. Cindy Broussard added that “USASA is a great recruiting tool for kids who want to ski in college.”
“Coach Aaron Maas is a real close friend, and he was out there with us all week,” Andy McDaniel said. “When I made it to the finals of my heat, he was right there and fist bumped me and told me the same thing I told Blake. We have this expression where we say, ‘Go ham on them.’ When you get to finals, that’s when you go ham.”
Andy said that’s certainly what Blake did out there on the slopes.
“What I get from Blake is that he’s an all around athlete, so he gets in the gym, and he takes things really seriously,” Andy McDaniel described. “The reason he won is because he was prepared. He’s a diamond in the rough. You can’t just show up out there; it’s not luck at all. And Blake – I wouldn’t even call him a boardercrosser yet. He’s just got to do more heats, but once he becomes an actual racer, if he wanted to and his parents would let him, he could certainly go for the Olympic Team. He’s that kind of athlete. He’s got the build. I raced professionally back in the late 90s and early 2000s, and I’ve probably done over 500 heats, so I have a lot of experience, but Blake has the kahunas you know. The more experience he gets, the harder he’s going to be to beat and for him, it’s just about staying healthy and keeping on keeping on. He’s a ripper.”
Blake said the entire experience was great, especially being able to represent the East Coast, which tends to not get as much credit for skiing/snowboarding as the rest of the country.
“It’s amazing to come from over here from these mountains and have 3-4 runs to go out there and be able to compete with these guys that live on these mountains that are miles and miles wide,” Blake Broussard said.
This opportunity is just one example of East Coast snowboarders gaining respect and making a name for themselves.
“We have a lot of momentum going,” Andy McDaniel said. “People know when they see us with our North Carolina flag. How can I answer so many questions about, ‘Are there mountains in North Carolina?’ People know it now!”
There’s a saying that if you can ski in North Carolina, you can ski anywhere.
“It was really exciting, and it was something that I’ve been wanting to do for a while,” Blake Broussard said. “It’s definitely nice to be able to prove that I earned my spot.”
When Blake was up on the podium, he gave a big shout out to Banner Elk and Ski Country Sports, which helped sponsor his snowboarding career.
“That was very kind of Blake for sure,” said Bill Leonard, owner of Ski Country Sports.
As a local business owner, Bill Leonard said he is proud to see some local residents make it to Nationals and walk away with gold.
“Anytime these kids work hard and they stay loyal to the sport and they have a great time out there – It’s pretty cool to be able to travel outside our local area and get some recognition, and that’s pretty amazing how local kids can step up and win gold in these competitions when they’re dealing with people from all over the country,” Bill Leonard said. “It’s pretty unique. It’s happened a few times in the past, but it doesn’t happen often.”
Occurrences like these are made possible through the support of the community and a lot of people involved. Bill Leonard said Ski Country Sports is proud to do what they could to help.
However, it’s not just community support; efforts extend ever farther.
“Nick Baumgartner, who won gold in snowboard cross at the Olympics, was at the USASA National Championship all week at the top of the course helping kids up, and he’s a personal friend of mine, and he would do anything for these kids,” Andy McDaniel said. “Having the support of former Olympians is really cool.”
Every single member of the U.S. Olympic Snowboard Team came through USASA.
“What we do is we start them on the path, and when they outgrow us and are ready, they go and do tours, X Games, and the Olympics,” Andy McDaniel explained. “Just because you’re from North Carolina, doesn’t mean you can’t do it.”
The Southeastern Series of USASA focuses on North Carolina athletes; therefore, they do their events at all three of the local mountains here, including Appalachian Ski Mtn., Sugar Mountain, and Beech Mountain.
For people interested in getting involved with USASA, Andy McDaniel mentioned the Beech Mountain Academy, the Snowboard Club at Appalachian Ski Mtn., and the Sugar Mountain Ski Team as first steps.
“They have kids that they start getting them ready for competition, and we try to intersect with these local programs,” Andy McDaniel said. “There are so many events for these kids to choose from, it’s hard for them to narrow it down, but the kids that get it and know what we do, there’s nothing better than going to Nationals. It’s an eye opening experience, and it changes the trajectory of the kid, whether they get first place or last place, they are never going to be the same. They are going to always have that experience. It’s great, and it’s really just word of mouth. These families come back from Nationals, and they go and say, ‘Oh, you got to go and do it next year!’ It repeats itself.”
Cindy and Blake Broussard agree that a lot of the credit goes to Andy and Stephanie McDaniel as well as Donnie Hefner.
“It wouldn’t be possible without them, and being able to go to all of these events is all thanks to them,” Blake said.
Cindy added, “They deserve a lot of credit. They have done a lot of work to make this happen because USASA was here, and then it was gone, and it takes a lot of work to get associations up and running, so I know they’ve been working hard to keep it going. And this has probably been one of the best years, because of Covid last year we didn’t have it, so as far as attendance goes and people qualifying we had a really big number from the Southeast that qualified to go.”
Andy said he helped steer the ship throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We just about caved as an organization because National Championships is kind of our main income for the organization, and two years of not having it was extremely tough,” Andy McDaniel said. “But, we floated through, and looking forward, we have a lot going on!”
For example, this is Donnie Hefner’s last year with the organization as he works toward retirement.
“USASA has been through a lot of peaks and valleys, and when we got involved in it, I had been trying to get a series started, and I just could never get anybody to call me back, but we finally did it,” Andy McDaniel reflected. “I don’t really know anybody up here that would have done it with me. Donnie’s role is fundraising, so he would go and get local businesses to write us checks. I can’t say enough about how much Donnie helped us in the early days to get it going, but now he’s ready to move on to greener pastures and live on a sailboat.”
Donnie Hefner will be shifting off the snow and going toward the water.
“Me on the other hand? I’m not done at all,” Andy McDaniel said.
Andy described the job as doing something he loves and getting paid for it.
“Stephanie and I have a goal to create our own nonprofit, and eventually we want to be able to offer significant scholarships for kids who can’t afford to compete,” he said. “We’re heading in that direction.”
Overall, hats are off to Andy McDaniel as well as Donnie Hefner for sticking with the organization and producing champions over the years.
“A huge thank you to everyone and everything that has helped me get here,” Blake Broussard said.
As for Blake’s future, Andy McDaniel said, “The next step for him will be to compete in open class, which is professional, and with a little tuning and some serious training and equipment enhancements, he could try to make the World Cup if he wanted to. It’s just up to him really on how far he wants to take it because he got the talent without a doubt.”
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