Graham Watanabe named to U.S. snowboardcross team

Graham Watanabe named to U.S. snowboardcross team{mosimage}Snowboardcross is not snowboarding’s most delicate discipline. It separates the men from the boys, the fierce from the scared, and sometimes the teeth from your mouth. Graham Watanabe (Hailey, ID) battled back from a destroyed knee and a crushed pelvis the snowboard life had handed him over the last few seasons to win the first World Cup SBX of the 04-05 season. Watanabe’s win in Valle Nevado, Chile, on Sept. 17, 2004, earned him a spot on the new U.S. Snowboarding SBX A Team.

Watanabe, 22, formerly a U.S. Snowboarding developmental-level racer who preferred the technical events like slalom and giant slalom, decided to concentrate on SBX while recovering from a fractured pelvis complements of, well…SBX. U.S. Snowboarding Head Coach Peter Foley fielded the call from Watanabe early this summer.

‘We focused on SBX at camp this summer and Graham continued to train in Chile’ said Foley. ‘At the Valle Nevado event he had a great race, got the hole shot and won.’

Says Watanabe, of being named to the SBX A Team, ‘I gotta say it’s a highlight of my career, and definitely increases the ease of operations. I want to thank all my friends and family who have supported me through everything, and everyone at Scott USA, Wize Designs and USSA who have helped along the way.’

Watanabe started snowboarding recreationally at age 11, but quickly clicked with the sport and became one of the first members of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation snowboard team. Watanabe’s links to U.S. Snowboarding began early. One of Watanabe’s coaches at Sun Valley was Steve Persons, who was recently named alpine assistant coach for U.S. Snowboarding, and he also worked with Nick Smith, former U.S. Snowboarding alpine head coach.