Senior Carson Arco has been practicing and working hard on his snowboard skills at Afton Alps during the winter season, and skateboarding in the summertime. Arco has learned many new tricks and has created videos that he posts on social media.

When Arco was 11, he and a couple of cousins took lessons at Afton Alps Resort. Arco rode about once a week until he turned 13, then he started going frequently and getting better. Arco got started working at Afton Alps his sophomore year of high school and started riding about three to four times a week.

Now, Arco rides every day and said, “I love pushing myself to learn new tricks and spending time with my friends.”

Over the years, Arco has enjoyed pushing himself to learn new tricks on the slopes with his friends. His favorite tricks on the slopes that he can do are a 360 on to a rail, he can front flip and he can do a 360 out of a rail, but he couldn’t always do those tricks. When Arco was 11, the first trick he learned was jumping on and off the box.

¨I just find snowboarding really fun, and I enjoy the feeling of finally hitting the trick that I have been practicing over and over again. It’s a great feeling,” Arco said.

During the summertime, Arco spends his time grinding at the skate park rather than on the slopes. He thought skateboarding would make him better at snowboarding, and be fun at the same time. The first time he started skating, he was 13 in his garage practicing how to stay balanced on the skateboard. When he finally got comfortable,  Arco took his rookie talents to the streets.

¨I used to play Skate 3 on the Xbox with my friends.  I thought the tricks on the game were really cool and I wanted to learn how to do them in real life,¨ Arco explained.

After Arco was comfortable with riding in the streets, he decided to take it to the next level and visit a skate park. Arco visited Ojibway Park in Woodbury and wanted to learn how to do an ollie; an ollie is a skateboarding trick where the rider and the board leap into the air without the use of the rider’s hands. He tried for multiple days, and still could not hit the trick, but he was determined to succeed no matter how much time it would take him. After 2 weeks of attempting to hit his first ollie, he finally hit the trick.

“I felt like an absolute boss. It took me so long to hit the trick, but I knew I could do it,” Arco explained.

Five years later, Arco has had a lot of time to practice new tricks. Since then he has gotten better and can do a lot of tricks. His favorite tricks that he can do on a skateboard is a fakie tre flip and a half cab flip. A fakie tre flip is when he snaps a fakie ollie from switch stance, and the board does a 360 shove-it and kickflip.

“It took me three years to finally accomplish this trick. At one point it felt like it was impossible, but I kept trying again and again. Then what seemed impossible, I finally accomplished,” Arco said.

Lately, Arco has been broadcasting his snowboarding and skateboarding tricks on social media. He posts these videos to show his progress and to entertain his audience. One of his posts is even laid out to be a whole edited film.  Arco saves his videos from his Instagram stories and keeps them displayed on his account so anyone can watch them at any point. Arco can now look back at his old documented videos to see how far he has come.

“One time, Carson and I made an edit at one of our skate sessions, it turned out really good and was very fun to make,” junior Logan Tierney said.

 Arco started a sport when he was young that he now loves and continues to push himself to get better every day.

“I love snowboarding and skateboarding. It has taught me that if you just keep working hard at something, that the hard work will pay off,” Arco said.