In the fall, Westport’s Julia Marino travels every day to St. Joseph High School in Trumbull. She’s on the soccer team; this year, as a junior, she helped the Cadets to a 22-0-1 record, and the state championship.
In mid-November, she heads to Colorado with her father, John. She is a (very) competitive snowboarder for the Ski & Snowboard Club of Vail. She has top-quality coaches, and 2 tutors: one for English and French, the other for math and chemistry.
In the spring she returns to Connecticut, and takes online classes. It would be tough to catch up at St. Joe’s, she says.
That demanding schedule pays off. On Saturday in Switzerland, Julia placed 4th in the prestigious Burton European Open. It was Julia’s 1st 6-star event — the highest ranking possible.
Julia loves the creativity and independence of snowboarding, and hopes to earn an Olympic spot. She started competing later than many others for next month’s games, so she did not have enough points to qualify.
So as every snowboarder in the world is thinking about Sochi, Julia is looking ahead. The 2018 Games are in Pyeonchang, South Korea (who knew?).
It’s a long way from Westport, Vail and Switzerland. But it’s where Julia wants to be.
