Getting ‘Made’: Breckenridge snowboarder helps 15-year-old learn to ride

BRECKENRIDGE — After pro snowboarder and certified snowboard instructor Jesse Csincsak taught the MTV “MADE” casting director to ride, he was in.

Csincsak was recommended by folks at the Breckenridge Ski Resort to be the coach for 15-year-old Colorado Springs resident Tara Weldon, who would be filmed on her snowboard journey from “clumsy to kick-ass” on the program that helps kids to realize goals with the help of a personal trainer in the field they are working.

He said he was at first turned down because they hoped to find a female instructor that might be less distracting to the girl. But two months after the original casting was held, Csincsak was asked to give the casting director a lesson on the hill. He then did an on-camera interview, and was phoned the next day with the good news.

Csincsak, who is a Breckenridge snowboard instructor and rides for Shady LTD, Zero Gloves, Screamer Hats and Unity Snowboards among others, had six weekends (16 days on the snow) to teach Weldon her goal of riding out a 50/50 on a flat rail, a board slide on a box and a front side 180 over a jump.

“As funny and silly as the show might seem, it was a lot of hard work,” Csincsak said.
Weldon had only been snowboarding once before, and broke her wrist in the process. Her motivation, according to Csincsak, was to prove to her basketball-loving family, that she was athletic too, just in another sport.

During training, Csincsak woke Weldon up at the crack of dawn each day to get on the slopes via snowmobile before the lifts opened. As soon as she was linking her turns, they headed into the Breckenridge’s park.

Csincsak brought in snowboarding friends JJ Thomas and X Games gold medalist Steve Fisher for some coaching help.

“I’ve coached a lot of kids, but never had a ton of experience on bringing a 15-year-old girl to contest level,” Csincsak said. “I had to get in her head and think of other ways to get her to do what I wanted.”

Csincsak accomplished this by making her wear pajamas to school that read “Drama Queen,” along with other embarrassing motivators like randomly showing up in her Spanish class and phone calls to her boyfriend.

At one point, he said he had to verbally scare her — “If you don’t do this right you could end up in a wheelchair,” he told Weldon.

His techniques must have worked, since he said she was able to pull off all the tricks they were working on. He doesn’t know, however, how it will be depicted in the show.
“She threw the 180 almost perfectly the first time she did it, but I’m not sure if that’s how they’ll edit it.”

During her training, Weldon also got a lesson on the snowboarder lifestyle and lingo.
“Tara is a super rad 15-year-old girl,” Csincsak said. “She made it really easy. She’s a rad kid to hang out with for seven weeks.”

He said the two have already been out riding together since the filming ended.

As for Csincsak’s motivation, he said he made a year’s salary in the time of the shooting, along with some much appreciated exposure. Csincsak is looking to change his focus from snowboarding to television in order to take it a little easier on his body.

The locally shot episode of “MADE” will premiere at 9 a.m. today on MTV. Csincsak is hosting a party at Salt Creek in Breckenridge on Wednesday beginning at 7 p.m., featuring the show on a loop, giveaways and three free kegs.

Leslie Brefeld can be reached at (970) 668-4626 or lbrefeld@summitdaily.com.

Locally shot “MADE” premiere

When: Today at 9 a.m. MST
Where: MTV
What: “Bubbly blonde Tara Weldon wants to show her skeptical family and school that she’s more than a ditzy girly girl by being MADE into a hardcore snowboarder. With help from pro Jesse Csincsak, she’ll have six weeks to go from clumsy to kick-ass. Watch as Tara tries to ride the box, drop in on a superpipe, and learns to shred — or be shredded — on her way to competing in a real snowboarding competition.”