Alpine snowboarder and Olympic-hopeful Walker Overstake, 19, looked up to Cody Winters as he was rising through the ranks at the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club.

Now, Overstake is looking to inspire the next generation and breath new life into his sport.

During the offseason, Overstake volunteered at Strawberry Park Elementary School. He had the opportunity to help push the students to not only follow their dreams, but also to inform them about his discipline.

“Being a role model for the kids, the same way Cody was for me, was an incredible experience,” explained Overstake. “Hopefully, I was able to inspire a few of them to take up alpine snowboarding.”

Alpine snowboarding has been on the decline in recent years. Following the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics the United States Ski and Snowboard Association shutdown its alpine snowboarding program, precipitating the decline. The sport consists of the disciplines of parallel slalom and parallel giant slalom.

Giving back

Overstake began volunteering at Strawberry Park to fulfill volunteer hours, but soon grew attached and saw himself in them.

“I just fell in love with the kids, and they were really curious to hear my story,” said Overstake. “It reminded me of when I was their age and looked up to the alpine guys.”

He started at the SSWSC at age two, competing in all disciplines. But, alpine always stood out.

“I just love racing,” he said. “It gets my blood pumping like nothing else.”

“There’s no other feeling like being able to carve a board. It takes a lot of practice to have great control and board feel. It’s an art,” added Overstake, who said he hopes that many of the kids who asked about alpine take it up themselves.

“Who knows, maybe the next big alpine snowboarder was among them,” said Overstake. “I certainly don’t want our sport to fade and hopefully in the future they can help me prop it back up.”

Olympic dreams

Overstake debuted internationally in January 2022 at that season’s Nor-Am Cup in snowboard cross.

The following month he watched Winters make his Olympic debut, which served to only fuel his desire for more.

“Cody is a mentor to me, so that was really cool to see,” said Overstake. “Nearly, four years later, I not only get to follow in his footsteps, but blaze my own path.”

The two are friends and teammates and Overstake even works with Winters at his window washing business.

“Walker’s racing has really improved in the last year on the World Cup stage,” said Winters. “Hopefully, we’ll be competing together come February.”

But Overstake’s path to the Olympics will not be an easy one.

“There is generally only one alpine spot on the team,” explained Overstake. “I just have to perform well, work hard and hopefully, come February, I’ll be in Milan.”

Next stops

In preparation for the World Cup season, the school held a send-off for Overstake where he reminded the students to never stop following their dreams. His next competition will be in December in Mylin Valley, China

“I’m still that kid with Olympic dreams,” said Overstake. “Now, we’re just a few months from them coming true.”

This story is from SteamboatPilot.com.