Venturer and snowboarder Katie Hancock has her eyes on 2018 Olympics

Katie-HancockIt’s time to get on the Katie Hancock bandwagon.

The Venturer from Lubbock, Texas, is transferring to the Vail Ski & Snowboard Academy in Colorado. There she’ll attend school while training and competing to be a world-class snowboarder.

Her preferred event is boardercross, a snowboard discipline in which four to six snowboarders race down a course at the same time.

“It’s a full-contact sport, and collisions are not a rare sight,” Katie says. “The courses have banked turns, jumps, rollers, drops and other obstacles.”

Katie, 15, has only been competing in the event since January, but already she has raced at the national level and rubbed elbows with professional snowboarders. That’s Katie pictured in the center with American Jonathan Cheever (left) and Austrian Maria Ramberger (right).

If things go well, we may see Katie on Team USA at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Katie-Hancock-snowboarding

Katie will be forced to step down as Southern Region Area 2 president — for one thing, she’ll no longer live in the area’s boundaries — but says she’ll continue in Venturing.

“The Vail Academy has offered me the ability to work with my teachers so I can travel and continue Venturing,” she says.

Her Scouting career so far

Katie was a Daisy and Brownie in Girl Scouts and joined Venturing after eighth grade just in time to attend the 2013 National Jamboree at the Summit Bechtel Reserve.

“Venturing is incredible because it allowed me to have opportunities I might not have had otherwise,” she says.

Katie has earned the Bronze, Gold and Silver awards in Venturing, as well as the Area Venturing Leadership Award.

Though she enjoyed the jamboree, Katie says her favorite Scouting memories have come from leadership training courses, including National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT), the National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience (NAYLE) and Kodiak.

“I met many new friends and learned numerous lessons through these opportunities that have helped get to where I am now,” Katie says.

Those incredible Scouting memories will soon be joined by another. Katie is attending the World Scout Jamboree later this month in Japan.

“There are definitely differences in culture, but Scouting is a way that you can come together no matter what kind of barrier,” she says. “I’ve been able to make friends throughout the world thanks to Scouting, and I’m looking forward to making more.”

An international perspective

Katie is heavily involved with U-Report, a Web-based platform through which people can voice their opinions on subjects that matter to them.

“From anywhere in the world you are able to respond to polls, voice issues and make change in your community,” Katie says. “It was made in collaboration with WOSM [World Organization of the Scout Movement] and UNICEF.”

As you’d probably guess, Katie got involved with U-Report through Scouts. She’s the youngest member of the U-Report Global Support Team and encourages anyone interested in learning more to check them out on Twitter.

Here’s Katie with Moses, a U-Report coordinator.

Katie-Hancock-world-Scouting

How to keep track of Katie’s snowboarding career

You can watch Katie’s national ranking on the website of the USA Snowboard Association. As of this writing, she’s ranked eighth in her division nationally.

 

 


About Bryan Wendell 3282 Articles
Bryan Wendell, an Eagle Scout, is the founder of Bryan on Scouting and a contributing writer.