Julia Marino, a native of Westport, has risen to the pinnacle in the snowboarding world both domestically and overseas as one of the best the United States has to offer. After marked success at amateur events and then on the Revolution Tour, Julia Marino put the snowboarding world on notice when she stomped her way to victory at the FIS World Cup/U.S. Grand Prix big air event at Fenway Park in 2016. Marino then officially made it a breakout year with a podium performance in slopestyle at the Corona World Championships of Snowboarding in Yabuli, China. At just 18 years of age, she became the first woman ever to land a double in slopestyle competition and she landed not one but two in the same run--a Cab double underflip and a double backflip. She is a 5-time X Games medalist and 2018 Olympian.

And now Julia is a hero and role model for Carver kids!

Julia and her parents visited with members of the Carver Girls’ Development Program at the Carver Community Center on November 20 evening (along with other Carver students in the Carver Community Center who heard about the visit and joined us). The Fairfield County Sports Commission (FCSC) funds this program (for the second consecutive year). FCSC also sponsors the Chelsea Cohen Fitness Academy at Carver. FCSC Executive Director, Tom Chiappetta, arranged for Julia to visit with Carver students. Shannon Bates, Carver’s Director of Recreation Programs and leader of the Girls’ Development Program, and Carver’s Career Coach, Eve St. Surin, joined the Carver students for this memorable session with Julia.

The Girls’ Development Program serves 25 female athletes ages 13-18 from Norwalk Public Schools. Activities range from fitness and strength training to discussions about injury prevention and college sports scholarships, yoga and Zumba, to nutrition coaching and preparing meals together, as well as guest presentations from college-level and professional athletes, coaches and scouts, such as Julia Marino. Julia discussed the joys of teamwork, the thrill and stress of competition at the highest levels, and her personal goals.  

Julia (“Jules” to her teammates) is one of the world’s most celebrated athletes in snowboarding. The 20-year-old stormed through her rookie XG appearance, taking Slopestyle gold and Big Air bronze at Aspen in 2017. She proved to be no fluke at XG Norway 2017, earning Big Air silver and Slopestyle bronze and becoming the only person to collect 4 X Games medals in 2017. She followed it up with Slopestyle silver at XG Aspen 2018.

See the photos here of Carver students showing off some of Julia’s medals!  

Julia says that looking back on her early X Games success is almost surreal, because when she goes home to Westport, CT, she's just a "normal kid." She is anything but normal to the Carver community. She is a champion who took time out of her intense schedule to value and encourage the personal goals of our students as they each prepare for their academic and athletic careers.