Park City, UT – Aspiring young Olympians from around Utah had an opportunity to try out for a new sport recently. For the first time, the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team, the Utah Olympic Park and Park City-based FLY Freestyle program joined forces to recruit local Utah gymnasts and acrobats to the sport of freestyle aerials. The U.S. Ski Team hosted a day of the camp at the Center of Excellence in Park City before moving to the Utah Olympic Park.n”We’re not getting as many kids as we used to coming into freestyle, with many going into either snowboarding or freeride,” explained U.S. Aerials Head Coach Matt Christensen. “Now we’re recruiting, going into gymnastics so we can be competitive with the Chinese and Australians.”

Over the past few years, FLY Freestyle, a local U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association club and Community Olympic Development Program, has developed into a successful year round program with a vision of expanding the popularity and knowledge of aerials. The recruitment camp program had 15 athletes, most of which are Utah natives and a few from neighboring western states. FLY is divided into two programs, an elite development, where kids come four to five days a week and a younger development, where kids come one to two days a week.

FLY has grown into quite a movement since the doors opened in 2005. The program started out strictly as an Olympic aerials program, offering traditional inverted aerials, and now includes moguls and freeride.

The U.S. Freestyle Ski Team and FLY Freestyle hope that a strong partnership will help boost and maintain aerials numbers for the future. Recruitment camps are becoming a crucial part for the future of U.S. Aerials and the sport. Contributing to the movement by coaching this summer are U.S. Ski Team and former U.S. Ski Team athletes, such as Emily Cook (Belmont, Mass.), Joey Discoe (Telluride, Colo.), Holt Haga (Boise, Idaho), and Eric Bergoust (Missoula, Mont.).

“FLY is one of two aerial development programs in the country,” said FLY Freestyle Head Aerials Coach and former U.S. Moguls Team member Tim Preston. “The recruitment camp is an effort to reach out to gymnasts and acrobats throughout the west and get them here to introduce them to the sport of aerials.”

“With the partnership between FLY and the U.S. Ski Team, we’re starting to work together to improve numbers. This is the first time we have ever done a joint project,” said Christensen. “It’s working out well everyone gets along. Everyone’s just trying to make aerials better.”

Not only is this a great opportunity for young athletes in the western regions to experience world class coaching, but also a great chance to experience a world class facility. The athletes invited to the camp trained in the same facility as the U.S. Ski Team, using the exact same trampolines and weight room in the USSA Center of Excellence.

“I’m really excited to be here,” said 16 year-old camper Madie Gorlelik from Park City. “It is fun bouncing on the tramps and this facility is just really nice,”

With the future looking bright and talented, FLY Freestyle and the U.S. Ski Team hope to show just how fun and exciting freestyle, particularly aerials, can be. Although, the U.S. Ski Team is a joint host, skiing experience was not required.

“I’m way excited, but I’m a little nervous though because I’ve never skied or have done anything like this in my life,” said 15 year-old Kendal Russell from Ogden, Utah. “I’m a gymnast, but never skied before.”

Athletes like Russell are what Preston and Christensen hope to turn over into the sport. Offering incentive to hit the snow instead of the mat, are two scholarships offered by FLY Freestyle.

“We have two scholarships to give from this camp. The top two athletes from acrobatic testing and strength testing will be offered free training with FLY for the rest of the summer,” said Preston. “It’s an effort to build the development program and get more athletes involved to feed them into the U.S. Ski Team and hopefully the Olympics.”

Christensen and Preston like what they see with the selected Utah athletes chosen for this camp and hope to obtain a few future aerialists from the program.

“I’m pretty excited about this,” said Christensen.

“It’s looking awesome, so far,” said Preston. “Definitely some of the most talented kids I’ve seen around the sport of aerials in a long time.”