Government Camp, OR – U.S. Snowboarding’s 2010 Project Gold PGS camp at Timberline Ski Area on Mt. Hood, which concluded earlier this month, offered a great opportunity for aspiring alpine snowboarding athletes. The camp attendees included the elite junior alpine snowboarding athletes in the U.S., as well as the entire U.S. Junior World Championship Team.n”I’m proud to announce we had our entire Junior World Championship Team here,” said PGS Project Gold Coach Neil Sunday, who further indicated that the campers got a two-week break at home before heading today for the Junior Worlds in New Zealand.

The attending campers included Junior World Championship Team members Mackenzie Joyce (Laconia, N.H.), Cassandra Wagar (Steamboat Springs, Colo.), Meghan Graham (Minnetonka, Minn.), and Hunter Murphy (Deephaven, Minn.) as well as elite racers Ezio Agento (York, Penn.), AJ Muss (Rumson, N.J.), Galen Goldscheitter (Boulder, Colo.), Lindsey Albala (Upper Brookville, N.Y.) and Angela Mercieri (Steamboat Springs, Colo.).

The training session was centered around alpine snowboarding’s two disciplines, parallel giant slalom (PGS) and slalom (PSL). With Junior Worlds approaching, the athletes focused on honing in their skills.

“We’re keeping it fun, but we’re definitely getting some great training in on-snow as well as in the afternoon dry land activities,” Sunday said during the camp. “We want to make sure they come into this season ready to race and be competitive.”

What’s unique about the Project Gold camps are that all attending athletes train with their respective coaches during the rest of the year. Being selected to attend a Project Gold camp is a huge accomplishment.

“We invite the athletes to our Project Gold camp,” said Sunday. “Basically, we are identifying the top athletes between the ages of 15 and 19. We are putting our focus into them at a higher level on Mount Hood.”

The selected PGS and PSL 2010 World Junior Championship Team will compete Aug. 26-27 at Snow Park NZ near Lake Wanaka, New Zealand.