Snowboarding: Thrills, spills and life lessons.

Byline: Lewis Taylor The Register-Guard

Snowboarding has come a long way since its inception in the 1970s. No longer limited to 16-year-old boys with Mountain Dew in their veins, the once bad boy sport has gone mainstream. Surfing on snow now appeals to everyone from baby boomers to mini-van moms, so it's only natural that a Colorado group would find a way to use the sport to teach life lessons to underprivileged teenagers.

"We use snowboarding as a tool," says Jon Garrou, youth programs director for the Snowboard Outreach Society, or SOS, as it's called. "Snowboarding is not our number one objective; our objective is building core values in the youth."

Starting this weekend, Eugene will have its own chapter of SOS. The group is working in partnership with the nonprofit organization Committed Partners for Youth, the Hoodoo Mountain Ski Area and the city of Eugene's Multi-Cultural Outdoor High School Opportunities program, or MOHO, to bring 10 lucky teens to the slopes on three different dates. The first of those trips happens today.

"The youth really want to snowboard," said Aimee Goglia, recreation programmer for the city of Eugene Outdoor Program at the River House, which runs MOHO. "We've always talked about having snowboarding be a part of our programming, but the cost is pretty spendy in terms of tickets and equipment."

By partnering with SOS and other groups, Goglia is able to reduce the cost and liability of bringing a group of teenagers to the mountain, not to mention provide a curriculum for learning. SOS provides the warm clothing, MOHO offers transportation and Hoodoo ponies up for lift tickets, lessons and rentals. The teenagers in the group pay nothing.

"We're just excited to have Eugene and excited to serve the youth in Eugene," Garrou said. "Hopefully, the kids will take away how to use the values (they've learned) in their everyday lives."

Each day on the mountain, the group will focus on a new core value, such as courage, discipline or integrity. The daily watchword will be part of the day's activities and will factor into the snowboarding lessons. The hope is to build character and teach decision-making skills.

"This is an opportunity for these kids to get up on the hill and see something different," says Dave Villalobos, one of the organizers. "There are so many parallels to working hard and striving to achieve something (in the real world) that can be extrapolated from snowboarding."

After going through the first year's Learn to Ride program, SOS members can come back for a four-year "university" program in which they continue their snowboarding education, while also becoming more involved in community service projects and sharpening their leadership and job readiness skills. They can then go on to become junior instructors who teach SOS newbies how to ride.

SOS now serves more than 1,400 teenagers in eight states, Garrou says. Hoodoo will become the 26th mountain to partner with the organization. Mount Hood Timberline is another Oregon sponsor.

The Eugene SOS program is full for this season, but SOS will be looking for a new crop of recruits next ski season. Villalobos says he would like to see even more community support for the program next year. He hopes to see members of this year's group return for more instruction.

"It gives me goose bumps thinking about the fact that some of these kids could be teaching other kids (to snowboard) in the future," he said.

Garrou points to some of the SOS success stories he's seen as evidence that the program works. He says there have been graduates who went on to find jobs as snowboarding instructors. One recent graduate originally from Mexico City became a junior instructor and was recognized by the Outdoor Industry Foundation for making "a positive impact through sport."

One less visible consequence of the SOS program, Garrou says, is that it's helping to diversify the ski slopes. He points to statistics that show 62 percent of the teenagers who go through the SOS program become hooked on snowboarding.

"It introduces (teenagers) to something different, but it also introduces resorts to a different clientele," he says. "A clientele that hasn't been reached out to before."

SNOWBOARDING OUTREACH SOCIETY

What: A Colorado charity that uses free snowboarding lessons to teach life lessons to underprivileged teenagers.

Local Chapter: The Eugene SOS program is full for this season, but SOS will be looking for a new crop of recruits next ski season. For more information, send e-mail to [e-mail].

National organization: For more information on the national SOS organization, go to www.sosoutreach.org or call [phone].

Also: For more information on the city of Eugene's Multi-Cultural Outdoor High School Opportunities program, a grant-funded group that offers outdoor skills training to all Eugene teenagers, call 682-6358.