A Revere High School student has built a career around his passion for snowboarding by traveling across the United States to compete at numerous competitions.

As he has progressed in snowboarding, Chad Nicholson has gone to many different competitions around the country. The biggest competition that he attended was the United States Snowboard and Ski Association (USASA) national tournament at Copper Mountain in Colorado. Last year, Nicholson competed in the slope style competition.

Nicholson has been sponsored by two different organizations. He has been sponsored by Eastbound Snowboards and Sun Valley Sports. Nicholson described the impact of having sponsors.

“[Having sponsors] has made an extremely positive impact on my snowboarding. Knowing that there are people other than [my] family that fully support what [I am] doing with my life is one of the best feelings ever. The better you feel about yourself as a rider, the better you will ride,” Nicholson said.

Along with support from his sponsors, Nicholson’s friends are also involved in his snowboarding. Revere junior Jon Apicella has been snowboarding and filming Nicholson for four years. He films and edits videos for both Nicholson and Eastbound Snowboards.

“I recently finished a skiing [and] snowboarding movie for our group Leaf Association 1, it should be on my YouTube channel in a few weeks. You can find us on YouTube or on Instagram,” Appicella said.

Leaf Association 1 is a group of snowboarders and skiers who film their season at Brandywine and Boston Mills, and do many stunts. It includes athletes from a few different schools. The members from Revere include Appicella, Blake Cherryholmes, Richie Jankura, Nicholson, Antonio Olivo, Joe Orzechowski and Garrett Shaffer. Jankura explained what Leaf Association 1 does.

“[We] go around, build stuff, and get [big air off of jumps],” Jankura said.

Although he has the support of family, friends, and sponsors, Nicholson explained why he feels that he should compete for himself.

“You [cannot] snowboard for other people; snowboarding is for yourself and how much you love it. Sure, there are people that inspired me when I was younger, but now what inspires me is watching myself get better and having fun,” Nicholson said.

Nicholson finished his season at the USASA National Snowboarding Tournament where he will compete in the slope style competition, which ran from April 1 – 8.