Windells Academy - Inaugural Year Begins

WINDELLS ACADEMY – INAUGURAL YEAR BEGINS

This week marks the opening of the first ever semester of Windells Academy offering educational instruction, personalized tutoring and action sports coaching for high schoolers grades 9-12

MT HOOD, OR – September, 2009 –The funnest place on earth just became the smartest place on earth. This week, Windells welcomed its charter students to its Mt Hood campus as they began taking high school classes and preparing themselves to experience year-round riding and professional coaching, in the inaugural year of Windells Academy.

The first week of Windells newly launched Academy was active, to say the least. In addition to teaching high school classes and snowboarding, President Mike Hanley and Owner/Founder Tim Windell took the student body (which come to Windells from places like New York and West Virginia) on a tour of Portland to get them acclimated to the city. They also arranged a visit to two Portland based snowboard companies – Bonfire and Atmosphere clothing. This weekend, Hanley will be taking the students to the Oregon coast to go surfing. Hanley also happens to be a surf coach so he plans on working with the students on technique. The following weekend they will be taking the students on a 3-day rafting trip down the lower Deschutes.

“These kids come from the east coast and other areas far away from Oregon. We are trying to give them the opportunity to have not only a well rounded education but to see and experience some of the world’s greatest outdoor landscape. No other Academy has this. Not to mention, we have skiing 365 days a year and you can’t get that anywhere else” said Tim Windell.

While attending Windells Academy, students will have the option to live on campus, giving them full access to all of Windells facilities, and the opportunity to ride twelve months a year at Timberline Ski Resort. The academy offers services for grades 9-12 through Kaplan Education. Students are enrolled in either Kaplan College Preparatory program or the Kaplan High School program, depending on their academic aptitude. Kaplan High School is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Commission on International and Trans-Regional Accreditation.

“This is an extremely exciting time for us,” says Founder Tim Windell, “This is the next step in taking our campers’ skills to the next level. Kids can live, learn, eat, sleep and ride everyday. They can get top notch coaching and education at the same time.”

In addition to the full academic staff Kaplan provides, Mike Hanley, President of Windells Academy, will run the day-to-day operations of the school while providing added support for all attending students. Hanley is a former professional skier and collegiate diver and has studied at eight universities around the world, ranging from the University of Utah, to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, to L’Université de Neuchâtel and the University of Wales. From 2004-2006 Hanley was the United States Team Coach for the World Cup Ski Halfpipe, and was also the head free ride coach for the Squaw Valley Freestyle Ski Team. Over the course of his career, he has worked with the best of the best, including pros such as Tanner Hall, Ashley Battersby, Sean Field, and up-and-comers like Alex Schlopy and Joss Christensen. Hanley has also coached notables like Simon Dumont and Seth Morrison, who have sought his expertise at the Utah Olympic Park.

Windells Academy is a natural progression for Windells Camp. Over the last 22 years, Tim Windell has sought to fulfill his vision of making Windells the most progressive camp in the action sports industry. Windells athletic facilities include a 53-acre campus with indoor and outdoor recreation amenities – foam pit, trampolines, cardio-gym, BMX dirt tracks, skate parks, vert ramp, half pipe, ridiculous amounts of concrete and rails, Dex’s Store, and the Super Awesome Information Center. Students also have the opportunity to ride 12 months out of the year at Timberline Ski Resort. Timberline is the only resort in the United States open 365 days a year, allowing athletes to continue to push their sport and develop their skills, while rubbing elbows with the who’s who of the action sports industry. What Windells Academy offers its athletes is unmatched by any other academy in the action sports industry.

For more information go to www.windellsacademy.com.

Founded in 1988 by nine-time National Champion and two-time Vice World Champion snowboarder Tim Windell, Windells has been a world leader in action sports for the past two decades. The camp’s goal is to not only improve kids’ skills on the slopes and on the street, but also create a fun and safe place for kids to creatively express themselves through sport. From building permanent half-pipes, cheese-wedge jumps to creating new moves and fighting scoring regulations in competitions, Windells has been a pioneer in action sports. Windells is also the world’s only privately owned campus and features a permanent, year-round half-pipe and ski run. The Windells campus also has BMX dirt bike paths, an indoor skate park with a foam pit, and on-site housing for campers. For those who have been there, Windells is known as the “funnest place on earth.”

www.windells.com