The room in the basement of the Shadow Ridge condos in Park City looks like a typical teenager's bedroom. But it's actually the office of the Park City Snowboard Team (PCST). When athletes on the team come to the office to hang out, it's a relaxed and fun atmosphere. It's the same atmosphere when the riders are out on the hill practicing. Head coach Jacob Levine wants it that way.

This is not a ski club. You won't see any of these athletes sitting in the snow crying because they're disappointed with their results.

"While competition is an aspect of our team, I would say it's not the main focus. It comes down to our main coaching philosophy in general, which is that competition is not the be-all and end-all of snowboarding. Having fun on your snowboard and enjoying each and every day just from the mere fact of being on your board, is very important," said Levine, who looks like a teenager himself.

Jed Doane, 17, specializes in slopestyle and boardercross. He said, " I can do 720's, but grabbers are my favorite. I do this for fun, just like everyone else does."

Another team member is Sam Taxwood, 14, who just scored an amazing 4th place in the Burton Demo Tour slopestyle contest. Taxwood said, "I did a frontside nine off the last jump, when it was one jump and two rails. I don't even know what I did on the rails, I was just goofing around. I didn't care how I did, I was just having fun," he said.

That's the attitude on the team, even among those who want to go pro. Andrew Tassel, who is one of those who want a snowboard career, can already do a do a huge 1620 across a box (terrain park feature). He says, "By being on a team, I get coaching and other people to ride with. It's fun as well as work."

There are 10 coaches for the 40 snowboarders on the team, five of whom are female. But Levine is proud of the new additions to PCST. "This year we have one coach dedicated to our adaptive team. We've partnered with the National Ability Center and have three adaptive athletes. Two of them are amputees. They both have prosthetetics they snowboard with, and they use regular equipment. It seems like every day they impress us with their work ethic and with breaking barriers that we didn't think were possible, every day," Levine said.

Even for adaptive snowboarders, training to compete, it's still about having fun. And there are more outlets for snowboarders than making the U. S. national team. Levine explains, "The competition route is only one path to take when you're trying to make a career out of snowboarding. There's also the film pro, or contest pro." He adds some sage advice for every rider: "There's more to snowboarding than just beating your buddy. It's about actually snowboarding and enjoying what you're doing."