I was excited because it was less a question of whether I could make the team as it was of what I could go there and accomplish. Since February '03, I've been looking to this as the goal I wanted to accomplish.

Here, we'll have a chance to influence the younger generation. They'll see another path they can follow.

It's a realization of this dream that I've been chasing for a long time. From the time that I was 10 and started snowboarding, this was what I wanted to do. Bringing that dream to fruition, it's pretty amazing.

I try to equate it to motocross because the jumps, the terrain features, are really pretty similar. It's very spectator friendly, especially for Americans.

I think this could be a big sport. Our country loves NASCAR. They love the racing element of it. This is like that on snowboards.

I've had an amazing reception here today, everywhere. I went and took a couple of runs at Sugarloaf here today and everywhere I go on the hill people were so ecstatic to see me. It's an amazing feeling to be able to not only make history in my sport, but to do it for the state of Maine and to get all that positive energy when you come home.