LENOX, Mass. — Arthur Schwartz had high expectations for himself going into last month's USASA National Championships at Colorado's Cooper Mountain.

 

But waiting to take his turn in the open FIS Slopestyle competition, Schwartz had a little high anxiety.

 

"I always have the highest thoughts for myself," Schwartz said this week. "Obviously, I went into it hoping I would win. There's no point in going into a competition thinking you're going to lose.

So I went into it thinking I was gonna do pretty good. 

 

"I was one of the last kids to drop because I had a lot of points. And just seeking kids go in front of me, I was like, 'God, I can't compete with that. Oh, boy.' So a lot of stress, yeah. Definitely a lot of build up."

 

But the self-described "adrenaline junkie" was able to overcome the stress — and most of the competition — to finish sixth in the nation and punch his ticket for next winter's Revolution Tour, a step away from the World Cup tour reserved for the best of the best in the sport of freestyle skiing.

 

"The feeling after I landed my last trick and rode away knowing that I had a really good run was like a euphoric moment," Schwartz said. "That's the reason why I still ski. That feeling is unmatched by any other sport or anything else. It's the best feeling in the world."

 

Schwartz, 17, also qualified for the Rail Jam class at the USA Snowboard and Freestyle Association Nationals.

 

Just getting into the field was an accomplishment for the Lenox Memorial High School senior, who has spent the last two winters taking classes and training at Vermont's Killington Mountain School, skiing all day and taking high school classwork in the evenings.

 

Next year, his talent, passion and commitment to the sport will take him to Salt Lake City, Utah, to continue his quest for euphoria.

 

Last week, the 2023 season's end saw the Berkshire County native return to Lenox to finish his senior year of classes. On Monday, he sat down with iBerkshires.com to talk about his experiences in the sport and his aspirations for the future.

 

Question: So tell me about your progression through levels of the sport?

 

Schwartz: There's Futures Tour, which is pretty low level. And then there is Nationals, which I was just at. And then there's Rev Tour [Revolution Tour], which is one step under World Cup.

 

I trained all season. I worked my way up the ranks and made it to Nationals.

 

The top 10 from the country move up to Rev Tour, which is an invitation to all Junior World Cups, Rev Tours and NorAms, which is the Canadian version, and Euro Cups, which is pretty much everywhere but America. I got invited to that, which is huge, especially for a 17-year-old.

 

Q: What is the usual track for that?

 

Schwartz: Age-wise? Most people get in around 18 or 19. Luckily, the past two years I've been able to train pretty hard and give it my all, and I was able to end on a very strong note this year.

 

Q: Were you at Killington Mountain School last year also?

 

Schwartz: Last year was my first year being truly coached. This year was my second year. And a kid in their second year of training going to Rev Tour is pretty big.

 

Q: Were your coaches surprised you were able to get to that level so quickly?

 

Schwartz: Before I came, I was pretty talented. I got a full ride to the school. They knew that I had it in me. They knew I just had to critique the small things, and the bigger things would come. It wasn't a surprise, but it was big props because of my age.

 

Q: I was going to ask how you got involved with KMS. Do they recruit kids?

 

Schwartz: I skied at Killington once or twice a season, and the park community is pretty small. So they would see me, talk to me, whatever. I was supposed to go my sophomore year, but that was the COVID year. I didn't end up going.

 

And my family and I are lower middle class, kind of. We wouldn't have been able to afford it if I didn't get a full ride. Luckily, I got a lot of scholarship, and then I got a company to pay the rest of my tuition, which I'm beyond grateful for.

 

Q: A sponsorship?

 

Schwartz: Yeah, with Powdr, which owns Icon and some of the biggest mountains in America. I was blessed enough to get a full ride, and I wasn't taking it for granted. I did everything in my power to do the best I could. I had to fight through a lot of injuries.

 

My first week out, I got a nice cut in my arm, 19 stitches to start my season.

 

But it was a great year, for sure. I went to Germany, Austria and Italy. I got scholarship money for that trip. Earlier in the season, I did well in a competition, and that got me invited to bigger competitions out west. I was competing in Colorado at Park City and then Aspen, Colo., on the X Games course, which is the big stuff. I did pretty well there, and then Nationals kind of cleaned it up and I got my six spot.

 

Q: How do you qualify for Nationals?

 

Schwartz: Out of regional competitions and Futures Tour. It's points that add up throughout the season.

 

Q: We kind of jumped right into this season, but I want to back up a little bit. You started skiing when you were 3 years old at Butternut?

 

Schwartz: Yeah.

 

Q: Were you always in that freestyle mode or did you do slaloms and GS and things like that?

 

Schwartz: I never raced. I've been an adrenaline junkie since I was a kid. I want to go as fast as I can and jump as high as I can and spin and flip as much as I can — ever since I was super little.

When I was 9, I did my first backflip, which was awesome. I was so excited.

 

And then I got to a level — I was probably 13 — where it was hard for me to advance where I was. I almost topped out for where I was in Western Massachusetts. So myself and some friends started going up to Killington on the weekends. And it was a spiral where I was getting better, but I needed more, and, eventually, I got the full ride, and it took off from there.

 

Q: Always skiing? Never snowboarding?

 

Schwartz: I can snowboard. Am I good at it? No. I'm definitely not good at snowboarding. I can strap in and get from the top to the bottom.

 

Q: Was there a choice at some point where you could have gone boarding and picked skiing? Because you can obviously do a lot of tricks on a snowboard, too.

 

Schwartz: My mom taught me how to ski when I was very little, and it's always been skiing over snowboarding, for sure.

 

Q: Talk to me a little bit about the schedule. You start the school year at Lenox, then go up to Killington and then come back here?

 

Schwartz: It's a little confusing. ... I do my first two, two-and-a-half months here. I played varsity soccer. And then, in November, I transfer to Killington. I'm there December, January, February, March and half of April. And then I come back here and finish my year out here.

 

Q: That was the same schedule last year? Because they do have a full-year program at Killington Mountain School, right?

 

Schwartz: They do. It's just a lot more. And my sponsors weren't willing to pay. It's like another $30,000 on top of that. And it's not enough bang for your buck.

 

Q: Because you're not skiing?

 

Schwartz: Yeah, exactly.

 

Q: Though I gather they're still skiing at Killington now (May 1)?

 

Schwartz: I'm actually heading up this weekend to ski for a little bit. ... Just to have fun, see some friends.

 

It's definitely been a packed, full year, a lot of mental and physical challenges that I had to overcome.

 

Q: The physical challenge you already alluded to, the scar on your arm ...

 

Schwartz: I definitely sliced my arm up, and I separated my shoulder a few times this year.

 

Q: During the season?

 

Schwartz: Yeah. I have a torn labrum and rotator cuff in both my shoulders. So it's just like one sudden movement and it can pop out of place pretty fast. It's not a lot of fun.

 

Q: So how do you deal with that when you're competing?

 

Schwartz: At our school, luckily we have a very good physical therapist. So every morning and every night I do band works [resistance training] for up to an hour a day. A lot of band works with my knees and my shoulders because I partially tore my [anterior cruciate ligament] earlier this year. I don't know if it's healed quite yet, but it definitely had an effect on my skiing.

 

Q: Did any of that hold you back at Nationals?

 

Schwartz: Luckily, at Nationals, I was at full health. The week before we left, we were in Vermont, and that's when I had the final separation in my shoulder. They took me off hill for a couple of days, and I was doing a lot of [physical therapy] stuff just to make sure I was at full capacity because there was a chance I would do well there. Our coaches know how to manage injury and time very well, to the point where you're not out for too long, but you're out long enough that it won't happen again.

 

Q: So were the mental challenges related to those physical challenges or was there more?

 

Schwartz: I lost my grandpa not even a month before Nationals. That definitely took a toll on me for a while, but I was able to take a step back and realize that I'm just going to do it for him instead of just me doing it for myself. Because he was always my biggest fan. It was nice to do good right after his passing.

 

Q: Did he come to competitions and that sort of thing?

 

Schwartz: He wasn't able to see much of my competitions, but he always heard about it. I would call him right after my competitions and be like, 'I did this and this,' like, 'I did good.' All that stuff. And he would cheer me on, which is great.

 

Q: There's another mental challenge there, too, and I'm thinking more last year than this year, going away from home as a junior in high school. How much of an adjustment was that?

 

Schwartz: The first two weeks were definitely difficult. I was homesick. I missed my mom. I missed my family. All that stuff. But you get used to it pretty fast, especially when you're in a community with a very similar base to us: We all love skiing. And so a lot of bonding happened over that. Just being able to talk to them about skiing, it would spark conversations, and you make friends very easily.

 

Q: What is the schedule for Rev Tour next year?

 

Schwartz: Next year, I'm moving out to Utah. I am moving in with one of my friends out in Salt Lake City and training with the PCSS Team, the PC Ski and Snowboard Team. They train at the old Olympic facilities. We train there. We ski all the time. Gym, trampoline work, stuff like that. And I think the tour starts in Colorado, then goes to Utah, then California. Then there's a few in Canada. Then I have one competition in Austria very late in the season. It's a lot of jumping around. You're not in one place for too long.

 

We do a lot of trampoline work because being able to have better air awareness is huge. If you know you're not going to land a trick, you have to realize where you are, how you're going to land it and how you're going to roll out of it, stuff like that.

 

Q: Do you plan to move to Utah in the summer or is that in the fall?

 

Schwartz: Late August.

 

Q: Are you going to do any college work or no?

 

Schwartz: No, I'm taking these two years, take two PG years and do as much as I can with it. I've already put blood, sweat and tears into it, and I'm not going to give up until my body tells me to. I've got to give my all next year, pretty much.

 

Q: Were you able to add anything to your program this year that specifically helped you move up in terms of a specific trick?

 

Schwartz: Very early in the season, we went up to Canada, and there's this place called Maximise in Quebec, and it's literally just a tow rope and an 80-foot jump. It's great for park kids.

 

I was able to put down a dub 14, which is two backflips and four spins, which is a massive milestone. Once you learn to do a dub 14, it's a massive trick for everyone.

 

Q: It's like a threshold?

 

Schwartz: Yeah, once you get that, once you learn that trick, you break through a threshold. You unlock so much more you can do with that.

 

Q: That was in the fall?

 

Schwartz: That was in December. That's how I knew my year was going to go good from there.

 

Q: What's the next thing you're chasing?

 

Schwartz: Trick wise? A triple, three flips. I really want to do that. That's been a dream of mine. I was going to, but I decided to play it safe out at Nationals. My plan was to do a triple on my finals run. But I decided to play it safe and do the dub 14 instead, which secured my sixth place spot, so I was happy I did that.

 

Q: You had thoughts of doing it in your final run at Nationals, so you must have done it in practice?

 

Schwartz: No.

 

Q: You hadn't landed it yet?

 

Schwartz: It was going to be a first try thing if I did it in competition. In competition, there's a lot of adrenaline. An 'adrenaline decision' is what we call it. It's like, 'I feel good. I know I can do it.' That type of thing.

 

Q: Have you made that type of adrenaline decision in competition in the past?

 

Schwartz: Yeah. So a big thing with skiing is being able to spin both ways. And I had never landed — I normally spin right — so a left double backflip with two spins in it, which was a horrifying trick for me. But I was able to land it, and it was massive for me, which was super sweet. Then I linked the left dub 10 to the right dub 14, which was super sweet.

 

Q: In that finals run?

 

Schwartz: Yes. A lot of the tricks I've landed, my first try tricks are just adrenaline. I've been skiing good all day, and then it's time to get to work.

 

All my coach was saying to me that entire trip was, 'Who wants it more?' Every day that I could have practiced, I was out there from 9 to 4 training as hard as I possibly could. And not a lot of other kids were doing that.