Fil-Am lass eyes Winter Olympics

by Francis Gerald Santiago (Manila Bulletin)

The snowboarding daredevil strongly believes she can become the first female athlete to represent the Philippines in quadrennial Games set February 12 to 28 in Vancouver, Canada.

“It is a challenging goal but one that I believe I can do. It’s a task that I would love to achieve to bring glory to the Philippines,” the 34-year-old Filipino-American said in an E-mail interview with this writer.

Serina was born to Filipino parents in West Virginia but lived for a few years in the Philippines.

For the past nine years, the New York University graduate has been the team captain of the Philippine Snowboarding team and the only female representative of the country in the Parallel Giant Slalom event of the different tourneys around the world. >>>READ STORY HERE>>>

Eden Serina: Finally A Good Race!

by Eden Roa Serina, member of Philippine National Snowboard Team

My start number was in the thirties, a wonderful welcome from the usual high sixties and seventies that I’ve been accustomed to in Europe. My qualification run was against a World Cup rider that I’ve known for many years and has been consistently a few seconds faster than me. It’s always great to race against someone that is faster because it pushes you. I knew that I really had to go for it/go all out/let it all hang out/go for the gusto/put the pedal to the medal/flip the switch/be all in yada yada yada if I wanted to get into the finals and have a chance at those points. Read Complete Blog >>>

Jondre Mina: Olympic sized prelude

by Jondre Reyes Mina, member of Philippine National Snowboard Team

What a wicked field it was during the first North American races of the season! The caliber of the other racers were no less than the best of the best in the world with the reigning World Champion, previous 2006 and 2002 Olympic medal winners, and the unlimited talent in depth with the US, Swiss, Japanese, and Canadian teams. This was truly a ‘world-cup’ like turn out. Sixty-seven men and forty or so women started the first day. It was, however, not the smoothest race. A Parallel Giant Slalom, the Olympic discipline, was on tap for the day, but there would be a change of program. Read Complete Blog >>>