Every Olympian’s journey begins somewhere, but what are the odds that 18
Olympic medalists started theirs in the exact same place?

That place is the Mountain’s own Windells, “The Funnest Place on Earth.”
The tradition was upheld this year when Nick Goepper captured the bronze
medal in the Sochi Olympics ski slopestyle event.

The Windells Academy is a unique part of Windells and features a year-round
action sports program that helps student athletes develop their skills, while
still continuing their education.

Goepper entered the Academy in 2009 when he was 15 years old, brought in
by Windells coach Mike Hanley – who still remains his personal coach.

“He came in the fall of 2009 as a pretty good skier, but he really didn’t stand
out,” said Rachel Lemons, who oversees the Academy. “Fast forward to the
summer of 2010, Nick had taken those months and learned so many new
tricks and was riding with all of the top pros at Mount Hood ... that when he
went into competition the following year, he was right there on the podium.”

Goepper’s biggest accomplishments outside of winning a medal at the
Olympics was being the first skier in a decade to win back-to-back X Games
Gold in slopestyle both in 2013 and 2014. He also won the Dew Tour at
Breckenridge and Snowbasin, and both World Cups in New Zealand and
Colorado. But more importantly, his coach points out, Goepper has a good
heart.

“What you see is what you get with Nick,” Hanley said. “He is a really well-
mannered Midwestern young man who loves his mom and grew up going to
church on Sunday. He’s a great kid,” Hanley said.

Windells runs year round and attracts athletes from all major U.S. cities as
well as Russia, Chile, England and Japan.

Founder Tim Windell had the vision to add the Academy to the Windells
experience, and now students train at the camp while completing an on-line
schooling program and traveling to competitions around the country coupled
with one-on-one coaching.

“He (Tim) always wanted to have that academic component,” Lemons said.
“It’s been his vision, and it just so happened that the right people were
aligned together to get it started. It started small, and it’s been growing every
year.”

Goepper is a shining example of the Windells experience – producing top-
notch athletes by offering a high-quality training.

“That’s one of the things that we always want to be the hub of,” Lemons said.

“Which is to train the up and comers, and help build them up to be future
Olympians.”