National snowboarding champ hails from Algonquin

The Raging Buffalo snowboard park for years beckoned to Kirby Kelly.

The Algonquin resident lives "literally two seconds down the road" from it, and at an early age the activity there captivated her. She wanted in.

The following Christmas, Kirby's parents, Joe and Sherry, signed her up for a beginner's package that included lessons and rentals.

Kirby was just 8 years old.

"It just looked really fun, something to try, something neat to do," she said.

Fast forward six years.

Kirby, now 14, holds two national titles in the sport.

Last week, she competed in the USA Snowboard Association's national event for amateurs, held in Copper Mountain, Colo. and took first place in both of the categories she entered in her age group - slopestyle and half pipe.

Slopestyle involves performing multiple tricks, like back flips and spins, while riding a board down the slope.

Half-pipe is best described as a skateboard ramp covered in snow that the snowboarder does tricks on.

Kirby is most proud of landing a backslide 900-degree spin during the half-pipe event - it involves making 21/2 revolutions in the air.

Although Kirby has competed at the national level before, 2009 marked the first time she had ever secured first-place honors.

"It just felt really good, like I finally did it," she said.

Her parents say they join their daughter on the road whenever they can.

"We'd love to be with her, but we can't just take off (work) for a month," Joe Kelly said.

The family made up for lost time with a surprise birthday and congratulations party for Kirby when she returned to Algonquin - she was 13 when she won slopestyle on April 5, turned 14 the next day and won half-pipe four days later.

In the immediate future, Kirby hopes to snowboard in the European Open in Switzerland in January and in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia. Luckily for the Kellys, Kirby, who is home-schooled, has lined up a host of sponsors to help finance her snowboarding endeavors.

While she continues to train for those events at Raging Buffalo, Kirby plans to give some attention to another sport that she gave up in order to focus on snowboarding: Gymnastics.