On his first-ever snowboard run four years ago, the world zoomed past junior David Doluca as he glided over the snow. Suddenly, the board got caught underneath the snow and in an attempt to regain his balance, he put his hands out and fractured his wrist — the only injury he’s ever received while participating in his favorite sport.

Doluca wasn’t always a snowboarder. In fact, he started out as a skateboarder, but was discouraged from the serious dangers of the sport, and decided to try snowboarding, a safer alternative instead.  

“I started skateboarding when I was 9, and after two years, I think I just wanted to try something new,” Doluca said.  “Snowboarding looked appealing to me since you can't lose your board when you go off jumps.”

Despite the injury that occurred on his first-ever day of snowboarding, Doluca now goes up to the mountains — usually Northstar Ski Resort — at least four times a year, each visit lasting four days.

“[Northstar] has some nice slopes, a few stunt areas, and a really nice half pipe,” Doluca said. “I really like to go on Lookout Mountain.”

Doluca said he enjoys snowboarding more than skiing and skateboarding because the motion feels more natural and “the boots are a lot more comfortable.”

While snowboarding provides a similar adrenaline rush to skiing, Doluca prefers the safety of snowboarding as it allows him more control over his speed.   

“If you fall when skiing, [the fall] is a lot worse, and you can hurt yourself a lot more when skiing,” Doluca said.

Although Doluca doesn’t snowboard competitively, he is able to hone his skills with his consistent visits to the resort. When asked how he managed to become such a good snowboarder with only two short lessons of training, Doluca responded that practice was key.

“The rest is just trial and error, [though] I've never really had any bad falls. The worst was when I fractured my wrist, and since then I started wearing gloves with a wrist guard,” Doluca said.