You can hear it in Jesse Paul’s voice: the passion to snowboard and earnestness to be the best.
“One of the biggest things is being committed,” Paul says. “Snowboarding as much as you can because it does take a lot of time to get good.”
Adds his friend, Max Ronning, “It’s either perfect or he wants to work until it is. You can tell he knows what he’s doing when he does it.”
The Maple Grove snowboarder came of age on the rails at Elm Creek Park Reserve and is now a top national rider. But it was his disregard for the rules that almost didn’t get him hired to be an instructor at his hometown hill.
As junior high kids, Paul and friends would be loud and leave messes in the chalet, says park operations supervisor Wayne Iseri.
Yet Iseri took a chance on Paul—and it paid off.
“Not only was he one of our best instructors, but he was a quiet leader and made other kids change their behavior a little bit,” Iseri says. “We consider him to be part of the Elm Creek team, which is pretty nice.”
Read the full feature on Jesse Paul in the February issue of Maple Grove Magazine or at maplegrovemag.com starting February 1. Until then, check out these videos (Double Barrel & Compilation) of Paul doing his thing. And this video of his favorite boarder Jed Anderson will show you where his inspiration came from.
