October 2, 1997--Fifth and sixth graders at Mirror Lake Elementary school in Federal Way, WA got a taste of snowboarding yesterday when professional snowboarder and US Snowboard Team member Sabrina Sadeghi spoke at the school about her life and career as an athlete.

America's future was treated to a visit from US Team Member Sabrina Sadeghi. They LOVE her.

My body is the most important tool for what I do. I have to take care of it by lifting weights, eating right, sleeping a lot, and training everyday," she told the attentive group of about sixty kids. "If I don't take care of my body how can I expect to jump off of a 30 foot cliff without hurting myself or compete in a halfpipe contest every weekend?"

The presentation was fostered by Pamela Rasmussen, the school's physical education teacher, who knew Sadeghi and was interested in showing the kids the direct correlation between what they were learning in school and the kind of jobs they could look for in the future.

"If we don't teach these kids about the real world and the kinds of things that people do in the real world, how can we ever expect them to live in it?" Rasmussen said.

In her talk with the students, Sadeghi (who is ranked second in the world for women's freestyle halfpipe in the FIS competition circuit) explained her training, travel, and competition schedule to the youngsters. The kids eagerly waved their hands in the air with endless questions about snowboarding, the equipment she uses, the mountains she has been to, and the Olympics. To aid the presentation the school projected Snowboarding Online onto a screen behind Sadeghi and various parts of the site such as the Tips section and the Profiles were displayed.

"It's fun to show kids that they can make what they love their job," Sadeghi said. "To show them that they can do something fun with their lives. It makes them stoked to see someone having fun and a real life at the same time. I think it gives them options."