{"id":801884,"date":"2019-12-01T18:42:51","date_gmt":"2019-12-02T01:42:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=375360"},"modified":"2019-12-01T18:42:51","modified_gmt":"2019-12-02T01:42:51","slug":"olivero-with-the-help-of-summit-locals-chad-otterstrom-lauren-weibert-eric-andrew-cohen-will-join-weibert-at-deaflympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/olivero-with-the-help-of-summit-locals-chad-otterstrom-lauren-weibert-eric-andrew-cohen-will-join-weibert-at-deaflympics\/","title":{"rendered":"Olivero: With the help of Summit locals Chad Otterstrom & Lauren Weibert, Eric Andrew Cohen will join Weibert at Deaflympics"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Zach Andrew Cohen of Dillon Valley grabs his board during a run through a jump line in advance of representing the United States of America at this month’s Deaflympics in Italy.<\/strong>
Courtesy Chad Otterstrom<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

FRISCO \u2013 Despite similarities in backstories, the actual journeys are always independent to different people. Eric Andrew Cohen of Dillon Valley reminded me of this on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Cohen came by our Frisco office to chat about competing at the Deaflympics in Valtellina, Italy, north of Milan, Dec. 12-21.We soon made a connection about our hometowns, as Cohen rolled up his sleeve to show a tattoo of the New York City skyline. It turns out Cohen grew up in Essex County, New Jersey, a place I was familiar with writing about high school sports.<\/p>\n

We bonded over the talent of Seton Hall Prep\u2019s lacrosse and basketball teams and East Orange\u2019s football team. For a pair of guys living at 9,000 feet, we had an awful lot in common, including memories of Alan Houston\u2019s shot to send the New York Knicks past the Miami Heat in the 1999 NBA Playoffs and bringing Pepsi cans to the Shea Stadium outfield to gain free admission to New York Mets baseball games.<\/p>\n

Cohen explained he grew up a skier, his family taking him on trips to Stratton, Vermont and Canada from the age of 3. Then, at 6, he saw something that blew his mind: Snowboarders hitting the halfpipe at the base of Stratton Mountain Resort. For the next two years he badgered his mom to let him try snowboarding, before she finally relented to letting Cohen slide down a hill sideways.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s when I fell in love with snowboarding,\u201d Cohen, now 34, said.<\/p>\n

From there Cohen, who was born deaf, taught himself snowboarding at Stratton or New Jerseyites\u2019 local mountain, Mountain Creek Resort. He\u2019d spend days on the hill watching better snowboarders execute tricks in the park. At night, he\u2019d watch snowboard films and flip through magazines featuring his generation\u2019s favorite pro riders, the likes of Ross Powers, JP Walker, Jeremy Jones and others.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was the kind of guy,\u201d Cohen said, I\u2019d watch a movie in slow motion to watch how they do it off the jumps, off the halfpipe, how they move, how they do the transition. And then, rewind, slo mo, pause, and rewind again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like so many other Summit County locals, Cohen\u2019s journey led him to want to move to the mountains of Colorado. But that\u2019s where the similarity of his story with so many of the rest of our\u2019s ends.<\/p>\n

The refreshing thing about Cohen is he was up-front and candid about the struggles and tough times off the snow that set the stage for him to be motivated to improve his snowboarding enough to earn a spot on the 2019 United States Deaf Snowboarding Deaflympic Team. Cohen explained how around 2013 and 2014 he hit rock bottom personally not long after moving here to Summit County.<\/p>\n

The downward spiral in his personal life resulted in a DUI charge that put him on probation and depressed him further. He described it as a dark hole where he, to a great degree, lost his love for snowboarding. Cohen\u2019s probation situation lasted until Sept. 2017 and prevented him from achieving his dream of representing the United States at international competitions, such as the 2015 Deaflympics.<\/p>\n

Eric said he began to get back on track toward the end of the winter of 2015. Over the past three winters, he said it\u2019s his love for snowboarding and his drive to represent the U.S. and Summit County at the Deaflympics that has driven him to lead a better life and get better as a snowboarder. Getting out on the hill and sweating has been the best antidepressant he could ever ask for.<\/p>\n

Along the way, Eric credits the other Summit County local who\u2019ll compete at the 2019 Deaflympics, Lauren Weibert of Breckenridge, with helping him to reach his full potential. Back in 2015 when Eric struggled with depression, Weibert won gold in slopestyle and silver in boardercross at the 2015 Deaflympics in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. She hopes to contend for medals in those disciplines as well as big air in Italy.<\/p>\n

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