Volunteer Profiles

Sandy Macdonald

Snowboard is a sport that exemplifies perseverance, passion, and camaraderie.  Whether it is a couple of amateur snowboarders hitting the slopes or a group of professional athletes showcasing their snowboard techniques, the sport is one where you build life-long friendships while challenging the limits of your physical abilities.

No one knows this more than Sandy Macdonald, a former member of the Canadian Snowboard World Cup team. Over the years, he has brought his snowboard experience to his volunteer work and is currently a volunteer for the 2009 LG Snowboard FIS World Cup. After finishing his professional career, he has been involved in everything related to snowboard – from volunteering, working, and judging, to serving on boards of directors. “The one thing I’ve learned from all of this experience is that you generally tend to gloss over the easy times and remember the challenging stuff vividly.” This is true during the World Championships in Whistler where he volunteered outdoors for 4 days in bone chilling cold weather followed by 10 days of record-breaking rain. Despite the miserable weather conditions, he said, “he would never trade this volunteer experience for the world. Laughing yourself warm with a great crew of friends and seeing all of your hard work culminate in an amazing display of snowboarding is worth every minute soaked to the bone.” His most memorable volunteer experiences include getting on a chairlift 2 hours before the public and riding 16 inches of fresh snow to set-up a World Cup halfpipe, watching finals at the World Championships in Whistler and reconnecting with old friends at events from around the world.

Sandy’s passion for snowboard began in 1988 when he became an avid skateboarder and quickly realized that he wouldn’t be able to skateboard during winter months. A movie called “Snowboarders in Exile” changed all of that and quickly introduced him to the sport of snowboard. After finding enough money to buy his first snowboard, he “spent every winter since riding, trying to ride or thinking about riding.” To this day, he is still passionate about snowboard and is an active volunteer. “The sport of snowboard made me the person I am today and I want to give back in any way, shape or form I can so that future generations can experience what snowboard has meant to me.”