Surfer and rider of the USST pipeline - Andy Newell.

How it starts.  One day your doing dips at the REG, Regional Elite Group camp, and the next...

... your racing world cup with the US Ski Team.  Chris Cook - Wisconsin - came up through the pipeline and placed in the top 20 a few times last season - still up and coming.  It is never all glory.  Mostly it's guts and hard work and sometimes...

You feel like your peddling for all your worth...

and you're still the smallest fish in the pond...

but coming on strong...

Even though no one knows your name (Chandra Crawford, Gold Medalist) yet...

And it's a little scary out there 'cause it looks sort of big from the beach...

you just keep working on it and every day, EVERY DAY, you get a little better...

And you seek help - the best kind is one-on-one...

and find the people who believe and who are the do-ers (Yuriy Gusev - www.cxcskiing.org - the man who gets things done)...

And even if your own don't want you on their team... yet...

Attention to detail...

Hard work...

Believing it can be done...

And you can stand on top.

The pipeline is the way to success it starts as a young athlete, youth skier, junior nationals, local camps and clubs, training, your regionals Regional Elite Group, training, the National Elite Group, training, Junior worlds, training, top 15 at jr. worlds, training, the US Continental Cup Team, training, the US World Cup Team, training...

Get in the pipeline, this wave is rising.

(REG photos by Audrey Weber, Others by Vordenberg or www.competitiveimage.us)