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Go, Go Indigo Fundraiser For Olympic Hopeful Friday

Manhattan Beach resident Indigo Monk, who has the potential to make the 2014 U.S. team in women's slopestyle is gearing up for her Olympic bid this snowboarding season. A fundraiser is being held Friday at the Neptunian Women's Club. Be there!

As one of the top eight contenders for four slots to compete in women's slopestyle in the  2014 Winter Olympics, Indigo Monk is pretty darn excited.

After taking second place in the FIS Snowboarding Junior World Championships in Spain in April, the 17-year-old Manhattan Beach resident, who leaves next month for a month of training in New Zealand followed by training in Colorado, has her eye on making the Olympic team.

  • Previously: Indigo Monk Takes 2nd in Spain

To help her finance her dream, which necessitates trips to Switzerland, Canada, Spain, Turkey and several other international locations, friends and family are holding "An Evening For the Whole Family: Wine Tasting & Kids Talent Show" at the Neptunian Women's Club Friday at 5 p.m. The event will include food, a silent auction and raffle. Tickets can be bought online or at the door and cost $25 per adult and $10 per child.

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Indigo, her mom Kat, dad Drew, and siblings Pippa and Slater will be there and she hopes her brother Julian will be able to make it (he's in college in San Diego). Slater, a 4th grader at Grand View Elementary who plays guitar and bass, will perform with his band.

About the only drawbacks to her slopestyle career, she said, have been not being able to attend Mira Costa High, from which her mom and older brother graduated, and being away from her family as much as she is.

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But, for now, it's full speed ahead for the 2014 Olympic Games that will be held in Sochi, Russia, and mark the first time slopestyle has been in the adult games (Indigo took 5th place in slopestyle's youth Olympics debut competition in Austria last season.).

Her efforts in the 2012-2013 competitive season will determine if she makes the 2014 Olympic team or not.

Since she returned home from Spain in April, Indigo has been working at Noah's Bagels in downtown MB and babysitting to earn money for her Olympic bid. She first worked at Noah's in July 2011 until leaving for competition that November.

She told Patch that "There's nothing too specific" she does to workout when she's home away from snow other than strength training with weights. She also swims a lot, in the ocean and at Begg Pool, surfs and paddleboards, and tends to buy the family groceries, saying she definitely watches what she eats.

And what about the pressure of qualifying for the 2014 Olympics?

"I'm feeling really good," she said. "Before the season ended so well [with 2nd place in Spain], I was kind of not really sure how things were going to turn out and then everything just sort of started coming together. 

"It [doing well] actually makes you feel so much more excited and that what you're trying to do is actually going to happen," she said, adding that it "was super nice to come home and have some time off."

Indeed, Indigo should be pleased. Though he 7th place ranking wasn't enough to automatically qualify her for the upcoming Copper Grand Prix World Cup competition (the top 4 women automatically qualify), the coaches decided to award her a spot based on her terrific 2011-2012 season.

"Right now I'm in a really good place," she said.

Indigo, who's been snowboarding since she was 7, earlier this year won first place in the Best Trick category at the Sprint U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix, landing off an 80-foot jump at Mammoth Mountain.

  • Previously: Indigo Monk Lands Best Trick

In that competition, she also took 2nd place in Slopestyle behind Joanna Dzierzawski, 27, of South Lake Tahoe.

Of snowboarding, she said, "It's really fun. I wouldn't snowboard if it wasn't fun. It kind of just makes everything else seem a lot easier when it's something that you love."

Undeniably, her slopestyle road has been rigorous and will continue to be. Her success, she said is based on hard work.

"I know that to to a certain extent you do have to have talent to compete at this level but it really is just a lot of hard work. If you stay committed long enough, then things are going to happen to you," she said.

"A year ago, I would have thrown in the towel and said it was too hard. I wasn't landing contest runs. But it's just being motivated and consistent," she said.

Ever appreciative, Indigo credits her parents, siblings, coach and Ben Boyd for her success. "They make everything happen," she said. She thanks family, friends, locals, business owners and all for their support and donations.

Donations for Friday's silent auction include:

  • One week in Mammoth over the holidays donated by the James Family valued at $4,500 – 12/22-12/29
  • Four nights in Napa donated by Hannah Otto valued at $4,800 
  • Two tickets to the highly coveted American Idol finale
  • One jersey of Johnathon Quick (Stanley Cup winner - goalie to the L.A. Kings) - autographed
  • Two tickets to an L.A. Clippers Game
  • One family session at Kat Monk Studio
  • $100 gift certificate to Wrights and Beehive
  • One Week of CampSurf
  • One Signature Treatment at Trilogy Spa
  • Two concert tickets to AWOL Nation
  • Two concert tickets to Pennywise
  • Two concert tickets to Social Distortion

 

  • Previously: Indigo Monk Makes Juniors World Team


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