Dana Hollingsworth ’73’s Daughter Aims For Olympics

Dana earned fame as a state champion and St. Lawrence University soccer player, and Staples wrestler. His sons, Jeb and Kyle, were lacrosse stars at Darien High, then went on to play at the University of Denver and Brown respectively.

But Ellery, 17, might outshine them all. She has a legitimate chance to compete in the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver — in snowboarding.

According to a long profile by Tom Renner in the Stamford Advocate, Ellery trained for snowboarding by skateboarding. She spent 40 hours a week on it, many on a quarter pipe that her brothers helped build.

Ellery went on to become Rookie of the Year in the U.S. Open of Snowboarding Championships in 2006. She was the only female to earn berths in the quarterpipe, superpipe and slopestyle events.

Her career has taken off since then. This winter she finished 4th in the Winter X Games 13 in the superpipe, 4th in the FIS World Cup Halfpipe in La Molina, Spain, and 3rd at the U.S. Open.

In the past year alone she has competed or trained in Vermont, Colorado, California, Spain, Japan and New Zealand. She has a sports marketing agency (Mosaic Management), and according to Renner, Ellery is “the future” of the sport.

In 7th grade she began attending Stratton Mountain School. It has been an excellent fit, and she plays on the soccer team there.

Click here for the full Advocate story.