PERU — At age 6, Oscar DeRoche was given a choice by his parents — skiing or snowboarding.

Seeing a video of Olympic snowboarder Shaun White left a lasting impression that made the choice an easy one.

Now 17, Oscar is heading for the USA Snowboarding Association national championships on April 2 in Copper, Colo. He qualified by being the top-ranked snowboarder in slopestyle and is 23rd ranked nationally in his age division.

Oscar, son of Alicia Farmer and Norman DeRoche of Peru, said he’s practicing his skills whenever he’s not in school at Dirigo High.

But he has also been put a lot of energy in fundraising to cover the expenses of his first-ever national event. With thanks to the snowboarding gear donated by Pinacle Snowboard Shop in Newry, Oscar has been able to sell most of it to friend or through Facebook. He has also set up a donation page at http://www.gofundme.com/792mxo.

Oscar said he was also told by Mountain Valley High School Principal Matt Gilbert that they will assist by allowing him to conduct a 50/50 raffle during the teacher’s professional developmen day to be held this Friday.

“For most of my childhood, the local mountain (Black Mountain) was my only affordable choice. It was always a special occasion when I got a chance to snowboard at the bigger mountains, such as Saddleback, Sugarloaf, and Sunday River. At age 14, I began working as a snowboard instructor at Saddleback Mountain. I worked there for two years. Working at Saddleback taught me how to be a responsible employee, and also paid for my pass,” he said.

“Last year, with some local funding assistance, I participated in the Gould Academy Competition Program. I spent every weekend from Thanksgiving to early April at Sunday River, getting professional coaching from the Gould Academy snowboarding coaches, and learning to compete in the sport I love. I have continued my participation in the GACP this year as well. Through competing in the GACP, I gained experience in leaving my comfort zone and trying things that I previously thought I couldn’t achieve,” said Oscar.

He admitted that many of the other Gould program competitors had been training since they learned to snowboard. “Coming to the program, I found that there were 12 year olds with more skill than me. Riding with a group like this really forces you to leave your comfort zone and improve your ability.”

To that end, Oscar is not expecting to do well at the nationals but instead, is going to use this experience to prepare him for what he hopes will be subsequent trips to this event.

In an email, he wrote about goals he set for himself:

“Having started receiving training much later than most of my competitors, my goal for this season and the season to come is to reach the level that my competition is at. I have been riding for 11 years, but I have only ridden freestyle terrain for two of those. I have yet to go to nationals even though I’ve qualified. I really would like to attend nationals this year and in the coming years, as I love competing and snowboarding. My additional goals for this year have been to work on bringing my slides from boxes to rails, learning 540s, and switch spins.”