The Tin Cup Challenge, put on by the Community Foundation of Teton Valley, helps local nonprofits raise funds by matching donations by up to 50%. If you donate $1000 to us through the Tin Cup Challenge, we will get up to $1500. A perfect way to see your contribution take effect and help us grow!

Just go to the Tin Cup Challenge’s Donation Page, follow the prompts and you are done.

Or call feel free to call us 909.451.3789 or drop us a line if you have any questions or concerns.

Deadline to donate is July 25th at 5pm MDT!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOU SUPPORT!!

In response to this, we pose a question: how can we take a dynamic approach to these two problems – the dropping rate of school involvement and the worry of success – and come out with more involvement in sports, along with more enthusiasm about playing those sports?

Well, we think we have found the answer: The Trick Pit.

The Trick Pit is a local, community-orientated sports training center in Teton Valley, Idaho. At The Trick Pit, there is no focus on winning or losing; rather, there is focus on the experience of sports, the connections forged to others as well the community, and the positive effects of regular physical exercise. It hopes not to create an atmosphere of nail-biting tension, where you go home either happy or sad, but instead one of support, passion, and confidence.

The Trick Pit is all about pursuing one’s dreams. With growing emphasis in pop culture on extreme sports, many youngsters today find themselves idolizing icons like Travis Pastrana, Tony Hawk, and Shaun White. However, while the media focuses more on this culture, rarely is there a place for aspiring young athletes to actually go and pursue this endeavor. Across the country, it is hard to find many outlets like the Trick Pit; sure, there are private approaches to extreme sports, but there are hardly any community initiatives. The creators of the Trick Pit (as well as millions of others) have become resolved: we need this.

So how does this better the community?

The Trick Pit emphasizes, and will continue to emphasize, that it is a place to practice your craft, have fun, do homework, stay out of trouble, and support your fellow classmates, citizens, and friends. This drug and alcohol free environment is all about feeling good while doing good things. The fact of the matter is that 92 percent of parents feel sports are important to their children’s overall development, but that number is hardly representative of the amount of children involved in sports. The Trick Pit will engage the youth (as well as their parents) and encourage them to try to new things in a safe, sound, and supportive environment. This translates into more kids staying out of trouble and more parents feeling their child(ren) are actively participating in a positive, communal activity.

The benefits don’t stop there, however.

By Teton Valley and its localities supporting the Trick Pit, through funding, publicity, or any other means possible, it can expect to stir up serious national interest, perhaps even visits by celebrities like Rob Dyrdek, who are known for their spontaneous clarion calls for the causes they support, or even national media attention, which is consistently drawn to unique stories coming from unique towns. Surely, the Trick Pit in Teton Valley fits this bill.

In addition to that, however, because Teton Valley is considered among some as an epicenter of professional winter sports, the Trick Pit will be able to offer a unique and lucrative off-season attraction to these same patrons. This being so, with community investment in the Trick Pit, Teton Valley can expect to see increased tourism rates, more media attention, and more credibility as an area that supports outdoor activity and community engagement.

Aside from community support, the Trick Pit is currently looking for sponsors or investors to help fund further development and community outreach. The Trick Pit offers advertisement opportunity, unique integrative marketing approaches, and, above all, authentic consumer connection. Those interested have already voiced strong support for the venue’s direction – a trend that is sure to be continued.

It is our hope that with the combined effort of the creators, local government officials, local media, and all other supporters, the Trick Pit will become a model for others to follow. The mission does not hope for explosive economic exploitation; rather, it hopes to provide a platform for people to build a relationship with their community, each other, and the passion and love of their sport.

We urge you to embrace risk – we urge you to involve yourself – we urge to test your boundaries. If nothing else, just stop by and say hello. We’ll be more than happy to sit down, chat, and jump into some foam.

HELP SUPPORT THE TRICK PIT!

With skiing, boarding, skating, BMXing, you name it, that means taking the risk of trying harder tricks, hucking your meat of bigger cliffs, and putting yourself in situations that involves more risk – all of which increased the chance of falling. In my opinion, if you’re not falling at least a few times a day when you cruise up to the hill or hit up the skatepark, then you’re not trying hard enough. Without a doubt, to progress and advance at anything, we must consistently be pushing and challenging ourselves. Those gnarly body builders describe it as the “pain period.” Only by trying things that we haven’t done, struggling, learning, and then continuing to try it again and again do we improve our performance. Seems like common sense, cuz it is! It’s a frank issue of acclimating and touching that unchartered territory.

“To progress at anything, we must challenge ourselves and struggle outside of our comfort zones.”

When we push ourselves and most often fail, we find that we deal with failure better than we’d expect. Then we wonder why we were so timid to do whatever it was we did in the first place; whether it was hitting a jump switch for the first time, ollieing our first set of stairs, or whatever it was that we now looked back on and thought, “I can’t believe I was so scared to do that in the first place.”

We naturally seem to be inclined to focus exclusively on advancing our skill sets or expanding our knowledge, although the greatest advancement and education, in my opinion, most often comes from action, experience, and taking risk. And our regrets in life reflect this. In the amazing book “Stumbling on Happiness”, it states that “in the long run, people of every age and in every walk of life seem to regret not having done things much more than they regret things they did.”

Although playing it safe makes sense in some professions such as accountants and healthcare providers, but when it comes to action sports, we need to focus on the 60% that truly transforms you from good, to great. Our inhibitions have developed to shelter us and keep us save, but in many situations, they put a restraint on us and hold us back. Ultimately, it’s the ones who barrel through the discomfort, who are resilient in the face of fear and failure, and who hone down the art of taking risk who reach the highest levels of performance. Check out the epitome of this below; who does it time and time again.

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Do You Already Own This Tee?

Take a photo of you and/or your friends in Trick Pit tees and upload it here. We’ll post it here for the world to see! Bonus points if your throwing a trick in the pic. Check out all sightings of Trick Pit Tees.

Upload Your Pic:

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Sightings of this Monkey Love Shirt

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We will know if will be in this building or not (hopefully) by Friday night, Aug 20.

Feature info:

Drop-Ins

As you can see, we’re planning on having three different sized drop-ins. The middle one is the largest measuring 15 feet high, next highest is the one closest to the wall measuring 13 feet and the last drop-in will be 10 feet.

Foam Pit

As of now, the dimensions for the foam pit are 30 feet x 20 feet x 6 feet high (sloped down to the 5 foot jump). In order to fill a foam pit this size we will need 8,500 8″x8″x8″ foam cubes.

Resi Jump

The resi jump will be paired next to the foam pit so you can use the same drop-ins and launch ramp. The launch ramp is 5 feet high and the table top on the resi is 8 feet long with another 18 feet of resi sloped down to the ground.

What is a Resi Jump?

Well going from the foam pit to a jump box or table top is a big step. So a resi jump is something where you don’t get as hurt as on a jump box if you screw up a jump, but still be able to ride out if you land your trick. Now how is this done you ask? Well, the deck and the landing are lowered, and filled with foam and then topped with a rubber plate.

Street Skate Area

This area will not be empty like in the pictures below – we are going to leave what kind of features will be there to the skatepark building pros. That way we’ll be able to best utilize the space with bmx, skate and inline elements.

Trampoline

The trampoline is for practicing anything and everything – getting use to backflips, practicing a kickflip with a skate deck or just doing huge double corks into the foam pit. We have a jib box set up next the tramp so you can throw a board on your feet and practice your stalls, handplants, or whatever your creative mind can conjure.

Hangout/Chill Zone

The chill zone is for everybody. A great place to get some homework done? Or if you just want to hang out, read a Powder mag, watch some extreme sports on the TV and sip on a smoothie, or just sprawl out on a couch after a long day of throwing down.

These are only some of the features you will see at The Trick Pit and we are always open to suggestions. So if you think you have a good idea, throw a comment down below and let us know, thanks!

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Extreme sports enthusiast Scott Smith has broken 42 bones in his body over time. He’d rather his children, follow in his footsteps, would make softer landings.
That’s the main reason he’s behind a proposal to bring The Trick Pit to Driggs.
Partners Matt Prindle and Skyler Hansen, both 20, are ready to build The Trick Pit, an indoor action sports training center geared toward extreme sports enthusiasts and youngsters who just want a place to hang out, watch TV or do homework. Their goal is to establish their business in the Driggs, City Center.
“It’ll be like a skate plaza, with ramps and drop-ins,” said Prindle. “The main focus is the foam pit, so kids can come in and train without getting hurt.”
The facility will offer skateboarders, BMX riders, scooters, snowboarders and skiers of ever skill level some serious air time. They can try just about any trick or skill set, from going little to going huge, double backflips, whatever they want to try, all with a soft landing.
“We’ll have some other training resources, like a resi-jump,” Prindle said.
The resi-jump is a normal jump that’s filled with foam and covered in plastic.
“If you land on your shoulder you won’t get as hurt as landing on concrete,” he said, “and you can still ride out your tricks.”
“It’s the step between the foam and the cement,” said Hansen.
The partners also want the facility available to the Targhee and Jackson ski teams, Hansen said.
Smith said his youngsters, Garret, 8, and Brody, 6, are avid skiers on the Targhee Alpine team. Rather than take them to Park City, Utah to practice aerials, “this would be a place for kids to go and learn their aerials without breaking bones.”
“What we need is foam,” Prindle said.
“Our goal is to have a 20 x 30 x 6-foot foam pit,” Hansen said. “It would cost a good $15,000-20,000 just for the foam.”
“We can open up once we get that going,” said Prindle. “There are so many people in the valley that, this is what they do. Kids do sports, they don’t go to the mall and shop.”
The partners will offer their own expertise along with coaches who will teach backflips and other maneuvers.
“Everyone’s really excited about it,” Hansen said. “It should be really big.”
So will the space they need. The partners said they’re shooting for the north end of the Driggs, City Center.
The Teton Indoor Sports Academy occupies about 4,000 square feet in the north end of the building. Mayor Dan Powers said about 11,000 square feet remain available. The Trick Pit will bring its proposal before the city council Aug. 17.
“The space would definitely work for us right now, but I can see us growing in resources fairly quickly and eventually might need more space once we are established and start expanding,” said Prindle.
“I want to donate roller skis and hopefully, I can help get some money raised up, to make it successful,” said Smith,. “ I really want it to work for those kids. They want to make a pledge that it will be a drug-free environment. That’s the place I’m looking for, for my kids to be handing out.”
“We want a place where the parents don’t have to worry about their kids getting into a bad environment,” Hansen said.
Prindle said the partners want The Trick Pit to also be the hangout for kinds in town.
“After school, come down and do your homework. We’ll have couches, tables, TVs,” he said.
Smith, a consultant for excavation companies through his company, Dirtwork Solutions, said he will use his expertise “to help them any way possible, raise money, put prices together for season and day and half day prices, and help bring them into the business world.”
Smith said he grew up as an extreme skiing enthusiast, and has been involved in extreme mountain biking and whitewater kayaking. He’s pioneered many first descents down mountain-bike trails.
“I go and try to find new things to do, and now that all my bones are broken, I’m trying to get my kinds into this foam pit so they don’t have to break their bones learning, like I did.”
Eventually, the partners hope to market their own line of skateboards and accessories. Prindle, a freelance graphic and web designer has developed logos, graphics and a website, www.thetrickpit.com.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to help the guys out,” said Smith, “because they’re definitely good kids. I think this is the greatest thing, and I think a lot of parents and a lot of kids are going to get on board. It’s going to be a great environment because all the kids are into extreme sports, and this is the safest way to learn. I hope the community grabs it.”
“It seems like it might be a good fit,” said Powers. “They’re ambitious, on-the-ball guys. I think the potential is there.”
For more information and to help the partners get The Trick Pit off the ground, contact them at info@thetrickpit.com or visit their website at thetrickpit.com.

Searching for a softer landing

Passion fuels New business idea with Trick Pit

by Hope Strong

Watching young athletes defy gravity on skateboards, snowboards and skis often begs the question of when and how they stuck that first jump. The learning curve can be unforgiving it’s made of concrete or hard-packed powder.
Taking freestyle sports seriously during all seasons, two valley locals are putting the pieces in place to establish a facility for learning the moves necessary to accomplish heroic acts on all things with wheels an rails.
Matt Prindle and Skyler Hansen are two 20-year-old men who are currently exploring the valley for the best place to build their business, the Trick Pit, a safe and exciting place for athletes to improve their bag of tricks. Whether it’s on BMX bikes or boards, these guys are trying to set up a shop that will offer the opportunity to acquire the skills to inspire the confidence necessary to throw moves on things a little harder than foam.
“We fear the unknown, but that’s where are the treasures are – so don’t worry about failure.” Prindle advises the novice who’s about to huck his junk. “Worry about all the changes and opportunities you will miss our on when you don’t even try.”
A foam pit different from the Fifth Street Skate Park, will be open year-round and will offer a soft landing for those learning their edges a little better. Hoping to eventually offer a ski and snowboard element to their budding business, Prindle and Hansen will focus first on establishing a facility for BMX and skateboards.
Though the Trick Pit is currently looking for a home in Driggs ,the business assets currently consist of a setup purchased from a similar operation in Salt Lake City. Included in that is a resi jump, the halfway point between a foam pit and full commitment… the concrete. A resi jump is a well-known option in the bicycle of cyclists and skaters who are upping the ante on their tricks. It consists of plastic surface with foam underneath to cushion landing that are not yet perfected
While the Trick Pit will be geared towards raising the bar for aspiring, safety will be a priority with helmets and pads a must. Though Prindle and Hansen have their own gear, they’re working to get enough inventory to offer rentals.
“You can only go so far, so fast with money earned from mowing lawns and freelance graphic design,” Prindle said.
With a lot of the elements in place already, Prindle and Hansen are looking for a home. Options include the Driggs Community Center, as high ceilings and concrete floors are really the main requirement in order that jumps can be set up. Other options include the yellow warehouse on the old Stock Lumber property located just east of the Driggs Municipal Parking Lot just off Main Street or another large building located behind the Best Western. Anyone with additional ideas regarding location is encouraged to call Matt Prindle at 909-451-3789.
While these guys are getting set up this summer, you can visit their website, www.thetrickpit.com, to find out more information and get acquainted with the technology behind this new valley business. If you don’t do anything else, be sure to check out the three-minute video on the site that illustrates why a foam pit is a good idea in the first place.
While the boys at the Trick Pit hope to offer training camps in addition to video and photography workshops in conjunction with Teton Gravity Research, the first big step will be finding a home.