Roundy said the freedom of being on her own and unhindered by anything except her own fear was a turning point in her life. She started competing in local races against able-bodied athletes. It wasn’t until 2009 that she started to consider Paralympic dreams.
“That was the first time I took it seriously,” she said. “I went to New Zealand and did a World Cup, and it was at that point that I said, “Yeah, I really want to be able to go to the Paralympics. I want to see this sport succeed.’”
At the time, snowboarding wasn’t included in the Paralympic program. She said that until the sport was embraced by the Paralympic movement, finding financial support was extremely difficult.
“Until you reach that Paralympic level, the support and the funding just really isn’t there,” she said.
“There’s been a lot of people come and gone and who didn’t make it to this point,” she said of making the 2014 U.S. team. “There’s been injuries, life changes, people getting married and moving on with their lives.”
“The biggest thing we get (out of being included) is that we get people excited about the sport,” she said. “It would push it to where we haven’t been able to on our own. We want people to see there are no limitations.”