Its headquarters are the spare room in the basement of Jon O'Brien's Holladay condominium - a small room with a computer desk, a couple of folding chairs and a cluttering of ski gear, posters and memorabilia, such as a furry black Russian hat his mogul skiers brought back from the Junior World Championships.

At those championships outside St. Petersburg, East High School senior Jay Bowman-Kirigin finished second in dual moguls, third in moguls. Teammate Bryon Wilson, who moved to Taylorsville from Butte, Mont., was fourth in moguls. Bowman-Kirigin also took first in the Junior Olympics this winter at Park City Mountain Resort, a performance bettered by Olivia Akerley, a Rowland Hall-St. Mark's student and Wasatch Freestyle team member who won titles in dual moguls and the slope-

style competition.

"I feel fortunate to have done so well with so little infrastructure," said O'Brien, a history teacher at Park City's Winter Sports School and the foundation's director. "We're working off of a computer, copier and fax machine."

The U.S. Ski & Snowboarding Association was impressed with the Wasatch Freestyle Foundation's results this winter despite its limited resources (a budget of less than $100,000), naming O'Brien's organization the freestyle development program of the year at the U.S. National Championships last month in Killington, Vt.

"When we won, I couldn't pick my jaw up off the floor," said O'Brien, citing stiff competition from well-established ski academies in New England, Lake Placid, N.Y., and Steamboat Springs, Colo.

The honor wasn't as surprising to the foundation's supporters or the parents who entrust their 710 children, ages 8 and up, to the tutelage of O'Brien and his dozen coaches.

"It's a really supportive program overall for skiing - and the health of the skiers," said Elizabeth Bowman, Jay's mother and a Salt Lake City attorney. "They're not concerned with winning at all costs. That's important for me. You don't want your children chewed up and spit out if they don't win."

Roberta Akerley, Olivia's mother, concurred. "It's emotional and psychological training as well as physical. These kids are all adolescents, trying to feel out their oats and showing some independence and rebellion," she said. "But Jon's a schoolteacher and he's dedicated his life to freestyle, so he knows how to deal with each kid individually."

O'Brien also was a competitor - 1983 Intermountain Freestyle Champion - before he started the program in 1985 while he was a ski instructor at Park City Mountain Resort. Shortly thereafter, he moved the program to Snowbird, where he received strong support from then-ski school director Junior Bounous.

In the early 1990s, O'Brien determined the program should be an independent nonprofit foundation. Snowbird stayed on as a sponsor and was joined later by Deer Valley Resort, which had been selected as the freestyle venue for the 2002 Winter Olympics and recognized the need for a moguls development program.

"We looked at the Park City Alpine ski team and decided we'd focus on freestyle because we had the course to suit them," said Deer Valley general manager Chuck English. "We were a little concerned about what kind of behavior we'd see from teenagers on the hill. So we set up some guidelines and Jon follows them right to the T. We couldn't be happier. Those kids are going to be the future of the U.S. Freestyle Team, homegrown kids on our venue. We're really proud of that." The program obviously impressed Wilson's parents, Bryon and Geanette, who moved the family from Montana to Utah so Bryon and his 13-year-old brother, Brad, could ski daily, do training jumps at the Utah Olympic Park pool and tap the collective consciousness of O'Brien's staff.

"The training here is so much more intense," said Wilson, 17. "My skiing has improved tremendously. Before, I might have been 50th. But this year I'm 15th."

Bowman-Kirigin started skiing as a 3-year-old at Alta and decided early on that mogul skiing "was the coolest thing ever and something I would want to do someday." He attributes his dramatic improvement to the training regimen molded by O'Brien.

"Jon's program helped me work on my mental and physical preparations, to develop all my skills - jumping, turns, technique," he said. "This program helped me get to where I am very quickly."

It also supported Bowman-Kirigin through one of the most traumatic experiences life could impose on a teenager. His father, John Kirigin Jr., died in Jay's arms July 2 after a heart attack while they were skiing at Snowbird.

"Jon and the coaches and all of the skiers and parents pitched in to help," said Elizabeth Bowman. "They were just overwhelmingly supportive."

---

Contact Mike Gorrell at mikeg@sltrib.com or at 801-257-8734. Send comments about this story to livingeditor @sltrib.com.

Top Freestyle Program

Some impressive results this winter led to the Wasatch Freestyle Foundation being named the U.S. Ski Team's top freestyle development program this year:

* Junior World Championships, Russia: Jay Bowman-Kirigin - third in moguls, second in dual moguls; Bryon Wilson - fourth in moguls

* Junior Olympics, Park City Mountain Resort: Olivia Akerley - first in dual moguls, first in slopestyle; Bowman-Kirigin - first in dual moguls, third in moguls

* U.S. National Championship, Killington, Vt.: Bowman-Kirigin - third in moguls; Wilson - third in dual moguls

* U.S. Open, Vail, Colo.: A.J. Burton - fifth in slopestyle; Derek Spong - eighth in slopestyle