By Kyle Goon

| The Salt Lake Tribune

At first, Max Raymer wasn’t sure what to think.

The 16-year-old snowboarder didn’t know what it meant to be invited to the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games. Was it prestigious? Was it just another competition? Who else was going? No one seemed to know.

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At a glance

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Max Raymer

Selected to represent U.S. in the first-ever Youth Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.

Competes in slopestyle snowboarding, which utilizes long runs, jumps and rails.

Attends Park City High school.

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Then, he got his official Team USA gear in the mail — the outfit he’ll wear at opening ceremonies. Ever since, the Park City native can’t wait to go to Innsbruck, Austria, to compete against some of the best winter athletes in the world.

"As it gets closer and closer, it gets more and more real," Raymer says. "It’s the real deal, and I’m pretty pumped."

In many ways, Raymer is like many 16-year-olds. He goes to Park City High School. He has a girlfriend.

But with his feet strapped to a snowboard, Raymer becomes one of the best teenage athletes in the country. Among his peers, he stands out. He had strong finishes in events at Copper Mountain, Colo., and Mammoth Mountain, Calif., last month to qualify for the Games.

So when the U.S. Olympic Committee was selecting its team, Raymer was a natural choice to compete in slopestyle — new to Olympic competition this year. Dave Reynolds, who is Raymer’s coach on the Park City snowboarding team, says his pupil has taken a fairly sizable leap in ability over the past few years.

"When I first met him, he was just a little kid and you couldn’t necessarily pick him out as someone who was going to be really good," Reynolds says. "But he had the passion for snowboarding, and that has to be there, along with some natural ability. Now, he’s kind of grown into his body, and discovering his athleticism."

Raymer has been snowboarding since he was 5, but his commitments to the sport are ramping up. He’s been touring and competing at a higher level at spots across the country for the past few years, which sometimes can be tricky to balance alongside school.

He’s also gone abroad for entire summers to train in New Zealand, where it snows in July. It’s fun for Raymer, who has a hard time imagining life without snowboarding, but it does put a bit of strain on his relationships and leaves him longing for Utah.

"It’s definitely hard to pick up and leave your home," Raymer says. "With money, it can be tough on the parents, and they can’t come with me. And you have to leave your friends, your girlfriend all behind. It’s a pretty big phone bill."

Success is often bred through sacrifices, and a Youth Olympics invitation shows how successful Raymer has been to this point in his career.

Of course, there are still more places to go, more dreams to fulfill. Raymer says he has aspirations of becoming a professional snowboarder someday, shredding a slope on the Dew Tour or at the X-Games. And Reynolds says his student has a long way to go, but the potential is there.

"With Max, it’s all about confidence," Reynolds says. "He has the ability, it just takes him a while to warm up into his tricks. I tell him every day he’s good enough, and when he finally trusts himself, he does it. And then he says, ‘Well, why didn’t I just do that earlier?’"

For now, an Austrian vacation is reward enough. It’s Raymer’s first big international competition. Although he knows a few riders from Canada and New Zealand, he’s looking forward to his first-ever trip to Europe to see what other competitors are out there.

What makes it even more special? His mom, aunt and uncle are tagging along, too.

"It’s been the first time in a long time that [my mom] has seen me compete," Raymer says. "I’m definitely nervous, but super excited to experience this."

kgoon@sltrib.comTwitter: @kylegoon