SoCal College Students Kick Off Spring Break with Red Bull Pro Athletes

Vanguard students enjoyed their first day of spring break along with 500+ students from surrounding Southern California universities and took part in the third annual Red Switchboard event last Saturday.

Red Bull Switchboard is an all-day event that gives SoCal students the unique opportunity to surf and snowboard all in the same day. But that’s not all, Red Bull brought along two of surfing and snowboarding’s top pro athletes to join in on the fun.

Participants of the event had pleasure of riding and chatting with Pro Snowboarder John Jackson and Pro Surfer Jaime Sterling. What better way to kick off spring break than to ride and progress with elite athletes in their element?

The event kicked off with students flocking to Huntington and La Jolla Beach early last Saturday. They enjoyed breakfast burritos and a few waves with the bumping sound system underneath the giant Red Bull tent.

With plenty of Red Bull to go around, the students who weren’t surfing that day were getting pumped for an epic day on the beach and on the slopes of Big Bear Mountain.

For the very affordable price of $25, Red Bull provided SoCal students with an all day lift ticket at Bear Mountain along with transportation filling over eight charter buses with caffeine-wired college students aching to hit the slopes.

With Red Bull’s commitment to the progression of athletes in their respective sports, John Jackson talked about what events like Red Bull Switchboard do for the progression movement. “Any time you get a group of people together doing what they love to do, they’re always going to push each other, people are the progression, having your friends pushing you, its all about your company,” Jackson said.

Pro Surfer Jaime Sterling also believes people coming together at events like Switchboard stimulate the progression movement. “People get inspired on days like this. Beginner or advanced, you definitely progress when you have your friends push you out there. When you’re having fun is when you progress the most,” Sterling said.

Sterling, out of the North Shore of Oahu, had never been to Bear Mountain, but says his career as a big wave surfer has taken him all over the world. “I’ve been surfing from South Africa to Hawaii and everywhere in-between,” he said.

Sterling described the goal of the Red Bull Switchboard event as we approached the Geronimo lift line at the end of day.

“It’s all about detaching from your regular school schedule and our daily grind. Taking a break from all the reading and assignments and getting out there being free out in the ocean and free up in the mountains and just enjoying ourselves,” he said.

After a long day of surf and snow, the ride back home was not quite as loud or rambunctious as it was going up the mountain. As the busses parked and doors opened, 500+ college students rubbed the sleep from their eyes, stretched and dispersed into the cold coastal air, stoked to tell their friends all about their epic day at Red Bull Switchboard.