MEET OUR COACHES
Brett Esser
TJ Casey
Brett Esser was born and raised in Dubuque, Iowa, where he discovered his passion for snowboarding at the age of 7 on the slopes of Sundown Mountain, with its 420 feet of vertical. Instantly enamored with the sport, Brett and his family soon realized he needed larger mountains to further his snowboarding journey. At 12 years old, he relocated to Summit County, Colorado, diving into bigger competitions as his skills progressed.
By age 14, Brett was competing in Dew Tour and World Cup events while balancing his education in public high school. Although making the U.S. Team for halfpipe, he continued excelling in both Slopestyle and Halfpipe competitions. Throughout his career, he achieved notable successes including third-place finishes at the U.S. Grand Prix in Slopestyle and victory at the Burton Canadian Open Slopestyle.
At 22, Brett decided to focus solely on Halfpipe competitions, building on his experience that included multiple X Games appearances and a notable 4th-place finish in 2016. As he transitioned from competing, Brett searched for ways to remain involved in snowboarding, drawn to coaching by his passion for helping his friends learn tricks. In 2019, he had an opportunity to join Ben Boyd's coaching team as an assistant coach, working with high-level athletes on the World Cup and Revolution Tour circuits.
During the 2021/2022 season, Brett coached four athletes aiming to qualify for the Beijing 2022 Olympics, all of whom succeeded, marking a pinnacle in his coaching career as he accompanied them to Beijing as their coach.
Today, Brett finds fulfillment in coaching snowboarders across all levels, from aspiring young competitors in USASA to elite athletes competing in X Games and World Cup events. Leveraging his experience as a professional snowboarder, he remains dedicated to supporting current and future generations of athletes in achieving their goals.
Rakai Tait began snowboarding when he was 8 years old. His introduction to board sports being skateboarding, he was inspired by Shaun White to try halfpipe snowboarding. Rakai first started competing in Southern Vermont at the US Open Junior Jam and in regional USASA events. From there Rakai made his way up the pipeline, competing at USASA Nationals then Rev Tours and finally World Cups.
Rakai represented New Zealand in the 2018 Winter Olympic games in Pyeongchang South Korea in the discipline of halfpipe. In his career he competed at the highest level, competing in World Cup Finals and the finals at the Burton US Open. In 2020, at the onset of Covid, Rakai decided to pursue other passions outside of snowboarding and attend university at the University of Otago.
In 2021 Rakai made the change from snowboard athlete to snowboard coach. Rakai coached at Cardrona New Zealand for the High Performance Center during the winters, working mostly with riders in New Zealand who wanted to work with him in the Halfpipe. From there, and for the last 2 years, he has been working for the Tahoe Ski and Snowboard Team under Scott Harris. He coached with team New Zealand at the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games where they had their most successful Youth Olympic Games ever with snowboard athletes from New Zealand winning three medals (2 bronze and 1 gold).
Rakai is very passionate about working at all levels and among all facets of competitive snowboarding. He loves riding, seeing young athletes fall in love with the sport of snowboarding, and finding better ways to inspire progression from athletes of all ages and skill levels.
Rakai Tait
TJ Casey was introduced to snowboarding at the age of 5 when his older sister brought a board home. Watching her ride it in his backyard was the coolest thing he had ever seen in his life. 27 years later that same excitement towards the sport still exists.
TJ competed for 8 years, attended various academy’s, lived with a few different family’s and he couldn’t be more grateful to the people he’s met in this industry. He was blessed with great mentors who instilled character traits that have served him very well. After his competitive career he felt an obligation to pass on what those mentors had given him. He coached with SSCV for 5 years after high school. He started the mini shred program which still thrives today. Creating a passion that will last a lifetime has always been his goal as a coach and he couldn’t be more proud to see multiple athletes that he coached as groms on the US Team today.
He took a hiatus 5 years ago to pursue his passions as a Cinematographer and boat captain. He found the success he desired in the production realm and is beyond excited to return to being a coach / mentor with the life experience and knowledge he has gained since. TJ also has invaluable experience filming snowboarding and generating content that riders can use to promote themselves to brands and national teams.
TJ Casey will be joining us this year full-time to help cover the full span of the pipeline from regional to national and international competition.
