Age: 36
Occupation: Founder, Mountain Shredder Snowboarding Club
Like many Calgarians, Sophia Zhang is a recreational snowboarder. At least she was, before founding Mountain Shredder Snowboard Club (MSC) in 2021 after her husband, also a recreational snowboarder, found taking lessons too pricey to continue the sport.
Zhang initially started MSC to provide affordable, high-quality training to snowboarders. She combined her business background and recreational experience to build the club by hiring coaches to create lesson plans and training guides for athletes.
In just five years, the club has trained dozens of competitive snowboarders who have competed in global competitions. As a woman of colour, Zhang was intentional about building a foundation of equal opportunity for all athletes. In 2024, MSC co-launched Calgary’s first Indigenous snowboarding program in partnership with the Indigenous Sport Council of Alberta and Alberta Snowboard, which grew from five athletes to 24 across Edmonton and Calgary in two years.
In 2024, she also established an all-female training team at MSC with the aim of keeping teen girls in the sport. Several of MSC’s 100 annual athletes have represented Canada and Calgary on worldwide stages. Five MSC athletes were chosen to represent Canada at the 2026 World Junior Championships, and 10 of Team Alberta’s 13 athletes trained at MSC for the 2025/2026 season.
“Being able to see more stars rising from Calgary, and starting to see Calgary kids dominating in all these competitions in North America and now the world stage [is amazing],” says Zhang, who has now also served as a certified official at five International Ski and Snowboard Federation Snowboard World Cups in Canada.
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