USA Skateboarding (USAS) and its new CEO, Johnny Schillereff, have named industry expert Daniel Gale as its new General Manager. Johnny brought Gale in as his first order of business, saying this about Gale; “Daniel has vast experience within the non-profit and high-performance arena. That, combined with his deep roots as a skateboarder, and his extensive background with the United States Olympic Paralympic Committee (USOPC), adaptive programming, and community, make him instrumental in our turnaround; and a perfect fit with the new USAS’s DNA.”
Schillereff and Gale have worked on many adaptive initiatives through Adaptive Action Sports and Element Skateboards, which Johnny founded. “Johnny has an incredible vision and passion for USA Skateboarding and the skateboard community, a deep-rooted drive to help people, and an excellent track record in success with his countless business ventures. I’m excited and honored to work with him on this project.” - said Gale.
Gale, Executive Director at AAS (Adaptive Action Sports), a sports organizer at Dew Tour and X Games since 2015. Daniel co-founded AAS, a nonprofit organization, in 2005 with his wife, Amy Purdy, and was instrumental in bringing snowboarding into the Paralympics. Through AAS, Gale has gained extensive experience in athlete development, high-performance training, and pipeline programming with USOPC compliance and non-profit operations.
Daniel aims to similarly help USA Skateboarding lead the charge towards the Paris 2024 and LA 2028 games by putting the athletes first and making adaptive programming part of the DNA of USA Skateboarding. “Our goal is to one put the athletes first, make them our priority above all. The second is to create a pipeline to the Games that go from recreational levels to an open class and to the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Third, we’ll create the strongest membership program to date. Over 8 million people skateboard in the US. We want them all to feel welcome. Fourth, and most importantly, we envision the USA Nationals Team being “one team” - which includes our adaptive skaters. If you’re on the team, you’re on the team.”
Gale grew up in the Washington, DC, region with deep roots in skateboarding. He is currently based in Silverthorne, Colorado, near the USOPC headquarters, where skateboarding has been a crucial part of his high-performance training program for snowboarders.
Daniel hit the ground running in his new role, and with an outstanding new executive team at USA Skateboarding, he is thrilled to help take the organization to the next level.
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Adaptive Programing PDF - (LINK HERE)