BIOGRAPHY:
When you're born in West Texas, it usually takes something dramatic to get you skiing. Kashima grabbed the opportunity when, at age four, his dad was transferred to Heavenly resort, on the south shore of Lake Tahoe. He responded to what he calls "a drastic change in climate" and started skiing, and started cultivating thoughts of skiing on the World Cup and maybe at the Olympics. After having his career best season in 2009 (eighth in the World Cup rankings), Kashima started the 2010 season looking strong with a pair of World Cup top-10 finishes. However, a blown knee sustained while preparing for a World Cup in January ended his season early. His rehab continued while he got his competition legs back in the 2011 season while he recorded five top-15 World Cup results.

SHO SAYS:
Not much went well for me last season, I was recovering from an ACL/meniscus surgery from last January. I got a week of on-snow training before the World Cup season started and I was playing catch-up all season. My goals are always set high and I don't want to disappoint myself like I did this year.  I want to get back into the elite tier of the sport and keep building.

FIRST TRACKS:
When Dad, a head golf pro at a course in New Mexico, not far from El Paso, took a new administrative job with Heavenly resort, which has that photo-perfect Gunbarrel run looking straight at Lake Tahoe, young Kashima learned about skiing. "I'd see Travis Cabral and Chris Hernandez and Travis Ramos, and I thought moguls were pretty cool, so I started doing moguls. I was 11 or 12."

OFF THE SNOW:
Sho coaches two camps in the summer: Mogul Logic in Whistler and CVA Trampoline/Skate camp in Sugarloaf, ME. He gets very excited for football season. He attends Westminster College in Salt Lake City.