A gust of wind fills the large kite.

As it billows out, it pulls its strings tautly, rising majestically in the air. At the other end of the strings (kite lines), a young man is harnessed. With his feet planted firmly on a mountain board, James Blick sails across an open field."I feel free," he says of the sensation known as kiteboarding.Blick, 25, is athletic and into extreme sports such as snowboarding, snow-kiting, paddle boarding, white-water paddle boarding, and kiteboarding."I love the adrenaline rush you get when doing them," he says.Perhaps he loves the feeling of being free and full of life because he almost lost it.When he was a senior at Pleasant Valley High School, he had a near-death experience in 2006 when he and four others were involved in an automobile accident that left the driver, a good friend, dead. Blick suffered a broken back and spent three months inactive."I walked around school with a pillow because school chairs were so uncomfortable. I just wanted to get out of Pennsylvania for a while and experience life because I almost died," Blick says.He made a major decision to quit school."I remember having beautiful Mrs. Hyde in first-period English, and she tried to get me to stay in school, but I had no motivation to go any more. I just wanted to move out west and snowboard," he says.He suffered from depression for a while and tried cyberschool to finish his last year in 2008."But I played more video games and golf than homework. I finally got my GED in 2009."Blick was in the process of buying a new professional mountain board online, using some of the money he received from the accident. There was a link for kiteboarding with the mountain board."It looked really cool and I wanted to try it, so I got my first kite back in 2008. It was a 5-meter foil kite and I fell in love with the rush of getting pulled and being able to launch yourself into the air. And you can do it on the snow with the snowboard or skis and you can do it on the water too and on the beach."A mountain board has a deck with bindings to secure the rider to the deck, four wheels with pneumatic tires and two steering mechanisms known as trucks. Mountain boarders like James ride on boardercross tracks, slopestyle parks, grass hills, woodlands, gravel tracks, streets, skateparks, ski resorts, BMX courses and mountain bike trails. Add a kite to the mix and you're practically flying.Snowkiting is an outdoor winter sport where people use kite power to glide on snow or ice. The sport is similar to water-based kiteboarding, but with the footwear used in snowboarding or skiing. It is like windsurfing except with a snowboard under your feet.At the age of 19, fulfilling his desire to get out of Pennsylvania, he moved to Colorado with his friend Tom Kelly. They worked at Beaver Creek Resort during the winter of 2009-10. In October 2010 he moved to Lake Tahoe for the '10-'11 winter. It snowed 550 inches at Heavenly Ski Resort where he worked and he went snowkiting and mountain boarding whenever possible."It's a lot harder than it looks. It involves multitasking," he says.He received some tips from other snowkiters but is mainly self-taught."The ocean is good training ground, but snowkiting is more fun."Five years ago he bought his current 12-meter inflatable kite he bought from a guy on a beach for $150."They're normally about $1,500."He has a teaching harness and can take someone with him.Blick moved back home to Saylorsburg on June 22, 2011. He took classes at Northampton Community College in July and in the fall transferred to East Stroudsburg University in the spring of 2012.He is majoring in recreation service leisure management.Part of his course requirement is to do an internship next spring. He's hoping to do that working for a kiteboarding school at a resort someplace warm and beautiful, doing what he loves. His dream job is at a resort area, possibly teaching paddle boarding or kiteboarding or being an adventure guide."That would be sweet. I still have a lot of thinking to do about where and what kind of internship I will try and do, either work at a ski resort or beach resort."Soccer also plays a big role in Blick's life.He played soccer from the time he was 3 years old but stopped playing competitive soccer after high school. Now he is a member of ESU's soccer team, playing midfield. He has played foward and defense. He is starting his second soccer year at ESU at a higher level and "I am feeling more confident in my skills this year."Blick enjoys traveling and talking with new people. He describes himself as an avid golfer (with a 15 handicap), snowboarder/ snowkiter and a paddle boarder/white-water paddle boarder."White-water paddle boarding is a growing sport that is a whole lot of fun, and it's a rush going through some class two rapids on the Lehigh."Staying in good physical condition is important to him. He can't think of doing anything better than his morning yoga stretches."I just got an aerial yoga swing to do inversions for my back. It feels great."He loves running in the morning at the park in Saylorsburg with his dog, Oscar, an Akita German shepherd."I have to keep my endurance high for soccer. Plus I do a lot of push-ups and sit-ups. I lift about once a week but I am more focused on running and sprints."His favorite foods are steak and ribs but "I have a full Italian mother, so I love my pasta too."Blick is the youngest of John and Elizabeth Blick's five sons. He has four older brothers: Bill, Pete and Tim Mackey and John Blick.He enjoys pretty much all music, "Even a little country and a little metal. I'm into jam bands. The music scene out west is much better."The people he admires most are his mom and "beautiful women."He says he would add to that list Scott Salvigsen, the owner of Stone Meadows, a fun foot golf course where James works."He is one of the nicest guys I have met in a while."He also ranks his ESU coach Rob Berkowitz and assistant coach Tommy Mustac in that category."They have helped me and keep me learning how to play soccer better."He is going back to Heavenly Resort in Lake Tahoe to work this winter over Christmas. It will be a working holiday because every free moment he has will be spent doing something on a board with a kite."I just love the feeling of being free when you are out there in the middle of a vast snowy meadow or a grassy field or in the middle of the water."