Across the Board 19-12-2007
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A Time to Chill: A Sonia Shaw Interview Junior Snowboard Squad, Packed Launch A Right Royal Event; King of the Mountain World Pro Championships |
Welcome to the latest edition of Across the Board from SnowsportGB which will keep you updated on all the latest from the British Snowboard team. Along with results, we'll be featuring profiles of the athletes and teams, will hear from the coaches and sponsors and will keep you informed about the main news and events throughout the season.
Snowsport GB is excited to officially announce the British Snowboard Teams for the 2007-2008 season. The 31 person squad is the biggest and most exciting Britain has ever had!
Eight elite UK athletes make up the British World Cup Snowboardcross and Halfpipe teams. The squad looks to be a great mix of experience and youth making it the strongest and most promising line-up to date.
The World Cup Snowboardcross Team will be made up of the in-form duo of Zoë Gillings and Ivy Taylor and the very experienced James Foster. The team will kept in the safe and skilled hands of Head Coach, Craig Smith.
The three 19 year olds, Ben Kilner, Sam Cullum and Angus Leith will be joined by the accomplished Lesley McKenna and Dan Wakeham to make up the World Cup Halfpipe Team. Watching and directing will be Coach, Leo Addington.
To find out more about the full 31 person Snowboard squad, go to www.snowsportgb.com/Snowboard.
Don’t forget that you can watch the team’s progress on the Channel 4 coverage every Friday night!
The 19 year-old rider, Angus Leith from Aviemore may look like your average student, but is currently ranked 63rd in the World Cup standings, with a strong ambition to take his position higher. 
Specialising in Half-Pipe, Angus performed with promising results last season. Finishing 28th in Lake Placid, USA and 25th in Calgary, Canada, during the World Cup events in March 2007, Angus’ results cement his good results from the 2006 Europa Cup. The British team’s hopes in “Gus” were realised too, with his 1st place ranking during the Brits in Laax, Switzerland, in 2007.
Angus also competes in other categories such as Big Air and Slopestyle, where he demonstrated all his capacities - twice finishing 4th overall in Slopestyle, in 2006, during two TTR ‘Ticket to Ride’ competitions.
With Angus’ greatest snowboarding wish: “Being an Olympic medallist”, he is hoping qualification for the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver will allow fulfilment of his dream. Starting his fourth season with the British Team, he remains committed to a future in riding.
Angus showed ambition in boarding from as early as 11, after having experimented with skateboarding. Rollerblades were too easy, and Angus found himself limited in tricks and sensations. Becoming a regular on ramps bowls and grinds, Angus also managed to rack up a number of injuries along the way.
With injuries being a risk in the sport, Angus remains determined to stay positive and push himself. As he says, you have to relax, stay loose, or don’t do it. When it comes to pipe, rails and kickers, Angus always pushes himself.
A Time to Chill: A Sonia Shaw Interview
Across The Board recently caught up with British Snowboard Junior Snowboard Squad Coach, Sonia Shaw and found out about her new role.
How long have you been a coach? 
I have been coaching now for three years and am also the co-founder of an all girl’s camp and mixed camp company called ‘Our Camp’. This runs week long holidays in the Alps and clinics at the indoor domes in the UK.
Why did you become a coach?
The main motivation for coaching came from wanting to show people that aiming a little higher and aspiring to achieve the impossible is something within everyone’s reach.
Did you have a coach when you were younger?
In the early days we didn’t have coaches. No one did unless they were doing world cups. Even then, the two ladies who aspired to compete at the Olympics; Lesley McKenna and Melanie lLeando, had to “borrow” other countries’ coaches!
Did you go through any formal training to be a coach?
I was self taught and learnt from riding in the right group! For me it was with my co-founders of Our Camp, Gilly Seagrave and Emma Rogers. Between us we have won most of the British Titles available!
How do manage your coaching and your own snowboarding career?
Being part of the British Junior Squad means that I can organise my own riding for my sponsors and photo shoots for Animal quite well as it is a part-time programme as the athletes still have school commitments. The rest of my time during the winter is dictated to coaching at Our Camp weeks and coaching for the Animal. Variety works well for me, and I love doing photo shoots and going on trips.
What is your coaching style?
Each individual requires a different form of coaching. I am not a push over but I realise peoples’ limits and try to build the individuals confidence up. My job is to get the best out of a rider. I don’t believe that can be done through bullying. I hope that the athletes and campers respect me through my methods of coaching as I do them for their efforts and results.
What is the best part of being a coach?
As a coach you gain satisfaction from the athlete’s response to your coaching and through their achievements. The joy of this job is helping individuals realise their achievements.
How are you managing the junior team’s performance?
The Junior team didn’t previously have a structured programme and I’ve worked to form the best programme on offer to the athletes. I’ve incorporated sponsorship in the form of product from TSA shops and unlimited snow time at the Sno!zones. This is encompassed around what an athletes’ programme should be, including nutrition, goal setting and physical training. I’ve also been fortunate to gain the experience of Lesley McKenna and other professional athletes for the team, so as they can pass their knowledge on to the younger athletes.
Junior Snowboard Squad, Packed Launch
The mother ship of all Sno!zone venues, Castleford played host to the launch of the new British Junior Snowboard Squad on Saturday 1st December. The event also announced Sno!zone and The Snowboard Asylum (TSA) as the two new programme sponsors. Sonia Shaw was also introduced as the new Junior Squad Head Coach. 
Shaw got straight to work setting quick-fire tasks, which saw the athletes and their parents equally involved in the bonding session - there was no escape for anyone! The tasks put everyone through fitness, nutrition and mental training, and goal setting; all of which are vital tools for athletes if they want to be future medal contenders. The team was then allowed a short break involving a quick yoga session before the next team building task…the climbing wall.
Sno!zone, TSA and Andy Mills the UK’s Head Judge for snowboard events all got in the act throughout the strenuous but successful day. The day ended with an exchange of rider’s portfolios which Sonia had asked the squad to compile – another important aspect of a ‘pro’ rider’s life. She also announced that each rider will be involved in a series of blogs that will be featured in Across the Board very soon, so watch this space!
Snowsport GB would like to say a big thank you to everyone who was involved with making the day such a success. Sonia Shaw said: “The day was brilliant! I think the athletes will benefit greatly from year-round coaching at the Sno!zone facilities and also from the support that TSA is providing the squad”.
To find out more on the British Junior Snowboard Squad visit www.snowsportgb.com
A Right Royal Event; King of the Mountain World Pro Championships
Zoe Gillings, Ivy Taylor and Tamsin Evans headed over to Telluride, Colorado on Friday 14th December to compete in the Jeep King of the Mountain World Pro Snowboardcross Championships.
Hot favourite, Zoe didn’t disappoint and finished in 9th place overall, despite a fellow competitor who was hot on her heels clipping her tail and forcing her off course during the final rounds. Ivy Taylor narrowly missed out on making it through to the next round and finished in a respectable 17th place. Tamsin Evans a newcomer to the team, who was competing in her first International Snowboardcross Event, unfortunately crashed out, but is determined to use the experience to her advantage and is already looking forward to competing in her next race.
(pictured right - Tamsin Evans)
Chevy U.S Grand Prix
On Saturday 15th December the British World Cup Halfpipe Team, including Dan Wakeham, Ben Kilner and Angus Leith along with members of the British Freestyle Team competed in the Chevy U.S Grand Prix in Breckenridge, Colorado. The huge prize purse of $10,000 attracted over 150 of the world’s best pipe riders including Steve Fisher and Kelly Clarke to take on the pristine 19 foot Super Pipe. The standard of riding was immense with Ben Kilner being the UK’s top dog and securing a valiant 44th position overall. Dan Wakeham linked together some smooth and technical runs to take 47th position overall.
Zoom Air is the airline of choice when it comes to flying our British Snowboarding team to Canada for training and competitions. 
Already a well established and successful airline, Zoom Air was founded in May 2000, by a team of industry veterans, with vast travel and aviation experience. Zoom Air now operates flights from the United Kingdom, France and the Caribbean.
With extensive travel throughout the year, including the recent training and competition in Breckenridge and the fast approaching 2010 Winter Olympics, to be held in Vancouver, the British Snowboard team rely greatly on Zoom Air.
Head Coach, Craig Smith said: ‘’When we started the program, the British Snowboard team was ranked 32nd out of 34 countries – now, we’ve climbed to 9th in the world. The generous support of Zoom Airlines is helping our athletes to concentrate on their riding even further – we’re hoping to bring home some medals from Vancouver 2010!”
For more information on Zoom Air and its extensive combination of scheduled and chartered services to various destinations, please go to http://www.flyzoom.com.
Tresspass Official Sponsors of the British Freestyle Teams 
The British Freestyle Ski team would like to thankTrespass who have sponsored the British Freestyle Teams clothing for the season. The high performance clothing has been really welcomed by our athletes, particularly when mountain conditions have been what is affectionately described as ‘challenging’.
News from the Moguls Team
GB no1 female moguls skier Ellie Koyander completes her first three races of the season this week at the USSA Selections events in Winter Park Colorado. These will run as FIS homologated races and will be attended by World Cup & NORAM athletes from the US, Canada and of course Great Britain! Ellie is looking forward to these races as the first outing of her 2008 season following an intensive 10 week training programme over the summer on the MT Hood Glacier and her pre-season in Colorado with her US based coaches .
