Across The Board 19-12-07
The World Cup Wonderers
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.
Don't forget that you can watch the team's progress on the
Channel 4 coverage every Friday night!
 Angus
Leith, Easy Rider
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
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!
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! more
A Right Royal Event; King of the Mountain World
Pro Championships
Celebrating yet another season as one of the most extreme
races in pro snowsports, the Jeep King of the Mountain series
prepares to kick off in Telluride, Colorado. A number of the
world's best wintersports athletes will be present as the
series of winter competitions kicks off, at its first stop,
on December 15th and 16th.
Zoë Gillings, Ivy Taylor and Tamsin Evans headed over
to Telluride, Colorado on Friday 14th December to compete
in the. Hot favourite, Zoë 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.
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 .
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