Just been sent this press release from the lovely folks at One Snowboarding.

British Freestyle Snowboard Team coach, Hamish McKnight and snowboard Olympian Dan Wakeham developed One Snowboarding one year ago.  Both have had successful careers in the snowboard industry so the idea was to put their knowledge learnt from all their years of experiences back in to the new generation of snowboarders.

Their Development camps were run on an invite only policy meaning that for a rider to book on to the camp they needed to be able to prove there ability by being spotted by a scout or by submitting video footage of themselves in action.
Last winter these camps received a great turn out with a brilliant response. Riders who had learned new tricks with the One Snowboarding crew found themselves stood on the podium at the British Championships.

With the whole shake up in British Snow Sports last winter as Snowsports GB went in to administration it made sense for One Snowboarding to take on the junior team as they had already proven themselves to be successful in this field.  Although the British Snowboard Association (BSA) will govern all GB teams, One Snowboarding will be responsible for all on snow activities.
In the past the Junior Program has been run with a small number of riders paying into a big pot of funds for the season. This proved difficult for some people, so now we have been able to design and set up our own system which works more like “pay as you go”. Working with the Freestyle and SBX coaches the new Junior Program is a much more flexible and dynamic way of progressing our athletes to the highest level.
The One Snowboarding Team Coaches, made up of professional snowboard athletes and Olympians – all with level 2 BASI Coaching qualification, implement a unique program written by Hamish McKnight which covers not only on hill training but class room style seminars covering, Biomechanics, Judging, competition planning (including building the right comp run) and career management.
James Foster who is a former World Cup snowboarder and current assistant coach to the GB SBX Team has been appointed the Junior Team Manager.  James said “Obviously each rider is different and personal targets/goals will be set once we get some snow time with them. There are the standard targets in the world of snowboarding that include Junior World Championships, European Youth Olympics and closer to home the Brits!!! With the new pathway and the inclusion of the senior teams the rise from junior level to world class is much clearer allowing riders to progress at a faster rate!”

It is no longer just sending your kids on a snowboarding holiday, it is sending your kids to be given the tools to become professional athletes or even potential Olympians of the future.

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