Kids stoked to ride with the SBX pros in SSA Futures SBX Festival

  
Images (above): Matt Thomas & group | Georgia Baff | warm up with Chumpy

  
Images: Adam Lambert & group | Participants Jessi & Courtney Bartlett | jump starts with Chumpy 

See SSA's Facebook for all the pics

The kids couldn’t get enough riding with their Snowboard Cross idols in the SSA Futures SBX Festival at Mt Hotham over the weekend.

Following on from the high energy of the Australian NZ Cup on Thursday and Friday that saw Georgia Baff, Cam Bolton and Alex Pullin taking gold over the two races, the senior athletes took to a different role of mentor and coach for SSA Futures to teach the next generation of SBX riders what it takes to be World class.

Baff, Bolton and Pullin were joined by fellow OWIA and NSWIS teamates; Adam Lambert, Matt Thomas, Emily Boyce, Josh Miller and Adam Dickson, to lead groups of boys and girls in the Futures sessions and train ahead of the Hotham Junior Rider X on the Sunday.

Sixty-six children and teenagers from resorts all over Australia who participated in Futures got to shred with the best and enjoy some of Hotham’s terrain in bluebird conditions on Saturday.  Matt Thomas took his group over to The newly opened Orchard area to practice and play on natural features while others hit up Heavenly Valley before hitting the SBX course for jump start drills and mock heats.

SSA’s SBX Emerging Talent Scholarship (ETS) team also participated with Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin as their coach, demonstrating his expertise and experience from two World Championship titles and two Olympic Winter Games.

He gave them lots of tips and coaching on the track and also said he wanted to show how they could train without an SBX track, which meant for some big rips around the mountain during a warm up.

Regular Futures participants Jessi, 12 and Courtney Bartlett, 14 (pictured) from Hotham Snowboarders Inc. were stoked to be able to ride with Georgia Baff and Emily Boyce as Jessi’s coach and Josh Miller as Courtney’s coach.

“It’s such a great opportunity for the girls to ride with the senior athletes that they look up to and aspire to with their own snowboarding goals” said Amber McKellar-Bartlett, Jessi and Courtney’s mum. “Jessi also said that Cam (Bolton) is a legend!”

On Sunday, conditions changed to wet and windy with low visibility for Hotham’s Junior Rider X.  

Despite the soft conditions, Courtney gave ETS riders a run for their money in the junior girls to come third behind Georgia Crisp and Tina Taylor in second and first, while Finn Sadler, Kye Chaplin and Kobi Dent took first, second and third in the junior boys.

See full results of the Hotham Junior Rider X.

Up next for SSA Futures: Park & Pipe snowboard and freeski sessions at Perisher 9-10 August.

Alexandra Rouse
Ski & Snowboard Australia