Snowboard Community Update - August 2023

Para Snowboard Coach and guest Snowboard Community Update contributor Nickie Rodger with Ben Tudhope

Hi all, welcome back to the Snowboard Community Update. My name is Nickie Rodger, and I’m excited to be bringing you the update for August.

First, a little bit about me… I was born and raised in Kelowna, BC, Canada. My home resort is Big White, and this year marks my 34th season on snow. I am the proud Mama to 2 boys (20 and 15) back home, and all things in my life lead to the snow and snowboarding.

To this day there has been nothing that has given me more family, friends, laughter, and joy than this gift of snowboarding. And it started me on a pathway that has led me to the farthest corners of our frozen planet, introduced me to some of my closest friends and opened my eyes and heart to some of the most amazing scenery I have ever seen.

Last year, I became the Snow Australia Para Snowboard Coach, and was thrilled to join Ben Tudhope and the team during the Northern Hemisphere season, where Ben won the Snowboard Cross World Championships and two Crystal Globes. 

We’ve had a tough year for snow here in Australia for the 2023 domestic season, but in spite of this we have had a great training season. We were joined by the Great Britain and Japan Para Teams as well as a Japan Development SBX team. It was good to have a few more people to join our small team in training GS, Start Sections and Pump track.

We had some really good Airbag sessions with both Para Teams at the NSTC in Jindabyne, and are proud to say that these were the first athletes with prosthetics that have ever ridden these bags in Jindabyne. It was pretty amazing to watch Japanese Paralympian Junta Kosuda huck double backflips off the HP bag! I guess it’s not a far step from the backflips he can huck and land on snow, but still super amazing to watch!

With so many hurdles for non-Para athletes to get to the snow, it's been amazing to see para athletes getting involved and joining our development camps. It's not an easy thing when most people in this country live so far from the snow, so to see people get involved and dedicate themselves to the sport is a big feat.

Sean Pollard and Ben Tudhope have both just finished competing in the ANC races at Mt Hotham, the Transfer Banked Slalom at Thredbo Resort, and are about to compete in the Hotham Boardriders Gunbarrel Banked Slalom in Mt Hotham. They compete against non-Para competitors in all these races, and more than hold their own! If you're out at Mt Hotham on Friday, come on out and watch them rip up the course!

My biggest tip for any snowboarder is to ride as much as possible, whenever you can. In good weather and bad, ride moguls, ride drops, ride park, hit all the hits, get as comfortable on your board as you can and when you are, do it all over again switch! Gym time makes you a better rider full stop; you’d better be strong if you want to ride 170 days a year! And never, ever forget why you ride - it’s the love of the sport and the gift of joy that it gives you!

Everything is hard when you start it for the first time, but if you want something bad enough it will be worth every ounce of sweat and tears you pour into it. And the sport of snowboarding will give you the greatest returns you could ever imagine.

Nickie Rodger
Para Snowboard Coach

Click here to read full update

In this edition:

• Huge Week of SX and SBX Action at Hotham
• Great Start for Snowboard Alpine Futures
• Bright Snowsports Future for Snow Australia Para Futures Athletes
• Snowracer NZ - emergency Transport Insurance for New Zealand
• Chumpy Pullin FIS JNR SBX Series Sweatshirt
• REMINDER: Full Fluor Wax Ban From 2023/24 Season