Fri, 05/14/2010 - 8:54amSummer shredding: One Snowboard Camps

One Snowboard Camps are offering two weeks of training on the glacier at Les Deux Alpes this July

Headed by Brit halfpipe specialist, Dan Wakeham and British Freestyle team coach Hamish Mcknight, the camps will be running from 3-17 July and will be split in to two categories: development and public. Dan elaborates on what they offer and why they will become an important feature of the UK's Olympic endeavours in the future

"The Public camp is a social week for everyone," says Dan, "The only criteria is that campers can ride to a basic level. The riders get to come and hang out with a crew of good riders and get advice and inspiration to try tricks. The development camp is invite only. If a rider comes to us and they thinks they have what it takes, then they can send us video links to earn themselves an invitation. We have scouts who are always on the look out at UK events.

"There is currently a serious lack of pipe riders in the UK which is a shame as the two highest funded disciplines in snowboarding are the two Olympic disciplines: pipe and boardercross. Unfortunately, if snowboarders don't take this money then it will go to other Olympic sports like ski-racing or curling.

"My passion in snowboarding is in the halfpipe, so who would be more stoked to get the kids boosting than me. To add to that I have been in a coaching environment for my whole snowboarding career. I have had the opportunity to work with world-class coaches, even Budd the USA head coach (Shaun White's coach). It is always helpful when you want to learn a trick if the coach can demonstrate or at least guide you from their personal experience or knowledge of actually doing the trick.

"However the camps are not just about pipe riding as a good snowboarder needs to be well rounded. It is fun to explore the mountain and ride everything so we have a team of coaches on hand including big air specialist Nelson Pratt. We don't want riders to come on the camp if they aren't serious about progressing. We asses a rider not only on their technical ability but on their attitude and their willingness to learn. If a rider doesn't prove this to us their invitation will be revoked. There is nothing more annoying for a coach when you are really trying to help by offering your knowledge and the rider just says "Yeah, yeah..." and then carries on messing about. On previous camps we have had some riders who really lap up my advice and that makes me feel great, it makes it all seem worthwhile, riders like Matt and Danny McCormic, Rowan Coultas, Garath Andrews and Greggor Samuels; riders who may not be sponsored to the max but have that glint in their eye.

"I am sure there are many more out there who have the potential to be the next Jamie Nicholls, all they have to do is to take that step forward. Summer camps are always good fun, soft landings on the kickers and soft pipe walls are ideal for learning new tricks. Afternoons can be spent mountain biking, playing sports like tennis, volley ball, cracking golf balls on the driving range or as simple and relaxing as just chilling by the outdoor pool topping up the tan. All the riding is filmed and at the end I put together a video with sections.

You can see the last camp video here.