At first look we thought the Gondola area at
Steamboat Springs in Colorado had been taken over by 102 midgets with
contest bibs on. Upon closer inspection it was clear that this was just the
first of many athlete meetings for the Next Snow Search All Stars Event
2007.
The next generation of athletes up to 13 years old earned their way to
this invite only
Nationally televised event by being the top boy and girl
skier or snowboarder at one of the Super-qualifiers held through out the US.
In addition members of the 25 kids from the Sports Illustrated Kids Next
Snow Team as well as various kids from past All Star teams up to age 16 were
ready to give it their all in this unusual contest format.
(Photos left and right by Chad Carbone)
It
works like this, 9-16 year old skiing & snowboarding athletes compete in
three disciplines over the course of three days, Skier & Snowboard Cross,
Slopestyle and Halfpipe. In addition, the Big Air is an invite only
exhibition that involves a very big jump at night complete with fire and a
Cartoon show projected on the landing.
There are awards for top three in
each discipline along with overall athlete awards. Sportsmanship plays a
part of the scoring with judges lurking among the athletes during the three
day contest and giving extra points to those that go out of their way to
help fellow competitors and subtracting points from those that prefer to
throw their equipment or turn a cold shoulder to their peers. The goal seems
to be recognizing the gifted ski & snowboard athletes of the future that
best represent the winter sports community by being well rounded, passionate
and positive.
Steamboat
rolled out the red carpet for this event, executing all aspects of the
contest flawlessly once again. Not an easy task at all considering that most
contests only involve only one of the four disciplines that make up the
yearly Next Snow All Star event. According to Loon Mtn coach Travis Moore,
“Steamboat did an exceptional job providing the athletes with a super
creative Slopestyle course, perfectly groomed Superpipe and an impressive
Boardercross course that was really fun while still challenging the
athletes.” The disciplines were contained within the Mavericks Terrain Park
area of Steamboat with the entire area being serviced by its own lift to
ensure a maximum amount of laps through the various freestyle venues.
We
were greeted by fresh snow and bluebird skies on Saturday morning. All over
Steamboat we spotted partially submerged Next Snow athletes shredding their
way through the unbelievably light champagne powder and perfectly spaced
trees that Steamboat is known for having. This event is all about getting
out there after all and instead of the normal waiting game that is played at
contests, Next Snow athletes took full advantage of the conditions to shred
with their new & old friends from across the US. It was quite refreshing to
see the next generation of young skiers & snowboarders ripping it up
together side by side with huge smiles on their faces.
There
were plenty of activities through the weekend to keep both parents and kids
busy both on and off the hill. Title sponsor Nike 6.0 provided a really fun
and diverse snowskate park at the base area of the mountain that was full
with kids and adults every time I looked over. Cartoon Network projected a
full cartoon using lasers on the landing of the jump on Saturday night. The
awards ceremonies each night were more like mini parties complete with
fireworks, free pizza, paper airplane contests, aluminum foil sculpture
contests and dance offs. Prizes ranged from the large mystery grab bag of
“stuff” to Xbox 360’s. Kids still in all their gear from shredding past dark
filled the room to cheer on the winners of each division and hang out with
their newly found friends from all over the US.
Listed
below is a link that will take you the results for the 2007 Next Snow All
Star Event held at Steamboat. However through being a part of the event I
found that this list isn’t really what the Next Snow Search is all about,
and that is what makes this competition so cool. A huge thanks goes out to
Steamboat for hosting this event and doing such an exceptional job as a
venue for the next generation of Olympic hopefuls and powder hungry rippers.
See the action for yourself Sunday February 25th 2007 at 1:00pm Eastern time
on NBC Sports. Trust me, you will not want to miss it.
www.nextsnow.com
www.steamboat.com
Luke Shelley
Director of Sales
South America Snow Sessions
luke@sasnowsessions.com
www.sasnowsessions.com
