Q. How Go Pro
I have been snowboarding for about 5 years and win most of the rail jams at
my local mountain.....what i hope to get out of this (signing up for the
snowboard Szine) is help on how to get into pro competitions and stuff since
im getting bored with the normal competitions like the usasa competitions.
thanks
Troy Boucher
Hey Troy,
That is awesome how well you have been doing at the local competitions in
your area. Since you are already in the USASA I would stay in that and
keep checking your points standings and try to qualify for nationals. That
will be a little more competitive for you and you will be competing against
riders from all over the US. What you can also do is join the USSA and check the schedule for all the
competitions in your area. Certain events are Pro/Am which means you can
enter the competition against the pros and try to qualify for finals. Some
of which include the Chevy Grand Prix and the US Open.
Having sponsors is definitely not being pro. But it is getting the foot
in the door so to say. There are many levels of sponsorships. There are rep
riders who get product from their area rep to ride that company's product.
There is being on an Am team which includes the flow of product and in most
cases a travel budget for that particular sponsor. Then the top level is
being Pro in which you have all of the following the product flow, the
travel budget, and on top of that the paycheck for riding for the company.
There is a lot that goes in to it but this is the simple breakdown.
There are a decent amount of contests that are invite only. The list
usually consists of big name riders that are well established in the
industry, such as the Vans Cup, Arctic Challenge, and some of the other
events in the past like Nixon Jibfest and Boost Mobile Big Air.
I hope this helps and I wish you all the best this season.
Jon Callahan
Back to Q&A Index
of Questions
