SNOWBOARDING LIVE SCORING SYSTEM
TO BE INTRODUCED AT THE BURTON NEW ZEALAND OPEN
Wanaka, New Zealand – August 5th, 2010: Following the successful launch of the
Snowboarding Live Scoring System™ at The Oakley Arctic Challenge slopestyle last winter,
major events on the Swatch TTR World Tour have agreed to work together to expand and
implement the system for all halfpipe, slopestyle and big air competitions for the upcoming
2010/11 season. The Live Scoring System is planned to be introduced across all 6Star TTR
events in an effort to break down barriers posed by the current Overall Impression system and to
improve the presentation and understanding of competitive freestyle snowboarding as a whole.
In a tight partnership between TTR, the World Snowboard Federation, the events, judges and
riders, the Live Scoring System was developed as a completely new way to judge snowboarding.
The current system in use, called Overall Impression, focuses on a rider’s run in its entirety and
provides little to no feedback to riders or spectators on how a score is generated. The new Live
Scoring System is more transparent and allows everyone to clearly see how judges give points by
scoring each trick individually in a rider’s run. Each trick score is added up to generate a total
trick score that is then combined with a total flow score (how well a rider links all tricks in the run)
to make up the final score for a rider’s run.
The Live Scoring system will be used for the first time in both halfpipe and slopestyle at the 2010
Burton New Zealand Open. If the system is well received among riders, media and fans, the goal
is to integrate the system in all 6Star TTR events throughout the upcoming 2010/11 season.
However, based on the overall feedback from riders, spectators and television viewers from the
2010 Arctic Challenge, the general consensus is the system will be a major leap forward for the
sport.
Leading the development of this new judging system are experienced head judges Dani Kiwi
Meier and Greg Johnson who have both been involved with snowboard judging systems for over
15 years. Meier and Johnson have been working with top riders on the new judging system,
especially Torstein Horgmo, Andreas Ygre Wiig and Terje Haakonsen, who have been key
players in the overall development. Snowboard VM 2012, a Norwegian organization that will
oversee the operation of the 2012 World Snowboarding Championships, has financially backed
the development of the Live Scoring System and is also the current owner of the new system.
Snowboard VM 2012 plans to make the new judging system available to all interested events
within the TTR ranking system.
The 5Star Burton New Zealand Open will take place August 10-14, 2010 at Cardrona Alpine
Resort. For a sneak peak at how the new Live Scoring System will work, the New Zealand Open
will be webcast live on August 13th and 14th in New Zealand time zones and on August 12th and
13th in North American time zones at GO211.com. Check opensnowboarding.com or
GO211.com for complete webcast details.

Well guess what, if you don’t speak up or provide feedback things never improve, if the organisers don’t know that there’s a problem then how can they fix it?

Which brings me on to the point of this post. After my last blog post and some comments I’d littered around on Facebook the team at Soul Sports approached me to hear my side of the story, subsequently I have put myself forward as a self-appointed unofficial rider rep/agony aunt/bitching post and if at all possible, positive feedback provider on behalf of the snowboarders and free-skiers that compete in the UK.

I know from experience and conversations that I have had with a lot of the riders/parents/overseas outcasts that are involved in the UK scene that not everyone is happy, that many of us have issues and a range of things we think could be done better or differently, but do accept that we are not aware of all the considerations that affect the organisers decision-making. I also know that a lot of you don’t want to say anything to the event organisers/powers-that-be because you are concerned that it might affect your competition placings or the potential for you to gain sponsorship.

So what I want to do is give you the opportunity to vent your respective spleens and contact me with your feedback. I can then act as the middle-man and pass this feedback on to Spencer Claridge in a way that if you wish to remain anonymous you can, but also giving them the opportunity to get some constructive feedback from you. They will then respond by way of an FAQ so that they can a) clarify the reasons behind the decisions made, b) inform us about the issues organisers and staff face, and the work put in, c) share with us ideas that they have for the future, and d) ultimately, improve the events for all concerned.

This is your opportunity to speak your mind and hopefully get something done about it. I have warned them that I won’t be censoring the emails but please do try to be constructive and not abusive. I’m not doing this on behalf of Soul Sports I’m doing this because I think it’s about time we quit bitching and actually set about informing those in charge of the things that annoy us. I’d like to add that this is not solely about the British Snow Tour but the wider UK snowboarding & free-skiing scene, so if you have things you want to say about other competitions, events etc. then I’m more than happy to pass that on as well. If you would rather go direct to Spencer then I know he’d be more than happy to hear from you.

Please use the form below as a starting point, I’ve included fields for contact info in case you want me to contact you for a more detailed chat/email conversation but I won’t pass on any name or contact info unless you expressly give me permission

I spent last night pondering it with Jools and we’ve come to the conclusion that I’ll get more out of doing the Snowflex Series than I will the Snow Tour.  I may still be able to do the MK Big Air leg of the Snow Tour but based on the last 2 years, the kickers won’t be to my liking and I’ll either kill myself on the large kicker again or feel like a complete wuss for stepping down to the mini-size, so we’re leaving that pencilled in as a maybe and we’ll go if we have the spare cash at the time.

It’s such a shame that with such a great scene in the UK that the comp organisers can’t work together to get comps on seperate weekends, I can understand smaller local comps clashing with those at slopes at the other end of the country but when there are two main, established tours in existence and two out of 3 legs clash with each other it does make the conspiracy theorist in you conasider whether it’s been done on purpose.

So what’s made me choose the Westbeach Snowflex Series over the indoor legs  of the British Snow Tour?  Well I realised that despite the TTR ranking points I would get from the Snow Tour there’s very little else about the competition that will benefit me.  With minimal practice time and 2 competition runs I just won’t get the riding time to progress as much as I will do in the Snowflex Series which is a jam format with a 2 run final.  Add into that the consistent nature of Snowflex kickers and I’ll at least be able to use them as day-long practice sessions even if I don’t manage to beat the kids to the finals. Of course there’s also the issue of prizes!   Thankfully the Snow Tour is doing a dry slope weekender with all 3 disciplines at the Norfolk Snowsports centre in Norwich so I’ll be able to shred some plastic and pick up some ranking points at that instead.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the Brits this season as well.  With people already talking about not returning if it goes back to Laax (it’s quite costly) and others wondering whether they’ll go no matter where it’s held (for a range of personal & political reasons) it will be interesting to see whether the dates are announced quickly in a bid to get people signed up and committed or whether they’ll wait to see what other camps, competitions and gatherings are advertised before they make their move.

If you want to register for the Westbeach Snowflex Series you can do so here.  I’d post a link for the Snow Tour as well but their site’s not sorted yet.

The Chatham crew had filled their large slope with almost all of the toys they own, although luckily they’d only put half of their long box out meaning they were able to do a quick swap for the other half when someone fell on it and went through the top. It was the usual chaotic mix of kickers and rails with a good mix of lines, some feeling quite natural to ride, others requiring a more random approach line but everyone was having a great time. The day saw an improved turnout amongst the snowboarders with 27 hitting the slope, and the day saw a good mix of seasoned locals used to the Permasnow surface and those who were new to dryslope or who were used to the (IMHO) more ride-able Snowflex surface of Warmwell. Some stuck it out and got the hang of it while others decided to enjoy spectating rather than struggling to ride but the day was fun for everyone.

Once again the competition ran as a jam session, fun throw-down hour and a 2 run final and it kept to time as well (something that’s a bit weird for a snowboarding comp) . There were too many good boys hitting the toys for any girls to make the overall final this time round but we put in a good showing nonetheless. I finished 4th in the over 14 women and 11th overall in the snowboarders so I was pretty pleased.

Unfortunately for me the edge was taken off my enjoyment by having to ride Permasnow in the hot weather, having had 1 board ruined by the stuff and seen friend’s boards and skis also die in a session I wasn’t really able to get into the flow. Thankfully Ryan at Humanity’s special base construction that he’s used on my board held up and my Plastictastic has survived and is now raring to get down to Warmwell for the series final on 12th June. I can’t wait to get back on their Snowflex kicker and if the final is half as organised as the first 2 legs then it’ll be a great day.

Once again a massive shout of thanks has to go to the Southern Freestyle Club for trying to spur on a dryslope revival….long may it continue. I had a great day and it was even better to see some new people getting hooked on plastic!

Here’s a slideshow of Jool’s shots from the day, if anyone wants a copy of the shots just drop him an email at JoolsSmithPhotos

He also managed to fit in some videoing and Branny from [shred]punk! got busy editing the footage yesterday and you can view it in the [shred]punk! 3 videocast

Ep 3 – Southern Freestyle Jam – Chatham from branny on Vimeo.

Episode 3 of the UK’s Grass Roots Podcast Series
Another short one capturing a load of the sun, fun and slams at Chatham for the second leg of the Southern Freestyle Jam Series.
Thanks to Jools Smith for the footage
Tunes used under creative commons licence
The Priscilla’s- Timing

Permasnow is like riding ice, it’s hard to get an edge on and almost impossible to stop or speed check without falling over and it took me about 5 runs before I could find the biting point (I find it much easier to get used to Snowflex & Dendix if I haven’t ridden them for a while).  It was quite funny seeing the non-local riders making their first runs as we were all falling over and looking like beginners.  We soon got the hang of it though, and the weather was pretty much perfect for dry slope, light drizzle meant it was running at a good speed and the cool temperature meant my board didn’t get melted and ruined (as happened to my brand new board a few years ago).  I’m really impressed with the base the guys at Humanity Snow have put on my Plastictastic, it rode well throughout the comp and I was really glad it’s sturdy base coped well with the surface.

The comp itself was quite quiet on the snowboarder front.  The Chatham crew were in Las Vegas so there were only 9 of us.  This was more than made up for by the skiers though so overall there were about 40 competitors, cheering each other on and laughing at the slams.  It was definitely the most fun comp I’ve been to in ages though, it was great to be back on dry slope where people are supportive, encouraging and welcoming to all (something I think can be lacking in the indoor snow scene).  It was also great to have a comp that ran to time, had riders briefings and a structured judging system.  For once it seemed that riders felt they shouldn’t have been placed as highly as they were rather than all the other competitors questioning the positions of the winners.

The comp was run as a 90 minute jam session giving us all a chance to ride the multiple lines of the course and try and get a good mix of tricks down.  It was great to be able to try some new stuff without worrying about falling over, just getting back up and trying again until you’d got it nailed and then moving on to the next bail.  Then it was the fun trick throw down with the judges handing out Haribo and other prizes in exchange for some good tricks on each of the sections.  I wasn’t sure that filling Jake Terry with sweets was a good idea but it seemed to have done the trick, not only did he win the under 14 men’s category but he made it through to the top six eventually finishing 2nd overall out of all the snowboarders.

The final itself was run as a best of two run final, giving those that qualified the opportunity to show if they could perform under pressure as well as in a more relaxed jam format.  The top 6 skiers and top 6 snowboarders regardless of age or sex made it to the final and it was great that out of the 6 boarders there were 2 girls in the final.  Unfortunately I slammed on both my runs so despite finishing 2nd in the over 14 girls group I failed to beat the boys and finish in the top 3.  I’m not going to complain though, I think the right people ended up in the right positions and we all had a great deal of fun doing so.  A big shout out has to go to Sabrina, the girl I was up against, as it was her first dryslope comp and apart from a session at Calshot (which if you’ve been there will know it doesn’t really give you a chance to really get that dry slope feeling) her first time on dry slope.

The prizes were brilliant, ranging from boots to helmets & jackets and I came away with a helmet, shoulder bag and snowboard bag, so that combined with the fact that I got 5 hours riding for my £15 entry fee made it more than worthwhile!

I had a really great day so thanks to everyone involved in the organisation, sponsorship & judging.  I’m really looking forward to the next legs at Chatham (22nd May) and Warmwell (12th June).

I have just one request, please can we have less drum and bass and more hip hop in the decks?  Thankfully I was wired for sound via my iPod and i360 headband but I know that the majority of riders and spectators I spoke to didn’t really enjoy the tunes.

Thanks to Brian Miller (Dad) for capturing some of my slams…..as you can see I haven’t lost my touch!!