Will's 10th Birthday and his first go at a video edit

 

Well its the little man's 10th birthday today and he's gone and got a flu bug which he is not happy about. But even feeling rotten hasn't stopped him from building most of his Lego presents up .
We'll post some pictures soon...  He has requested Chinese Crispy Duck and a Triple Chocolate cake which we made together yesterday..

Most of those presents were Lego !



Lego Sopworth Camel all built up!

One other thing that Will has been up to is making his own video edit. He found it a facintating process and spent a good few hours mastering the software and the edits that Thom Bodington took of him last Thursday. Apart from a couple of glitches mastering the music rights he did it all himself..

Will's TV appearance and Glasgow Grom camp

Its been a while since we updated what Will has been upto. He's been going to the Thursday night shred sessions at MK riding with the usual crew and  then went up to Glasgow  early December for a two day grom camp with Ben Kinnear. That was great as Will got some practice at Bearsden Dry slope even though its not his favorite riding, he does have a go at it every few months or so.

But Will really got the most out of the training at  Braehead Snozone . They did a fabulous job of the indoor double kickers and Will got to practice frontflips and 720 spins which he is getting really close to nailing..It's always great for Will to get to ride with fellow groms too and make more snowboarding friends..     GB Grom Camp in Glasgow

Also the TV shows that Will appeared in have been shown since we last updated . First he had an appearance in CBBC's Newsround and then the Friday Download programme which is below. It Features two fellow Milton Keynes freestyle pals Becky Menday ,who did the snowboard lesson and Jake Binney who rode with Will . Considering how nervous Will and Jake were they did so well and spoke more than we had been expecting.,..

Christmas has been brilliant and his favorite Christmas presents being his Lego R2-D2, his first ever phone and a new jacket.. We have Will's 10th birthday to look forward too over the next few weeks and we asre in the middle of  planning where and when to get Will out riding in Europe..

Whitelines Competion at Snozone MK

Last Friday was the final Whitelines  competition , and it was held at Will's home MK slope. He was really excited about it too. The Wednesday before was another late night sponsored riders photoshoot with the awesome Jools Smith. So Will got the chance to practice the park and ride with the rest of the Snozone Freestyle team before everyone else.
Friday Will rode really well with his favourite trick being a frontside thought the Whitelines down flat down rail, he was a bit disappointed he didn't make the final 8 but considering the caliber of the other riders that would have been a big ask for the little man. It's funny how his expectations of himself has grown.. Anyway he left before the end of the competition as he had taken a couple of heavy slams and was feeling really tired.. But much to his surprise he was awarded the most progressive rider of the evening winning himself a rather flashy new Ion video camera and a few Whitelines goodies.. So the little man is rather pleased with his prizes which were very kindly kept safe by Becky Menday's Dad Jeff until we could collect it all on Sunday.

Stoked with his most progressive rider prizes

So what next, well Will is having a day off school this Thursday to do some filming with some other young MK shredders for Cartoon network and then next week he is off up to Glasgow for two days of training with the GB junior freestyle team..

And then in amongst  all this excitement came a lovely new pair of Union Miniflite snowboard bindings from the lovely guys at The Riders Lounge..
Pictures to follow ASAP.

West Beach In and Out and other things

Its been a busy few weeks since the half term excitement. And Will has been having a whale of a time. So first up the was the West Beach In and Out competition in Milton Keynes Snowzone.  It was the second of a two part competition the first of which had been held up in Glasgows Bearsden dryslope. Will had not attended that one as it was a bit of a trek. but  he was definitely not going to miss a competion at his home slope.
 I do think that being his home slope allowed Will to feel much more at ease and he rode awesomely, pulling some complex tricks that earned him a place in the under 16 final. After a very long night of having fun doing what he does best,  Will came home with a sweet 3rd place and an armful of lucious prizes.

You can see a smile hidden behind the pile of prizes!

The next awesome thing to happen was that the lovely guys at Boarder Boards Snowboard shop have started a series of full page adverts in Whitelines magasine. It features some of their sponsored riders and first up was Will ! So he appears in Decembers issue which is out now !

Lastly and surprisingly the most challenging of his endevours so far was a chance to appear in a CBBC programme called the Friday Download. This was hard for the little man as he is very quiet and he was terrified of doing any talking. But the fact that he was going to be appearing with his good snowboarding friends Becky Menday and Jake Binney helped Will manage any fears he had. After some thought, he decided that he did want to take the offer up afterall.
 Its only a small riding part with very little talking ,but still it was a big deal for Will who took on the challenge and conqured some of his fears. He was told the programme is going to be part of the Christmas special on Friday 21st of December..

What a week!

Eiki  and Halldor Hellgason

It's been an amazing snowboarding week for Will. Half term stated off with a trip on Saturday to London to see the Freeze Festival. It was a really cold day but he had a great time watching the Big  Air competition  and getting autographs from the Helgason brothers and Salomon team riders  Jamie Nicholls, Matt McCormick and Will Smith.. Another highlight for Will was buying himself a new skateboard from money he saved up..

Jamie Nicholls, Will Smith and Matt McCormick

Then it was a quiet few days at home before heading out on Thursday night to join in the Capita  team tour. First stop for Will was Tamworth's Snowdome , where he got to meet US Proteam riders Scott Stevens and Jess Kimura and the rest of the uk Capita team and do a little bit of riding...He was really pleased that they both signed his new snowboarding helmet.
Thursday he met up with the rest of the Capita team at XC in Hemel  to watch them have a little skate ,before heading off to have pizza with the team. Will was pleased to sit opposite Scott Stevens who shared his love of the classic margarita pizza ..That night Will rode at Hemel Snow Center  where he had a great nights riding the freestyle park.
Saturday the rest of the Capita team went along to the Ski and Snowboard show in Londons Excel Center, but Will had a rest to recover from his late nights  as he would have quickly got bored of shopping, even if it was snowboarding gear..




Scott Stevens, Will and Jess Kimura

Sunday saw Will heading out to Manchester to ride at Chill Factor . He had a really awesome nights riding with the team and enjoyed jumping the two big gas pipes getting huge height and giving his old Mum and Dad a few new grey hairs. We were really impressed with how Will coped with meeting all the new people including a few heros, and we had a few compliments on what a modest, quiet  and talented boy he is. He certainly made us proud..

Will has a small feature

Will rode with the Salomon riders with the rest of the sponsored riders at Snozone MK earlier in the year. And it seems that he has  been given a little 'guest spot' in  one of Jed Andersons video's that has just been released. Talk about an honour to been seen  on the same  clip with an inspiring top class professional rider . Funny to think that thousands of people have seen that video ,and don't know that the little shredder in the yellow and green is our Will...

Team -vacation-jed-anderson

My Lovely New Capita Microscope Snowboard

Will outside Snozone Milton Keynes about to try out his new season Capita Microscope 125