Player Profiles – SKUM –

How does the competitive side of SKUM work?
Sam: We race on dry slope and indoor. The first term we did a lot more dry slope as we compete in the King’s league which is a dry slope competition. There are four rounds split over the two semesters with seven teams from the north qualifying. SKUM snowboard team came third in the league; the mixed ski team came a narrow second, missing out by just a point. We had four teams qualify for finals out of six which was a great achievement.
Does this involve a lot of intense training and is there a difference in the type of training done for different surfaces?
Sam: We try and do race training once a week but it often depends on finances, we get most of our income from memberships and our holidays.”, we train on a Wednesday at either chill factor or Rosendale dry slope where we were for the first semester in preparation for the dry slope competitions
Jeni: The training is very similar although the skiing is very different.
Sam: We go about it in the same way but there is a slightly different technique. Obviously we much prefer racing on snow but interestingly at the start of the year as we trained more on dry slope, I actually felt like I was better on dry slope than I was snow, just because you practice more on one, it might not be as fun but it is definitely a more challenging discipline.
Are you excited for the Main Event in Austria and what are your expectations?
Sam – I can’t wait, It’s a week of competitions and parties with 50 universities and 1,500 students. It’s the pinnacle of university skiing, It’s on proper snow and it’s in Alps! I honestly I feel like we have some serious contenders this year for doing very well in the competition Our main competitors out there will be Sophie and Jeni alongside Gus Nisbet who qualified for the BUIS finals finishing fifth.
Jeni: From what I’ve seen the standard is really high and there is also great freestyle skiing to go and watch so it should be an awesome week.
Jeni, having skied with the Welsh National setup how does SKUM compare?
Jeni: Welsh national skiing is obviously a lot more competitive and intense. But SKUM takes it seriously too and we’re a really competitive squad so it’s still the same feeling. When I was looking at universities I checked SKUM out as it has such a good reputation on the university ski circuit and it was one of the main reasons I chose to study at Manchester.
Who is the person you looked up to in snow sports?
Jeni: For me it would be skier Lindsey Vonn, she’s amazing. I love watching her slalom videos.
Sam: There aren’t many snowboard slalom racers, it isn’t as watched as ski racing, so personally it’s not really someone I look up to but someone I want to do as well as which for me is Miles Mcneilly who was in the club last year and is now on the Great Britain development squad for board course, he had an amazing season last year and if anything I’d like to try and get somewhere that good, that’s the dream.
Sophie: I don’t watch many slalom videos as there aren’t many well known female snow boarders, I prefer it when it they head off into the woods! And also like watching freestyle but I can’t do it!
Do the race team play a big part in the social scene of the Club?
Sophie: If I’ve got a race the next day I won’t go as hard, but it’s still a really important part of the club
Sam: The competitors are very much the core of SKUM, it’s not a case of they compete and the social side is a separate part of the club, the competitors are massively integrated into the club. I think it helps because we do team racing so it’s really important to get on and be able to get it each other motivated, we’ll always have a few drinks together.