Year 11 snowboarder Txema Mazet-Brown reports on his 2021 season, and has some exciting news...
I want to thank you for all your support. This winter season was very exciting as I did very well in competitions and learnt some bigger tricks.
The season started off at Snow Planet where I did a training camp and competed in a rail jam where I landed what I was planning and took 1st place. I was so stoked to start off the season like this. Next I headed down south to train at Cardrona alpine resort in the South Island where there were 4 main events which are all part of the Snow Sports New Zealand Freestyle Series. I finished 2nd overall in the Men’s Open category which I was really happy to achieve.
In the first event I put my ideal line down and took home 1st. The second event was an online video submission where you submit 5 different tricks in a line. I didn't get one of my best tricks on film but the rest were great, and I got 3rd. The third event was on the big jumps which was great because I love the big jumps. There was everyone that started in the qualifiers and then the top 5 got an extra run. I didn't land my first run but managed to land my second run with one trick which I had to replace with a slightly easier one. I got 5th so I got the extra run but didn't manage to land so I stayed in 5th. Some days are just like that.
The last competition of the series was on jumps that were not medium, not big, but in between. I was landing my safety run in training but the speed was very slow so it was hard to do bigger tricks. I landed my first run which put me into first. My second run I didn’t quite land it and finished the event in 3rd. For the total series of all these events combined I finished 2nd overall - which was a good result!
At the end of the season, New Zealand Snow Sports ran a mock comp to see who they would take overseas. I had a great day and landed a lot of my best stuff including a back-side 1260 (3 spins and a half). A couple of weeks later, they made the selection and I was very fortunate get chosen to go overseas with them since they only chose 5 snowboarders out of 9 potentials.
I cannot wait to go overseas and do some really good training and improve my snowboarding. I will be doing heaps of training and comps and my main goal is to get top 5 at the Junior World Championships in Switzerland. This will be my biggest trip for snowboarding yet. I really appreciate your support, it helps a lot.
By Txema Mazet-Brown