Torah Bright Interview

Interviewer: Anthony Crute – Pro Rider and Head Coach of Pro Ride Snowboard Camp, Whistler, Canada. – www.pro-ride.com

Sponsors: Salomon, Roxy, Gravis, Boost Mobile, Sobe, 8000 Reverse

Age:18

Background
Initially from Cooma NSW. One hour from the mountains, and an hour half from the beach. Torah first started snowboarding 7 years ago due to a poor snow season in Australia. She was sick of skiing, so she picked up a board due to her brothers influence.

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Where is your home mountain?
My home mountain is Perisher Blue, located in the Snowy Mountains in Australia.

How did you get into snowboarding?
First got into competitions through the interschool competitions. I stared gate racing due to my previous ski racing background. From there I started competing on the Australian circuit with halfpipe and boardercross. My brother Ben was into jumping and steered me towards the freestyle side of snowboarding.

When did you first get noticed?
I went to Mammoth Mountain when I was 15 and joined the Mammoth snowboard team so I could be in the mountains and still be looked after – the family I was staying with had a daughter who was on the team so it worked out well. Prior to going to Mammoth I was riding for Burton and Roxy in Australia. When I got to the US, Roxy US started taking me to the contests and I managed to get some results and one thing led to another.

What about school?
Well I’m all done now – back then I was doing correspondence from year’s 8,9,10 ,11 and 12. They allowed me to travel the world and do what I wanted to do – the correspondence education was thorough as you have to have everything done and in on time. Now I am totally relieved to be finished. I can now watch movies, read books and hang out.

What’s the plan now for this season?
It’s one year before the next winter Olympics so I am trying to get qualified for Turin in Italy – I’m working on new tricks to stay competitive plus traveling the globe to do other contests like slopestyle’s – and doing what the sponsors want me to do. Hopefully some filming if I get the time.

Which sponsors have the most the most influence over what you do?
Mainly Roxy and Salomon have the most team photo shoots and marketing photo shoots. There are usually two or three a year of these a year plus they want you to attend all the big events like the US Open and the Grand Prix Events. Plus attend the events they are sponsoring.

Do you ever get any time off?
It’s hard to find time off as when I’m not in the Northern Hemisphere winter I follow the snow to the Southern Hemisphere winter. That is when I meet sponsor commitments in Australia and do the Australian events.

What’s your favorite place to ride?
I really like the St Moritz area in Switzerland. There is so much to offer there – the resorts are massive and the inbounds area of the ski area offers heaps to ride.

Favorite place to hang out - not snow related?
It has to be Australia – anywhere there is beach?

What advice do you have for female riders who want to take their riding to the next level and get involved in the competition side of the sport?
The hardest thing I can imagine is feeling confident going into competitions where there are men as well as females doing the sane sport. You kind of have to block that all out and go into your own little world of progression and focus on your own riding development.

What the best way to get started in competitions?
Start with local competitions – if you can get your own group of friends who go in together is the best way – this way you have a support base and you work your way from there.

From those early years of competing did you ever think that you would be on track to compete in the Olympics?
I guess I had thought about it because my older sister Rowena was working toward the Olympics for skiing. Once I started doing well in the snowboard events it crossed my mind – only in the past few years has it become more of a reality and I am working toward that now.

Why do you like snowboarding so much?
Because it is an outdoor sport – growing up we were always outdoors as a family and it helped us get along. Most of all I like the feeling in the pipe and jumps – where you can feel like a bird in flight – that lofty feeling. I really want to learn how to fly and I want to learn to rally car race so snowboarding combines the two. Plus I am out in the mountains.

Do you have any last words?
“If you don’t eat your beans you don’t get any pudding” Pink Floyd

if you want to improve your riding then check out www.pro-ride.com as this is where Torah learnt her first 360.

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