GUEST BLOG: Will Tucker on BUDS 2014
Ski The Kingdom and Finest Hour bro Will Tucker gives the perspective of a judge and past competitor at Britain's biggest snowsports event:
On the 7th and 8th of November, Hill End just outside of the city of Edinburgh hosted the British University Snowsports Championship. The biggest dryslope in Europe hosting the UK’s biggest truly snowsports focused event.
I have been going there for the last 3 years as a competitor by day and as an alcoholic by night. It’s a very rare thing to find a place that truly appreciates the value of both those endeavors in all there great glory. BUDS has got that balance just right. It’s genuinely incredible to see nearly 1000 people get involved with skiing the kingdom. The vast majority of whom would never have seen skiing or snowboarding as anything other than a recreation, have been introduced to it as a sport. A sport that blends music, culture and athletic prowess to create a perfect melting pot of fun.
For the first time I had come back to help run the event, and it was sick to see it from the other side of the fence. I was bought in as the head judge, which I love as a job for a number of reasons. Maybe it’s because I spent too many years as a ski racer, but I can’t help but have a ridiculously technical thought process about most stuff I do. Which is probably important for me to control as a freestyle judge. I felt the experience helped me break down every movement of the riders tricks against the model in my head that I feel is technically correct, as well as being subjective about whether they left the technical model in order to add their own style to the trick! Rob Machon came on board who has incorporated AFP judging into his university studies and added another dimension to the judging, and Tom Guilding added humour and knowledge to the whole experience as the 3rd judge.
On top of this sick learning experience I got the best seat in the house to watch nearly 300 riders huck themselves off the booter and high 5 as many of them as I could for doing something sick or for doing something that was on the limit of what they were capable of. A guy landed his first backflip on skis and the 1000 strong crowd gave him a massive cheer before going back to cutting shapes to the bassey tunes coming from the massive stacks around the slope. He didn’t make the finals, but he had a damn good time, and il bet he’ll wanna come back for another taste next year, and I bet he has a bigger and better trick to throw. To see people getting hooked on the sport in the exact same way I did and to know they might have as much fun with it as I have and meet as many good people is a pretty inspiring moment to be a part of from which ever side of the fence I stand on.
The final train with more than 50 riders dropping within 2 or 3 meters of each other to throw down while the MC pumps the crowd and the music drops is exactly how a big air comp should finish and a party should start.
I was incredibly stoked on the event and I hope I did a good enough job to keep coming back and be involved with this sport on every level I can. Moving to Switzerland next week with the plan to move my teaching and coaching career forwards, but mostly to focus on my riding and explore how much progression I can find in the back country and the park. Huge thanks to Finest Hour and to Whitedot skis for their support this season! Game on!
BUDS Judge | Finest Hour Family | Whitedot Skis | Ski The Kingdom
