Tom Greenway - Freestyle Skier

Tom is a Year 10 student at TEC. He is nationally ranked 11 out of 90 freestylers in the UK. His ambition is to compete in the Olympics in 2022, which are to be held in Beijing, China.

Of course all of this is very time consuming and extremely expensive. Tom is always on the lookout for sponsorship and a major sponsor coming forward would obviously enhance his chances of achieving his ambition.

Here is Tom's own article on his training and achievement so far. 

I first began skiing when I was 4 when my parents took me on New Year’s Day and apparently I loved it! I joined the Snowdome Junior Club and when I was a few years older I joined my first ski race club, White Mountain. This was a weekly session and I carried on doing that until I was about 9. On one session I saw some children, who looked about 14, jumping off kickers and sliding rails. I immediately wanted to try it so I began going to a freestyle session but carried on racing. When I was about 12 I began to feel racing wasn't fun anymore so that was when I quit racing and started really focusing on freestyle. Since then I have been doing more training camps and competitions all around the UK until I was good enough to enter competitions like the British Indoor and Outdoor Championships and train in the Alps.

I'm currently ranked 11th out of 90 in the country and came 9th in half pipe and slopestyle in the most recent Brits Championships held in Tignes, France. In November 2015 I competed at the invitational London Ski Show where I came 7th overall. Since the Brits in France I've had 6 podiums including two 1sts, three 2nds and one 3rd in more minor competitions.

I train, normally, 3 times a week in places like the local Snowdome but also Halifax, Castleford, Stoke, Milton Keynes and Manchester. Also the school have supported my training by allowing me time out to and train abroad - this is important because you can only train on really big jumps and rails in the mountains. The kickers accessible in the Alps range can go up to 20 meters in distance from the edge of the kicker to the knuckle. It is impossible to train on this size kicker in the UK.

My ambitions in freestyle skiing are to compete in major competitions like X-Games and Olympics but also I want to enjoy travelling all around the world skiing and have fun making short ski movies. Either way I would like to have a career in skiing.I'm currently in the England Park & Pipe squad who run camps around the UK and Europe so I can always train with the best coaches possible but also there is a lot of dry land training so my fitness is always up to scratch, I regularly go to tests at Loughborough University to see how I am getting on.


All Photos: Sean Flannery Photography & Racer Ready Winter Sports Magazine

Tom was in Laax, Switzerland at the end of January 2016. Here is his blog and short video of his training.

Last week I went to one of the best snowparks in the world, Laax in Switzerland. I went out with my coach Joe Tyler. I learned to spin 7's all four ways - so spinning 720 degrees both left and right and taking off backwards and forwards, I also began to prep for doubles on the pro line kickers. The pro line are the biggest kickers you can get which are normally 20-26m, these are the set-ups used in international competitions. The British Championships are held in Laax in April, so when I go back after half-term I will try my doubles and practise my competition run. I also spent some evenings at the Freestyle Centre, an indoor area which has trampolines and big foam pits where you can try new tricks. I'm really looking forward to going back in a few weeks.

Here are some photos of the ski park in Laax.