Why learning to skateboard could transform you skills on the slopes: train like a Winter Olympian at the Telegraph Ski & Snowboard Festival

You’d be forgiven for questioning how a warehouse in Manchester could possibly play a role in your development as a skier or snowboarder, or why some of the UK’s greatest winter-sport athletes, including bronze medalist Billy Morgan, are flocking there to train. But Graystone Actionsports Academy isn’t your average warehouse and this October visitors to The Telegraph Ski & Snowboard Festival will be able to sample the world-class facility for themselves.

Graystone is the UK’s first action sports academy, providing facilities such as an indoor skate plaza, trampolines and the country’s only freestyle ski and snowboard big air and foam pit training zone, for athletes and novices alike. 

As part of a new dedicated Freestyle Zone at the event this October, the Academy will be bringing a practice skate ramp to Battersea Park, similar to the large-scale facility in its 35,000sq ft warehouse in Manchester. Graystone’s team of expert coaches and ambassadors will also be on hand to share the benefits other action sports, like skateboarding, can bring to the development of snowboarding and skiing.

Visitors to the event will be able to take part in taster sessions to learn new skills around balance and how to develop tricks. The Academy’s experts and athletes will also be putting on demonstrations to inspire youngsters to give the sport a go.

It’s only recently that the connection between other dryland action sports and snow sports has been brought into the spotlight, thanks to leading names such as Winter Olympic bronze medalist Billy Morgan, who often thanks his off-snow skills for aiding his success – he was a gymnast and fan of skateboarding before his snowboarding career skyrocketed.

“Kids having opportunities to access what I’ve been able to access over recent years, but from a young age is invaluable. We don’t have access to anything else like this [Graystone] in the UK, so for kids, and anyone to be able to go and use this place isn’t just a marginal gain, it’s a huge gain,”  said Billy.

Previously athletes have had to travel abroad to use such facilities, such as Camp Woodward in the United States – where founders Kevin Gray and Ben Livingstone got their inspiration for the Manchester site.

“Today action-sport athletes combine training in a park, on the street or on the snow with training in a reduced risk facility where they can push themselves to the next level without getting hurt,” said co-founder Ben Ben Livingstone

The Academy’s ambassador’s include some of the biggest names in British freestyle skiing and snowboarding including James ‘Woodsy’ Woods, Jamie Nicholls, Tyler Harding and Katie Summerhayes.

Snowboarder Mia Brookes is one of the Academy’s youngster athletes and recently it was announced she will join GB Park and Pipe’s A squad, again as its youngest member aged just 12 years old. “At Graystone I can practice tricks, to take them to the course, to put into my runs and do better in competitions,” said Brookes.

“Ambitions for more medals at Beijing 2022 means Graystone will be pivotal in nurturing the next generation through GB Park and Pipe’s innovative grassroots pathway programme, Futures Project. The team will be using the facility as a key part of their off-snow development programme,” said Livingstone.

The GB Park and Pipe team has always been innovative in its approach to training – before the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang in 2018 the team set up a giant air bag on the slopes of an Italian ski resort so the athletes could learn new tricks. The rise of British freestyle skiing and snowboarding was documented in a book by photographer Sam Mellish, Radical Gains.

The Festival will be hosting a panel discussion about the book and the progress the team has made in recent years, with a focus on how facilities like Graystone are influencing the future successes of Team GB’s athletes, plus a photography workshop. Tickets are on asle now.

Five things skateboarding can teach you about snowboarding 

Surfers and skaters have been standing sideways for decades and in the 80s snowboarding joined the boardsports party. There are many transferable skills you can learn on a skateboard to carry over to your snowboard.

1. Balance – The key to all boardsports, learning the centre of balance on a skateboard – without the comfort of being strapped in – will make your snowboarding experience a whole lot easier.
2. Pop – Otherwise known as the ollie – the first trick every snowboarder will learn. Once you’ve mastered ollies, it’s all about maximising “pop” to increase height and distance of jumps. Learning how to ollie properly on a skateboard during the summer will make a dramatic difference to your pop on your snowboard in winter.
3. Style – Boardsports done well are an art form and everyone has their own unique style. Developing your own style is a huge part of snowboarding and taking influence from other boardsports will only help in advancing the way you create lines on the mountain. 
4. Tricks – even though competitive snowboarding has now overtaken surfing and skateboarding in terms of the degrees of rotation in the air, most snowboard tricks are named after their skating and surfing forefathers. Learning new tricks on your skateboard will guarantee rapid progression on your snowboard. 
5. Partying – Just as the snowboarding fraternity loves to hit the après ski scene, the skateboarding brethren also know how to hit “full send”.