TSG ambassadors are upcoming riders, great legends or dedicated people we respect for their performance. Check them out here.
Sam Beckett Really talented UK vert kid that is part of the world tour showing the the future of vert skating.
Jürgen Horrwarth Jürgen defines skateboarding as an attitude to a form of art that aligns beautifully with bodily manoeuvres.
Renton Millar The Melbourne skate legend describes himself as skateboarder, traveller and husband. He combines all three perfectly and is crowned World Cup Skateboard Champ.
Jocke Olsson Jocke is a vert legend from Sweden and everybodies nice guy. Besides skating he has a passion for fly fishing.
Bienvenido Aguado His name mean welcome and we welcome Bienve to our team. The spanish rotation talent sticked the world 1. double front flip.
Thomas Genon The only Belgian on the FMB World Tour is a true slopestyle talent and brings vertiginous progression into the freeride discipline.
Casey Groves Casey is a top 10 rider on the FMB world tour, a podium finisher at Crankworx Whistler, and a star in several feature films. Calm but rad!
Ramon Hunziker Ramon is the poster child for progressive Swiss dirt jumping and freeriding. After dominating the national scene, he is now entering the international stage.
Amir Kabbani Ambitious, consistent and determined! But this is only one side to characterize Amir, he is a nice and funny dude as well who just loves riding his bike.
Sam Pilgrim You know what to expect when your nick name is leopardhead... aggressively he attacks dirt and street grounds like an animal while always staying nice and friendly.
Timo Pritzel Timo evolved from bmx pro to dirt pro to team coach to business man with his own clothing brand without ever loosing his natural niceness.
Angie Hohenwarter Sweet when you see her, but tough when she rides down the 4cross or downhill parcours.
Alessandro Barbero The italian bmx machine!
Patrick Guimez The french BMX pro lives in beautiful south of France and hosts its own event. Lords of Dirt is a friendly jam session with international riders.
Markus Hampl Markus collects bmx titels but besides riding he loves building dirt tracks and is one of the best builders worldwide.
Ricardo Laguna Multi-talented Vegas sunny boy who competes in BMX, hosts TV shows, organizes events, builds dirt courses, teaches at clinics, appears as guest speaker at schools... everything is possible!
Daniel Wedemeijer Daniel aka. the flying Dutchman is definitely the Netherlands finest export when it comes to BMX. He is well known for his technical stylish riding skills and being a genuinely nice guy.
Angie Marino Angie Marino is one of the best female BMXers in the world, but not content to rest on her laurels. She started Yeah Zine, a online site for girls that ride BMX.
Elias Elhardt Elias is a real bundle of energy, rocking with great performance and style.
Iouri Podladtchikov I-Pod is one of the sickest riders around blowing up the scene on the slopes and charming everyone with his smart and funny character.
Gian Simmen First Olympic halfpipe winner back in 1998. Gian is still part of the scene, competing for fun and coaching the swiss freestyle rooky squad.
Anne-Flore Marxer Open-minded and energetic, Anne-Flore rocks whether it\'s in the park, backcountry or dance floor. The 2011 Freeride World Champion collects magazine covers and pushes women riding.
Silvia Mittermüller one of the strongest female riders in the snowboard scene able to take it from the pipe to the park to the pow with ease.
Benedikt Mayr Loves riding backcountry as much as park and is a funny and open-minded personality.
Taylor Seaton Consistently going bigger and bigger with each hit, Taylor\'s innate mastery of the transitions adds a fluid style to his run unlike any other.
Caja Schöpf Caja is one of the best female german freeskier and the only girl in the german FIAT Freestyle Team.
Daniel Fetz Successfull self-made wakeboarder and dad, that doesnt only dominate the international scene but also runs his own wakeboard school.
AMBASSADORS TSG ambassadors are upcoming riders, great legends or dedicated people we respect for their performance.
YOUR LIFE IS FULL OF TRAVELLING. DO YOU STILL ENJOY IT OR WOULD YOU SOMETIMES PREFER STAYING HOME?
I have arrived at a stage where home doesn’t really exist in a traditional way anymore. I am home wherever I sleep. So I am always home. In Europe, the US and NZ. I love traveling because it is home.
AND HOW LONG DO YOU NEED TO RECOVER FROM A JETLAG?
Studies say you get used to 1 hour a day… that makes 8 days for a Munich-Breckenridge jetlag… I usually need 3 days until I get up around 6am and then I try to keep it that way as long as I can. I love getting up very early feeling bright awake. Traveling westbound jetlag is a great friend, not an enemy. Gets tough going east… then I just make myself get up as shitty as it feels…
ANY RECOMMENDATION ON HOW TO NOT GET BORED ON LONG OVERSEA FLIGHTS?
I always catch up with life in my diary when I am in the plane. Additionally I bring one or two good books and a charged computer, but most of the time I just end up watching a movie – always in French. I don’t get to talk French as much as I’d like to, so I made it a habit to always watch my plane movies in French. It works well to keep the language alive.
TELL US A LITTLE ANECDOTE THAT HAPPENED DURING ONE OF YOUR TRIPS. ANYTHING, BE IT FUNNY, SPECIAL, WEIRD. WHATEVER COMES IN YOUR MIND?
Talking about plane experiences… last spring I was on this USA-Europe flight and it was totally full, I was already bummed thinking this will be shitty in my tiny seat with my backpack at my feet, but then on top of everything there was a kid in the seat in front of me that got sick when we took off and he puked between the seats – and it all went on my backpack. That was the worst start of a trip I have ever had… 8 hours in air that smelled like puke. Horrible.
To equal it out with a good story – once flying to Japan they first didn’t find me on the passenger list at all and the entire plane was full in economy so in the end they let me go business class to Tokyo. Fanciest flight of my life. But they asked me real silently to please take off my beanie before I went on the plane. It was worth it.
YOU USED TO RIDE WITHOUT HELMET, WHAT CHANGED YOUR OPINION?
I used to not like to ride with my helmet because I had this really ugly, heavy silver one and couldn’t hear well and just felt wrong. Now that I have comfy light TSG helmets it doesn’t bother me anymore. Also you have to feel out the situation. If I’m just cruising with friends I might not need a helmet, but as soon as you’re trying something new and know you might crash it’s an easy equation. No helmet + crash = possibly concussion and 10 days taking it easy. You get more riding in the end if you wear a helmet from the beginning.
DO YOU WEAR YOUR HELMET CONSISTENTLY WHEN SNOWBOARDING OR ONLY ON CERTAIN DAYS? IF YES, WHY?
After almost 15 years of snowboarding I have a good feeling for what I am doing. If I take it super easy and play on mini features with friends on a sunny day I might go helmet-less. But as soon as I challenge myself I know I’m better of wearing it. I hate having to take days off due to injuries. Some injuries you can’t prevent, but wearing a helmet is a easy way to outsmart 4 out of 5 knock outs. Why not take the little effort?
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE RIDING WITH TSG HELMETS? WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT THE HELMETS?
They are light and look good. I barely feel that I am wearing a helmet, but if I crash it’s there. That´s how it should be.
HOW ABOUT OTHER PROTECTION GEAR? DO YOU WEAR ANYTHING ELSE BUT A HELMET?
I wear my crash pants everyday. We made some really light thin ones that don’t give you a huge looking butt, but still add some extra cushion if you crash. They are super comfy and add a little warmth on the cold days. And yes, If I do crash onto my butt it’s not as bad… I love those crash pants.
Other than that sometimes I wear knee guards to keep my knees warm and not have to worry about hitting my shins into a rail if I don’t pop enough. I actually don’t pull them all the way up, just leave them on my shins and at the bottom of my knees. It’s nice to not have to worry about your shins on a rail mission. There’s already enough other things to worry about.
WHAT DO YOU DO ON A DAY OFF SLOPES?
I go to the gym, do computer work and laundry and catch up with friends – just like today!!
DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER PASSION THAT YOU FOLLOW BESIDES SNOWBOARDING? WHAT IS IT, HOW DID YOU PICK IT UP AND WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT IT?
The thing that unites all my passions is that they have the ability to stop my brain from thinking at 10000 miles per hour and make me just be in the moment and do what I do. Playing piano does it, swimming laps and working out, having great conversations, reading amazing books or watchin catchy movies. Skateboarding does it too and anything new I have never done – challenges make you be only in the moment because otherwise you will never succeed.
YOUR SPORT AND PASSION IS DEPENDENT ON A HEALTHY PLANET. DO YOU GIVE ANYTHING BACK TO MOTHER NATURE?
I think it’s not as much about giving back as it is about not taking too much in the first place. So I live as conscious as I can – that means small things as not accepting the plastic bags they always push onto you in American supermarkets and ends with big things such as the fact that I don’t own a car and use public transport a lot or team up with more people when it comes to driving to places. Also thinking twice in terms of consumption is better than giving back when it’s too late. Avoiding unnecessary garbage when buying groceries, using reusable to go cups and not always buy the newest edition of everything when you have the older one and it still functions… if you have 20 minutes watch www.storyofstuff.com it’s common sense but great to remind yourself every once in a while…
OCCUPATION IF I WAS NOT A PROFESSIONAL SNOWBOARDER?
Probably medicine student in Munich and done soon.
LIST YOUR TOP 3 SNOWBOARD MAGS.
Pleasure
Transworld Snowboarding
US Snowboarder
LIST YOUR TOP 3 SNOWBOARD NEWS/INFO WEBSITES.
Snow reports wherever I am,
TTR (world snowboard tour I mean)
and whatever’s happening in that moment on FB
