A little over 6 years ago Tom O'Reilly came into the shop with a sponsor me tape from two twins from Bragg Creek, saying we had to put them on the team. I watched the tape and the footage was really good, not jaw dropping amazing, but good tricks and solid style. Not long after they came into the shop with Tom and they were super charismatic and genuine. Everyone on the team was down, so we put them on.
Over the next 6 years these guys were the shinning example of dedication, not because they were searching for sponsors or recognition, but because they were genuinely snowboard obsessed. I've gotten to watch them both excel at something they love, and every time they brought in new footage it was exponentially better than the last batch. They worked their asses off in the summer to save money and snowboard all winter. People took notice and they stacked a whole bunch of other great sponsors. Next thing you know they started going on trips with these sponsors, as well as popping up in the magazines and catalogs. Both Finn and JJ have had really scary injuries in the last few years and both have taken them seriously and come out better snowboarders on the other end. After a year off due to injury, Finn got to travel the world with Snowboarder Magazine, film for their Beta video with a long list of upper echelon snowboarders, and snagged the cover of the DVD in the process (shot by iconic snowboard photographer E-Stone).
The point I'm trying to get across here is that is takes a lot more than just talent to be an amazing snowboarder nowadays. It takes talent mixed in with charisma, personality, and hard work, all characteristics that these guys have in spades. I get given a sponsor me tape almost weekly here, and constantly asked how to get sponsored. I feel like Finn and JJ is an almost perfect case study for kids to look at, and a nice reminder of the saying "the harder you work, the luckier you are".
I'm really excited that Shredz has been able to be a small part of this journey and that I've gotten to sit back and watch everything unfold for these guys. I know even bigger things are on the horizons for these two. Finn landing himself on the cover of the ten year anniversary of KingSnow with this gorgeous Rob Lemay photo is not lucky, it's well deserved!
