Eleven year old snowboarding enthusiast from Aberdeen, Saul Brown is flying down the slopes after winning at the Kendal K-Jam under 12’s freestyle snowboarding competition in England on May 13.  

In advance of the competition, Saul felt confident and excited after his private coaching session in the Manchester Snowdome the day before with John Weatherly from The BoobyTrap.   

At the freestyle event, he spent the morning on jumps and the afternoon on rails doing more than enough to be crowned the winner for the second year in a row.

Dedicating around 10 hours per week to snowboarding, Saul usually hits the slopes at Adventure Aberdeen Snowsports Centre every evening after school and at the weekends.     

His first taster of snowboarding was aged 3 years old at Glenshee Ski Centre, then he started coming to Adventure Aberdeen Snowsports Centre when he was 6 and has been coming ever since. 

Saul receives two hours of coaching on a Wednesday evening at the centre with coaches Fraser or Logan.

His remaining time is spent practicing independently at open sessions where he is always encouraged and coached by Euan Rogers when on the hill. On Friday evenings, he attends the Aberdeen Snowsports Club session where he is coached again by Logan.

To complement his snowboarding, Saul visits Transition Extreme once a week to skateboard, as well as skateboarding at outdoor spaces and using the garden ramp built by his father Marc during lockdown.

Describing his love for snowboarding, Saul said: “I like being able to go high off jumps, it makes me feel like I’m flying!

“It is lots of fun, you come along and get accepted and then learn some new tricks.

“Everyone is hyped up and builds each other up.

“Most of my school friends play football so it’s cool that I have a different hobby and I’ve made loads of friends through snowboarding.”

Only competing for the first time at 10 years old, Saul has won every competition he has entered in his age category and came in second in the under 16’s Brits rail JAM at the Cairngorm this past winter. 

His favourite trick is a method and he loves doing rail sessions with the older guys at the hill. He can perform all four rotations up to 540 and recently learned back side 720’s.   

A passion for snowboarding runs in the family, as Saul’s father Marc has been snowboarding for almost 35 years – having a huge influence on his son’s hunger for the sport.

Saul’s younger siblings Roman (9 years old) and Anayah (7 years old) also snowboard at Adventure Aberdeen Snowsports Centre.      

Marc said: “The coaches Fraser and Logan put so much into Saul.

“He is like a little brother to them, they’re all buddies.”

“When youngsters like Saul are performing well at snowsports, they get instant access to grown-ups.” 

“It’s a community here at the snowsports centre, everyone knows everyone.”

“Kat Benton is amazing too, she was the one who built the foundations for Saul, which was instrumental when he first started.

“She is always there for him and is kind, gracious and supportive – it really is a fantastic community down at the centre.”

Saul is fortunate enough to also receive coaching from Fin Bremner (one of the best Scottish snowboarders) periodically when he is in Aberdeen.

Always looking to the next big thing, Saul is now preparing for the Scottish triple crown dry slope freestyle events soon, starting in Aberdeen on June 25 and then further afield in Edinburgh (July 8) and Glasgow (July 23).

He then hopes to compete at European level in winter 2023. His all-time goal is to compete at the       X-Games – described by his father as ‘the pinnacle of the sport’ and also one day get on the BOMBHOLE podcast.

Saul said: “My snowboarding idol is Mark McMorris, and it would be awesome to be sponsored and become a top pro in the world.”

If Saul’s story has inspired you to hit the slopes, then find out more about Sport Aberdeen’s snowboarding lessons here.