I already know Sam through Animal but having the chance to interview her, even I found out some interesting facts.

What I knew already: Sam is genuine, modest, focused, extremely competitive, ambitious and a risk taker, traits that all equal a great boarder. She is also blessed with real beauty and a great figure and she is so brave that even the guys are envious of her!

What I didn’t know: I assumed that Sam was going to be a great gymnast or a pro on the trampoline as this usually contributes to boarding skills. So when asking the question ‘How great are your gym skills?’ I was expecting to hear, not bad (because Sam is so modest), and then a list of things she could do i.e: the backflip, the somersault, the vault, etc. Interestingly I got; ‘I can’t even do a cartwheel’. Okay, so where is the logic in doing a front flip over a 14 metre kicker (I got to witness this at the Big Air Comp at MK this year – mental, see pic) but you can’t do a cartwheel with the safety of a mat… Crazy. So you must trampoline? ‘Well, I have one in my garden and I do sometimes practice on it with a skateboard and bindings but I don’t do trampolining properly’. Blimey.

Age: 17
Kit: Always Animal!
Board: True Snowboards – Size…149 -Bindings…Ride – Stance… + 18 front – 9 back
Favourite Morzine crepe: Sucre et Citron
Tunes for the slope: Anything goes really!
Calculated risk taker or a slightly mental risk taker? Calculated of course!

Catherine: Is your boyfriend supportive, or is he intimidated by the skills?
Sam: Nathan is always supportive yeah, he always tries to help me improve and tells me where im going wrong. He definitely has more skills than me but I can beat him on the front flips ha, ha!

The famous front flip (Sam’s trademark move); how on earth did you get the balls to try that?
I first tried them onto the EuroBoys airbag then gradually moved to powder jumps, but I never got the hang of them. So I just thought I’d try it in the Brits Big Air anyway.

Wow – impressive. But not only are you doing the front flip you are doing it with a double grab?
The front flip truck driver! So with an indie and melon.

Back flips anytime soon?
I’ve had some painful knocks to the face with my knees in some attempts so that has put me off a little. But maybe, I might give them a go again sometime.

With such balls of steel, most want to ask the question but wouldn’t dare… ‘Are you really a man?!’
Ha ha! Not that I know of!

Where do you want to do your first season?
Morzine/ Avoriaz.

I go to Morzine for the Crepes, why Morzine for you?
Definitely the parks and the fact it has a pipe.

I love the Stash (thanks Burton).
Yeah it is pretty good, not one of my favourite parks in the resort tho. Oooh, controversial!

What do school think about your boarding ambitions?
Some of the teachers joke around and ask me for my autograph! But I work hard and catch up on work that I miss when I’m away so they are always encouraging. I want to go to uni to study Sports Therapy at some point. I went to visit Loughborough, which is a great uni for Sports. Yeah I’m hoping to apply for either Loughborough or Bath.

I know our parents are both supportive, but my mum would rather that I had gardening as a hobby, what about yours?
Ha ha! Well she has realised that I’m not going to give it up any time soon so I think she has just given up now.

Could your parents bring themselves to watch you do front flips over the 14 metre kicker at MK?
Yes, but mum said she was terrified!

How do you train to aid improvement?
I go to the gym two or three times a week with a personal fitness trainer, I mainly work on my core strength and my leg muscles to make them stronger. I also ride at Bracknell on Monday nights and sometimes at weekends, depending if there is a competition or not.

Are you going to win the Brits this year?
I will give it my best shot.