How can I get sponsored for skiing?
I am 14 years old and I am a good skier. I have been skiing since I have been 4 and I ski about 50-60 times a year. I ski at a small mountain in NY and I am interested in getting sponsored. Any ideas or comapnys I should consider?
David makes a great point: Are you skiing freestyle or racing? It matters because there are different routes to take.
If you are a racer, the best way (and almost the only way) to get a sponsor is to enter races and win. At 14, your chances of getting a sponsor are slim, but if you race and can put up good times in lower division races you can try out for an Open in a couple of seasons, or enter the US Ski Team Development Program. Once you start placing well at major events the sponsors will call you. Also, if you are in any program of the US Ski Team a lot of doors open for massive discounts and free stuff, but not paying sponsorships. Since you live in NY you should look into the Empire State Games for Slalom and GS.
http://www.empirestategames.org/winter/skis.htm
If you are a Freestyler, well, the how-to works a bit differently. The LAST thing to do is send in a home-made movie to a company and hope to get a response. Ski and Board companies get THOUSANDS of videos a year and most don’t even get watched. You have really two ways to approach getting a sponsor, but going down both of these roads is usually the best bet.
First…Compete. Enter freestyle comps that have good coverage, either print media or TV (or both.) One such competition not too far from NY is the Vermont Open at Stratton. I’m not 100% sure they ran this in 2009 because I can’t find any info on it, but it used to be a pretty big deal. There was an Open at Mt. Snow last year as well. If you dig around on the various Freeskiing sites (like newschoolers.com) you can get updates and info about events. Enter…ski like mad..and place well.
Second…Market yourself to the right people. Start small. See if the owner of your local shop will front your entry fees in turn for wearing his logo on your helmet. That’s the guy to show your video too. He might be impressed enough to give you $100 and some free gear. He also knows the product reps for various companies. These are the dudes who come around to the shops and run the demo days. Those guys can’t get you a sponsorship, but they know the cats in the marketing departments at the companies. If they see your skills then they can help hook you up with the people who decide who gets the sponsorships. I used to work at those same kinds of demos and if someone approached me with a video or I saw their run we took their info and passed it right on to the marketing guys.
You can also sign up on a webpage like http://www.loopd.com and get updates on who is looking for sponsors. It’s usually small or new companies, but everyone has to start somewhere. A lot of these places want exposure, so they’ll hand out free gear as long as you use it. Friends of mine are sponsored by SnoGel. They get free SnoGel and make videos for the company of them using the product. That’s a baseline sponsorship and to be honest, that’s what a lot of the sponsorships are. The guys who get paid by the companies are pros. They’ve won a bunch of comps and got lots of exposure in mags. They’ve invented tricks and laid down first descents. This is their job and they represent about 10% of all the sponsored athletes in the snowsports world.
Start collecting smaller sponsors and build a resume. Get some exposure by starting a website after you get some sponsors and either win a bunch of comps or start skiing really crazy stuff in the backcountry. Hiring a pro photographer and hitting some killer terrain in the Adirondacks might not be a bad idea once the snow gets deep and the avalanche probability goes down. Get those pix into the magazines. Getting some pro shots of you in the terrain park will help too. Your buddy’s point-and-shoot camera won’t do the trick.
Good Luck.
