Seppe Smits may come from a country with no mountains whatsoever, but this is not deterring him from chasing his dream of rising up the Swatch TTR rankings.  Seppe grew up as a ‘Fridge Kid’, learning how to ride on Belgium’s dry slopes before actually shredding a real mountain for the first time during 1999 in Gerlos, Austria.  You would think growing up on dry slope limits the skill set of a young rider, however, the young Seppe can do it all and everyone is waiting to see when he will claim his first major TTR victory. 

Like many young riders he eventually kicked his skiing habit and began to focus 100 percent on snowboarding.  Speaking on his discovery of snowboarding, Seppe states “I rapidly decided snowboarding was way more fun. Skiing was over”!

The Hotzone.tv crew are largely responsible for helping Seppe become the rider he is today as they were the ones who planted the seed, pushing him to progress in those early days.  After having seen Seppe in action they recommended to his parents that he had real talent and before you could say “dry slope” he was training heavily, dialing in his spins and upping his trick repertoire.  Their backing and the support of his main sponsor Burton payed off and now Seppe travels the world, his reputation and results on the up and up.

Seppe first arrived on the TTR scene in 2005 when he entered the 6Star Burton European Open in Laax, Switzerland.  In the last four years his riding has skyrocketed and he is going for more in 2009/2010. That season he has nailed 4th place at the 5Star O'Neill Evolution Slopestyle as well as at the 6Star Oakley Arctic Challenge. In addition he won the "rookie challenge" at 6Star Billabong Air&Style which gets him an invite to next year's main event!

As a member of the Belgian Snowboarding Team, Seppe is focused on Olympic qualifications and entering the X-Games this season. With school now wrapped up and snowboarding taking poll position, you can expect to see a lot more of Seppe as he follows the path to snowboard stardom. Seppe finished his 09/10 season in World No. 15.

His 10/11 season might yet be another promising one for the young talent with a 6th place at the Burton New Zealand Open already under his belt.



1. When and where did you start snowboarding?
 
Before I started snowboarding I skied for about six years. Then one year when we went to Austria on holidays me and my brother saw some snowboarders and thought about trying that out as well. So when I was about eight years old my brother and I tried out snowboarding on an indoor slope in Belgium.

We did a one week camp there and the year after we tried it out in the real snow of Gerlos in Austria. The first year I still combined snowboarding and skiing, but I rapidly decided that snowboarding was way more fun.  Skiing was over!
 
2. Could you give me a brief explanation about your first contest and how you got into competing on the TTR circuit?
 
My first contest was the Quiksilver Talent Hunt on the indoor slope of Snowvalley, Peer. I don't remember much about that contest but I do remember that I was barely able to do a straight air over the whole jump. My first real outdoor contest was the Snowpark tour in Innsbruck in 2004. The weather was perfect! When we woke up and looked out the window we saw nothing but clouds in the sky.  When we arrived at the top with the lift we were about 20m above the clouds with a totally blue bird sky and a perfectly shaped park! It was like heaven. We had to drive 2000 km in 3 days and I took 2nd place with the juniors.
     
The first time I competed in a Swatch TTR contest was at the Burton European Open in 2005. Since then I started trying to get an as good as possible results on the TTR ranking.
 
3. Being from Belgium I guess you learned to ride on Dry slope.  How did you progress from Dry slope to snow? When and where did you start riding snow?

I did learn riding on dry slopes, they called us the fridge kids. The first time on real snow was in 1999 in Gerlos, Austria.  It is the most fun place to just go shred on the slopes or go for some powpow! There, my brother and I took some lessons from the Hot-zone crew. When we did that again the second year our teacher told our parents that we had some talent and that they should let us train a bit more. So we started taking lessons in Snowvalley, Peer. There we learned a lot. Until three years ago we went there two or three times a week.  Nowadays the jump has become pretty small to train properly, and they don't have a Halfpipe on the Dry slopes either. So now we go more and more to the outdoors to search for bigger jumps and Halfpipes.
 
4. Belgium is not famous for its riders.  Although they did produce Axel Pauporte, one of the most respected free riders out there.  Which riders inspire you? Who did you look up to as a kid coming up?
 
I've grown into snowboarding and progressed together with my brother, so he definitely inspires me and pushes me in snowboarding.  As a kid I've always looked up to Mikkel Bang. Ever since I saw his part in White Balance I wanted to ride like him. He's got an amazing style and rides really solid.
 
5. When did you realize you could make it as a snowboarder?
 
I'm not a professional yet. I still go to school, although I have a special treatment because I'm a top-sport student. My target is to become a professional snowboarder.  Hopefully, one day that'll happen.
 
6. What are your goals as a snowboarder? What do you want to achieve?
 
Of course I want to go snowboarding as much as I can in the first place.
At the moment I'm in the Belgian snowboarding A-team. Our goal is the Olympics of 2014, so that's for sure one of my biggest goals. As well are the X-Games, that's a sick contest as well in which I'd love to compete once.

Of course getting top results on big TTR contests and in the final ranking is also important.

Not only contests interest me, also filming is one of the big things in snowboarding nowadays. I'd love to go riding in the backcountry and get some proper shots to get a good video part together.
 
7. You put in a solid performance at the 4Star Horsefeathers Pleasure Jam were you took out second place, showing you can beat some of older more experienced guys.  How did it feel to come second on that contest? You must be stoked.
 
Yeah, it was amazing! I never expected a result like that when I went there. I was super stoked indeed. It's my best result so far on a TTR contest. Beating some of the big names there gave me some self confidence. It showed me that my level isn't that low compared to theirs.
 
8. I know you are currently in Breckenridge.  Any new tricks you are working on there? Are you practising in Halfpipe as well as Slopestyle?
 
At the moment we are driving to Copper Mountain every day.  The park in Breckenridge itself isn't open for public yet and since there's a good Halfpipe in Copper we're going there for training. There are no kickers in Copper so we're only training Halfpipe at the moment. Our goal with the Belgian team is the Olympics, so since last year I'm training more Halfpipe as well. I just learned BS 9 and I'm training on Switch BS 9 right now.
 
9. You attended all the Southern Hemisphere events this year.  How do you feel your snowboarding developed at these events?
 
Being able to snowboard in the summer with winter conditions is super good. It helps you to maintain your level during summer and learn some new tricks to show next season. It's cool that there are some contests as well to push you in your riding and compare your level to other riders. It's a good starter for the season as well if you can get some decent results.
 
10. I know you have a brother (Anthony Smits who is also competing in snowboarding.  Apart from him who else do you ride with.  Who pushes your riding?
 
I ride most of the time with the other guys of the Belgian A-team, Christophe Reynders and Kevin Bronckaers. We can help each other with learning new tricks because we all have our personal style and spinning directions. Of course also my coach and trainer, Maarten Avonds and Jean-Valle Demard, who push me to try new tricks and help me while learning them.
 
11. You are a new rider coming up on the scene.  How has TTR helped you progress your riding?
 
The TTR provides contests which allow me to push my riding and compare it to other riders. Contests bring me all around the world, let me meet people from different countries and get to know new friends to ride with. Contests also helped me to get some of my sponsors who help me finance everything in snowboarding.