British Airways is looking for British talent

There are few internationally competitive snowboard cross (SBX) riders in the UK because they are forced to give up because of lack of funding. It is an expensive sport that not many people can afford because the SBX courses and hence training and racing are in Europe or beyond. So travel is necessary but expensive. My parents are both teachers so we are not in the financial big league. GB funds us for an actual Olympics trip, and there is TASS, if you get it, for limited training costs but for the rest it is up to you to pay. This year it means around £8000 for coaching, travel & accommodation, equipment, licenses and insurance as well as about £10,000 for university.

I have a jolly good chance of making it to the next Winter Olympics and there is no way I want to give up that chance. Winning on the slopes means first winning sponsorship.

The chance of having some tickets for some BA flights to and from coaching and competitions would make a HUGE difference. I am going to have to spend most of my life paying back the loans for my Sports Performance Degree and for all the sports costs. By 2014 it will have cost over £65,000 for it all. The financial pressure is a heavy weight to carry at 17, standing at a start gate with heart banging, cameras whirring and determination screwed to the sticking point.

If I won, 16 BA flights would mean that I could travel to New Zealand to compete in the junior world championships, as well as FIS and europa cup competitions next season without worrying about how I am going to pay for it all. If I won I would be able to qualify earlier for the World Championships, which I have to do to qualify for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

If I won I would fly down those slopes.

I joined the GB Senior Snowboard Cross Team when I was 15 and became British youth champion that year (2008) and last year (2009), then became junior Champion this year (2010), and i am going to compete in the senior category next year.

My parents let me go on a selection camp when I was 14. I had found out I was dyslexic and it had really hit me hard. I felt a real dummy and I had sort of lost confidence in everything. I had first started skiing when I was 20 months old and had switched to boarding when I was 8. On a board it is the nearest thing you can come to flying. I qualified for the team feeling rather like an amateur compared to the rest. But I felt really chuffed with myself and realized that just because you have problems in school it does not mean you are finished. Rather boosted by not feeling a duffer any more, I got all A's and B's in my GCSE's.

Since then I have done A'Levels and got into Bath University's Sports Performance degree to train at the Sports Village and still finish in time for pre-2014 Olympics training. Bath at the moment give me free entry into the gym, and let me train on a start gate for boardercross

We have to go very fast on some really hard courses. At one point our GB team of 9 was reduced to 3 with 1 broken back, 2 concussions, 1 broken ribs, 2 broken limbs. In this sport you risk your life on every run. In January I had a bad crash in training for an FIS competition in France, resulting in a bad concusion and a sliped disk in my neck. which meant lying at home flat and doing absolutely nothing in order to recover for the European Winter Youth Olympic Festival in Poland. I went to Poland but was pulled out by the TeamGB doctor on the day of the race because my sight and balance were still way out. I couldn't even catch a ball without seeing flashes of light. I was gutted. It also meant I could not do the races for points to qualify for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

My total focus now is on the 2014 Winter Olympics.