Snowboard Staff
The SBINZ team of Examiners, is vast and varied. Many of our staff work around the world as instructors, trainers and coaches, with some also examining for other associations internationally. Read about the individuals themselves below.
Ben Clarbrough – Snowboard Course Manager
Ben found gold (a snowboard) at the end of the “Rainbow” in 1994. He qualified in 1996, and made the move to Mt Hutt in 1998. Mt Hutt helped propel Ben into the Northern Hemisphere and further into the grasp of the SBINZ. He gained his Level Three in 1999 and then...
Rich Waldie – Snowboard Rep
Works at Mt Hutt Rich started teaching snowboarding in Canada in 2010 on a gap year, that year quickly became a decade spending winters in NZ, Japan and the United States. After a stint at Turoa, in 2014 it was time for a move to the Mighty Methven where he now lives...
Keith Stubbs – Snowboard Committee Member
Works for CAMP3 Snowboarding Keith (a.k.a Stubbsy) has spent the majority of his adult life immersed in the world of winter, following the snow around the globe. Stubbsy has been in the snowboard industry since 1999, clocking up countless seasons across four different...
Paul Philip – Snowboard Committee Member / Fundamentals Manager
Works for: NZSIA /SBINZ and Niseko Academy Paul grew up in the the North Island, NZ chasing the surf from coast to coast. He first strapped on a snowboard in 1990 at Turoa, more than three decades ago. Paul went on to make snowboarding as big a part of his life as...
Luke Gillett – Snowboard Committee Member
Originally from England, Luke now spends most of his time snowboarding in Japan and New Zealand. Having previously worked around the Southern Lakes district since 2008 at Coronet Peak and The Remarkables, he's now happy to call Cardrona home where he works as an ITC...
Claire Dooney – Snowboard Committee Member and NZSIA Vice President
Claire has been in the snowsports industry since 2002 when she trained with the Otago Polytech at Cardrona. Since then Claire has instructed, coached freestyle/race, represented NZ, trained ITC students at Cardrona and examined SBINZ Children's Cert, Level One and...
Sean Thompson – Snowboard Committee Member
'Thomo' hails from the Central Coast, NSW where he spent most of his days in the water surfing at his local break Wamberal. This is where he found his love for standing sideways. Transferring his sideways skills onto snow, Thomo started his endless winter in 2003 and...
Richie Johnston – Snowboard Trainer and Coaching Rep
Works for CAMP3 Snowboarding Richie loves to shred with friends, family and people who believe in the sport / lifestyle. His first Snowboarding experience was at 12 years old in the wind, sideways snow-fall and icy conditions, and he loved it! In between his studies...
Jamie Middleton – Snowboard Trainer
Growing up in Wellington, Jamie learned to ski at Mt Ruapehu from the age of 3. With a strong desire to learn to snowboard but a whole family of skiers, finally Jamie convinced her parents to let her put a board on at the age of 12 and never looked back. Joining the...
Jamie Hill – Snowboard Trainer
Profile to come
Greg Overall – Snowboard Trainer
Works at Mt Hutt. A former sea-kayak guide of the Abel Tasman National Park, Greg found his love of snow whilst studying tourism at Christchurch Polytech. Since attaining his Level 1 and 2 in 2006 he has enjoyed 23 seasons between NZ, the USA and Japan. Currently a...
Hamish Barker – Snowboard Trainer
Works at Cardrona Hailing from a small surf town in the north island, Hamish got his first taste of snowboarding at the age of 12 at whakapapa and has been hook-line-and-sinker ever since. It wasn't until 2013 when he moved to the US that he got his first instructing...
Kain Mcwaters – Snowboard Trainer
Works for NZSki Kain grew up in country Victoria, immersing himself in garage punk rock bands and enthusiastically skateboarding throughout his youth. However, it wasn't until his mid-twenties that he discovered snowboarding through close friends and a hand me down...
Ollie Midgley – Snowboard Trainer
As a grommet, Ollie grew up surfing and skating on the Sunshine Coast in Australia. In 2009 he decided to take a gap year from University and started to shred the frozen wave in Queenstown. That first season, Ollie was living with some snowboard instructors, who were...
Jame Howe – Snowboard Trainer
Profile to come...
Guy McCully – Snowboard Trainer
Works for NZski Guy started snowboarding in the early 90's when he was nine. After growing up and attending High School in Timaru, NZ, Guy moved to Queenstown and trained to become a snowboard instructor at Coronet Peak in 2002. After Gaining his Stage One cert and...
Dave Pearse – Snowboard Trainer
Snowboarding started for Dave as a teenager at Turoa, in the North Island of New Zealand. An instant love for sliding sideways on snow quickly followed with five winter seasons in the United States while studying art and design at Auckland University. Achieving Level...
Caity Schneider – Snowboard Trainer
Works at: Mt Hutt - NZSki Coming to you from the sunny state of California Caity is here to tell you that yes, there is snow in California! Because of her dad's love for skiing, her first taste of the snow was on two planks around the age of 10. She has a background...
Kristy Bishop – Snowboard Trainer
Works at: The Remarkables Kristy grew up in Brisbane Australia, dedicating most of her childhood and teenage years to the world of Gymnastics. Training 20+ hours a week since the age of 10 lead to amazing life opportunities like representing Australia, travelling...
Siobhan Challis – Snowboard Trainer
Works for: Camp3 Snowboarding at cardrona & Treble Cone Hi team, I'm Siobhan, a full-blown Austrian (half-English). I first got on snow as a wee toddler of 2 years, skiing before I could walk and ski racing for many years before venturing into the snowboarding...
Carlo Taurino – Snowboard Trainer
Carlo hails from Italy, in his younger days you could find climbing a tree, building a fort or kicking a ball. Always in motion, never still. After graduating from High-school, he knew he wasn't looking for a "real" job or a "normal" life. In 2013, Carlo made the bold...
Nick Lamont – Snowboard Trainer
Works at: Cardrona - High Perfromance Centre After skiing for 4 years, Nick did his first snowboard lesson with his Dad at the age of 7 at Mt Ruapehu. Both of them were instantly hooked. Nick continued to go on the annual family trip, and once Snowplanet was built in...
Gareth Smith – Snowboard Trainer
Works at Remarkables/Coronet Peak I’m Gaz from North-West England but now living full time in Queenstown. What originally sparked my interest in snowboarding was a copy of SSX on ps2 when it first came out. Now, there’s not many places to ride where I grew up so that...
Billy Roberts – Snowboard Trainer
Works at: Mt Hutt Hailing from Manchester in the UK, Billy first got a taste for sliding on a dry slope aged 13. Following trips to Austria and France with school, at 17 he landed himself a job at an Indoor Slope, working lifts and rentals. He gained his Ski level 1...
Andrew Mowat – Snowboard Trainer
Andrew Mowat also know as Drew hails from bonnie Scotland. With skateboarding from his early teens Drew decided to try snowboarding out with his first school trip to Italy. Ever since that adventure to Italy he was hooked on snowboarding and the winter environment....
Greg Samson – Snowboard Trainer
Greg hails from Dunedin, where he lived until 2011 when he left his office job as a Draftsman and made the move up to Wanaka to become an instructor through the Cardrona Polytech Instructor Training Course. He's since been chasing winter to various corners of the...
Tony Macri – Snowboard Trainer
Works for: Camp 3 - Cardrona I have been a Level 3/Trainers and a Freestyle Examiner for over 20 years with both SBINZ and AASI. I have also been on both National Technical Teams and am currently the Development Coach for the AASI Team. Sponsors: Burton, Anon, Swany,...
Damion Lee – Snowboard Trainer
Profile to come...
Josh Taylor – Snowboard Trainer
Works at: The Remarkables Josh first skied at 3 and snowboarded at 12, but his Journey to enlightenment began in 2007 when he undertook Snow Trainers’ 11 week programme and achieved his Level One and Two. After that, he spent one season instructing at Copper Mt,...
Rhys Jones – Snowboard Trainer
Rhys "Jonesy" comes all the way from Wales; a keen skateboarder from a young age he could be found skating around the mean streets of his home town Cardiff. Rhys first strapped a snowboard on his feet in 1996 at his local Dry Ski Slope where he thought it would be...
Mark Perana – Snowboard Trainer
Mark is originally from Christchurch and in his younger days would spend any opportunity that was on offer to ski the surrounding fields. He was introduced to snowboarding in the early 1990's and shortly after he attended and passed the first ever NZSIA Snowboard...
Kyle Kostohris – Snowboard Trainer
Kyle hails from the U.S. - but let's try not to hold that against him! He started his instructing career in 1995 teaching skiing at Crystal Mountain, Washington. Teaching snowboarding soon followed. Instructing gave Kyle the opportunity to travel to NZ in the late...
James Lea – Snowboard Trainer
James has been working in the snowboard industry since 2001. During this time he's worked in the South Island of New Zealand at Cardrona Alpine Resort, Bear Valley in California, Vail in Colorado, and Snowplanet in Auckland. James' years in the industry have involved...
Glenn Bradley – Snowboard Trainer
A born and bred Hamiltonian, Glenn was a relatively late starter when it came to Snowsports, scoring his first day on snow at Coronet Peak as a uni student at Dunedin. Back again at Coronet 10 years later Glenn started his snowsports career as a Rookie Instructor. At...
Ricky Otaki – Snowboard Trainer
The first Japanese Examiner to join the SBINZ ranks, Ricky began teaching skiing when he was 18 years old in his home country Japan. He moved to New Zealand and started to teach skiing full-time in 1996. Ricky began as a Snowboard Instructor around the same time and...
Ryan Nott – Snowboard Trainer
Mountain: Remarkables Works for: NZSKI/FWT Academy Ryan hails from beautiful Newcastle, Australia (or “Gods country” as they like to call it). Fresh out of high school Ryan decided he wasn’t actually very good at school and there were mistakes to be made elsewhere, so...