Eduardo Pérez Reyes
Snowboard Pro Forum

Name: Eduardo Pérez Reyes

Date of birth: 6/2/78

Started riding in what year? 1999

Sponsor/s? SMK Snowboard

What snowboard related business activites are you involved in? We run SMK Snowboard which consists of several divisions: SMK Snowboard Camps for Summer and Winter (www.SMK-camps.com), SMK Snowboard E-Mag which is a digital multi-format magazine (www.SMKemag.com), and SMK Snowboard Sessions which is our events division. We are building the SMK snowboard pro team (www.SMK-team.com).

How did you decide to start this company?

I finished university and I went to Austria for the winter season to snowboard, because it was my passion. I knew I wanted to start my own business after finishing school, which is not so common in Spain. So I designed a business project of snowboard camps for the summer.

Why snowboard camps?

I had gone to snowboard camp 3 years earlier, and I thought many things could be improved. Mainly they were run by pro riders who didn't care about the campers.
They were too expensive, and badly organized.
So I thought of a new concept for snowboard camp, that was more camper-oriented, not just focused on the pro-riders. You can be a really good pro-rider, but that doesn't mean you're a good teacher or a good organizer for a camp.

It was hard in the beginning because we did things a little differently, but I was convinced that this new concept would work.

Where did you grow up? Madrid, Spain, and Holland where I went to an international school for 7 years.

Live now? Madrid, and I travel a lot. The camp base is in Madrid.

Fave places to ride? In Spain, Sierra Nevada, near Granada in the south of Spain.
Anywhere in the Alps. I like the Alps the best. Les Deux Alpes. It has the best quality summer snowboard park in Europe. One of the best for the winter too. Anywhere in the Austrian Alps.

Do you warm up each day before you ride? If so, what do you do to warm up? Normally I walk or run a few laps around on the snow. Then I stretch, following a chart of snowboard specific exercises for upper and lower body. Stretching is important to get your muscles ready for impact, to avoid injury. It's especially important if you're not very strong. You need muscle for snowboarding to help avoid injury. Good leg muscles help absorb impact from jumping. We make our campers do the same warm-up to keep them safe.

How keep in shape in season? How keep in shape for snowboarding out of season? I go to the gym and do aerobic exercises, steps, and spinning. I am a dance teacher, I teach salsa, and the Latin rhythms. I really advise dancing as good snowboard training.
And I do mountain biking too which I think is really good for the legs.
Having strong legs is crucial for landing. You don't always land properly and having strong legs is so important to help avoid injury.

Fave riding buddies? People that are happy riding. That enjoy themselves, and like to have a laugh.
In freestyle, it's really important to do tricks with your friends who will support you and encourage you.

Who do you admire in snowboarding or outside and why? I admire people who have a goal and work to achieve their goals. So many people are conformistas and accept things the way they are, without ever trying to change it.

Do you ever get bummed out about your riding, and why? Of course when things aren't going well.
How do you fix it? Then I just have a rest, and think about why things might be going wrong, and see what I can do to make it better. If things are still going badly, I call it a day. And sometimes the next day is one of the best days ever.

Do you use visualization, and if so, how? I think everyone does, even unconsciously. Now that you ask, yes, I do that before every trick. yeah, I think it's a must.

What safety equipt. do you wear, use for snowboarding? Back protector, Butt protector is the most important. I do advise people to use a helmet.

What have you read, listened to seen that you liked lately? I thought "Super Size Me" was excellent! I love politics, the latest thing I read was the memoires of a Spanish politician - Alfonso Guerra. He was the socialist vice president of Spain for 10 or 12 years starting in the 80s.
I listen to all kinds of music. Salsa, some hip-hop, Spanish hip-hop is good. I like Zenit - he does
hip hop in several languages. "Torre de Babel" is his latest. He does a song with an American group, Blade, it's amazing.

Where have you traveled to lately that you like? Serfaus, Austria. It's a small village in the Tyrolean Alps. I always spend 2 or 3 weeks there each winter, with friends.
I love Italy. Paris too.

Any guilty pleasures? Listening to salsa music when I ride rails.

Anything that not many people know about you that you would like to share? I learned salsa dancing in 4 months and started teaching it after 6 months. And I've been teaching it a year now.

Encouraging words for beginners? Don't let your friends teach you. Always get a qualified instructor. It's so important in the beginning. Our philosophy of teaching in the camps is that everybody follows the same progression. You MUST learn to turn before you can start to jump. You have to master your flat tricks before you can learn rails. You will learn faster if you follow the proper steps.