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Belle 2003

Pre 2007 Photos 1

Pre 2007 Photos 2

France 2007

Mieussy Sommand

Results To Date

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Joyce Brockhoff

Contact

2007-8 Plans

YouTube

USA 2008

Email: bruce@brockhoff.biz

2003 National Champion in

GS Snowboard, Moguls Ski, GS Ski &

Runner up in Boarder Cross and Skier Cross, (division 5 girls).

Belle’s first year of competition has been remarkable. At only ten years old and despite a lack of race training and experience, she performed brilliantly in the 2003 Victorian Interschool competition at Mount Buller, winning or placing in all five individual races. Two weeks later in her first Australian Interschool at Mount Hotham, Belle either took first or second place in every individual race that she entered. She achieved these outstanding results against a field of seasoned racers, most of whom who had spent a number of years with Race Clubs from various Australian snowfields. She did this while continuing with her normal schooling program.

To highlight her achievements and potential, it is worth mentioning that prior to the Victorian Interschool competitions, she had only 2 hours of race training for skiing and 2 hours for snowboarding. Many of her competitors had been undertaking intensive race training across a number of seasons, both here and overseas. Belle is yet to have the opportunity to ski overseas and to date has used relatively basic equipment for both skiing and snowboarding.

Belle’s family has had a long association with snow sports, her Uncle, Peter Brockhoff representing Australia at the winter Olympics in 1960 and 1964 and three World Championships. Her grandfather Harold Brockhoff was one of the original pioneers of Mount Buller and her Uncle’s mother, Joyce Brockhoff, has a run named in her honour at Mount Hotham in recognition of her work promoting the place of women in snow sports. There are many fascinating and colourful stories about the family’s history on the mountain dating back to the 1920s. Belle has skied with her family since she was about four years old and loves the alpine environment. She is interested in and shows potential across all of the snow sports. As an example, Belle has only been snowboarding since September 2002 and yet has won the Australian title in this discipline.

Belle’s interest in competition has only emerged during the last season as a result of her involvement with her new school’s Snowsports program. Her commitment to her team and the impact she had on their final results has been the subject of much comment amongst the skiing fraternity. As a result of her school’s Snowsports program she is now being exposed to other disciplines that she is keen to pursue during the 2004 season including cross country and free style. She already shows aptitude for free style snow boarding despite very limited exposure to date.

One of the reasons for Belle’s success has been her absolute focus and commitment to the sport. It has been remarkable for us, as her parents, to witness this focus and also delightful for us to see her joy when her friends perform well. In our view, and the view of others who have witnessed it, Belle’s attitude epitomises good sportsmanship. It also highlights the fun to be had while pursuing her passion.

Clearly one of the most significant issues in enabling Belle to pursue Snowsports and achieve her potential is the cost of training and competition. Our advice is that this cost is substantial and we are looking for ways to manage this, while supporting what we believe to be a promising career. We would be keen to have discussions with your company to establish what sort of assistance may be available and what your expectations would be about reciprocal commitments. Naturally it is very important that Belle continue to have a happy and balanced life while enabling her to achieve her full potential in snow sports.