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How a warehouse in Manchester is the key to Team GB’s future winter medal hopes

The centre could help British athletes like Billy Morgan - 2014 Getty Images
The centre could help British athletes like Billy Morgan - 2014 Getty Images

Graystone isn’t about marginal gains,” says Billy Morgan, the bronze medal-winning snowboarder at the 2018 Winter Olympics, “It’s about huge gains.”

Due to open in Manchester in December, Graystone Action Sports Academy promises to be a game changer for both action sports athletes of all levels in the UK and the UK action sports scene as a whole. With building work well underway at the site in Manchester, the huge warehouse space is going to be home to a ski and snowboard big air to foam pit – the first of its kind in the UK – as well as skateboard bowls, halfpipe, trampolines (including a Super Tramp) and sprung floors, a parkour area, pump track, climbing wall and video production facility.

Open to the public, Graystone will also be elite training academy for GB park and pipe athletes.

Ahead of opening, it’s launched a crowdfunding campaign for a final fundraising push to help pay for the last stages of development, and for providing a springboard for expanding to more sites in the future. The plan is for five more academies to be rolled out across the UK over the next five years. It’s not alone in turning to crowdfunding for fundraising help in the action sports world.

In recent years, athletes such as Molly Summerhayes (halfpipe skier), Mike Rowlands (freestyle skier), and Billy Major (downhill skier), have all launched crowdfunding campaigns to help fund their training, development and competition costs, despite being members of either GB Park & Pipe freestyle team or British Ski and Snowboard. There just aren’t enough funds to cover the extensive costs of training and competing on the circuit, despite help from sponsors and the extra funding British Ski & Snowboard has been able to access thanks to recent successes.

billy morgan
In a 35,000sq ft warehouse walking distance from Manchester city you'll find the future of British snow sports

If Graystone’s crowdfunding is successful and its plan to open five more academies in the next five years, Graystone will significantly help to reduce those training costs.

“Whenever we are in a resort or a town that has a freestyle academy, we’ll make a visit to it because it’s that valuable for training,” says Morgan. “So having somewhere in the UK means we can access it whenever we want and train there in the off season, which at the moment we can’t do. We can’t justify travelling to Europe just to go to a freestyle academy, so having one within four hours of everyone in the country is going to make it an extremely valuable asset.”

Jenny Jones, who became the first Briton to win an Olympic medal in a snow event after winning bronze in slopestyle at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, agrees. “To have a facility like this in the UK would make such a difference to so many up and coming young shredders... as well as those at world class level. I’m fully behind this crowdfunding campaign,” she says.

graystone academy
Graystone will include a big air foam pit, skate ramps and a super trampoline

It might be difficult for the unitiated to imagine how a 35,000sq ft warehouse within walking distance from Manchester city centre can help performance on the snow, but Mia Brookes, an 11-year-old Olympic hopeful and talented snowboarder, gets it. “The centre will be extremely important for other youngsters like me who are wanting to push  tricks in a safe environment before trying them for real in the mountains,” she says. “I am so excited to go to Graystone, to have a great time, make lots of new friends and, most importantly, learn new tricks.”

Katie Ormerod, a Team GB Olympic snowboarder, is also intending to benefit. “I need to use trampolines and foam pits to learn new tricks, so Graystone will be perfect for me,” she says.

Kevin Gray and Ben Livingstone are the pair behind Graystone. They met over 20 years ago working ski seasons in the French Alps, have since gone on to have careers in the hospitality industry, and are both seasoned action sports athletes. For Kevin, the inspiration for Graystone came from his son, a keen skater, biker and aspiring Olympic freestyle snowboarder.

“By providing state of the art facilities and coaching from top professionals, Graystone will help kids and athletes of all ages and abilities to progress faster in the action sports they love within a secure controlled environment, says Ben.

There will be hourly pay and play sessions, day camps during school holidays and educational sessions for school groups, universities, sports clubs and organisations.

With the opening of Graystone, there’s further reason for the UK's skiing and snowboarding community to feel positive. Much maligned Sheffield Ski Village, victim to numerous arson attempts over the past decade, has been given a boost with news of a £22.5 million makeover to create a new action and adventure sports facility, which is due to open in 2019. The Futures Project, launched at the beginning of 2018 by a collaboration between UK Sport, Snowsport Wales, Snowsport England, British Ski and Snowboard and Snowsport Scotland, has been encouraging and coaching kids aged six to 18 to develop their skiing and snowboarding skills at UK dry slopes, indoor snow domes and snow-sport schools, with the emphasis firmly on fun.

Kevin Gray and Ben Livingstone and Mia Brookes - Credit: Copyright 2018. All rights reserved.
Founders Kevin Gray and Ben Livingstone with Olympic hopeful Mia Brookes Credit: Copyright 2018. All rights reserved.

Billy Morgan has been benefiting from training in a similar indoor action sports academy in the States for a few years, and believes it’s really important for young kids in the UK to also have that advantage. “I think it’s hard for people who don’t understand free sports to comprehend just how valuable this is for kids in the UK,” he says. “The more of these places we have in the UK, the more likely we are going to be able to catch up with other free sports nations. We’re substantially behind in facilities at the moment, and if we’re able to open more Graystones, we’ll have a great chance of catching up.”