Four years ago, snowboarder Kobe Coleman broke his left humerus in his upper arm clean in half after crashing during a run on Mt Hutt.
During his recovery, he was told it could take up to 15 years for the bone to fully heal.
But just four years on, the 15-year-old Sumner resident is setting his sights on becoming the national under 18 champion at the New Zealand Junior Freeride Tournament (NZJFT).
The competition is held across three stops – Mt Olympus in Canterbury, The Remarkables in Queenstown and Treble Cone in Wānaka – during August and September.
Victory would secure Coleman a place in the Oceania team for the Junior World Championships in Austria in January.
He said qualifying would be a dream come true.
“The possibility of going to worlds would be just a dream to me. I’ve always wanted to go and compete on the world stage, which just means so much.”
Coleman’s injury occurred in September 2022 when he crashed on a run down Mt Hutt.
He faced a five-month recovery, including two months in a weighted cast.
During that time, he was unable to sleep in a bed and instead had to remain upright in a special chair.
“When I broke my shoulder, I struggled lots for a while. I didn’t think I’d be able to snowboard and I knew that. I just wanted to get back out there doing what I loved.
"So I worked as hard as I could and trained my shoulder hard enough to be able to keep snowboarding in future seasons,” Coleman said.
His comeback has already delivered results. Coleman won the under 14 NZJFT title in 2024 and finished runner-up in the under 16 grade.
Also a surfer, Coleman competed at the South Island championships in Dunedin earlier this month and won the under 16 SISA Grom Series Event 1 in November, also in Dunedin.
The first round of the NZJFT is at Treble Cone from August 29-31.
- Eve Rees is a year 11 student at Avonside Girls High School
