State of Play

New Role, Still Snowboarding 

Words: Darrah Reid-Mclean 

Darrah Reid-McLean reflects on shifting from rider to commentator: less pressure, more perspective, and the same commitment to championing the talent The Uninvited has elevated. 

It’s largely thanks to the Uninvited film trilogy that most people finally caught on to the importance of equal representation in snowboard videos. With that accomplished, a new Uninvited objective emerged: spotlighting underthe- radar talent and putting money in the pockets of deserving, upcoming riders. It’s difficult to reconcile being on the outside of the action at a snowboard event. Contests have never been my preferred avenue in snowboarding, but suddenly I was feeling immense pressure to perform in one. The Uninvited movies shaped so much of my snowboard career that it seems only natural I’d be a competitor in the Invitational. A 60k prize purse sounds pretty nice, too. But after facing MUCH internal resistance, I had to accept that maybe the Uninvited Invitational isn’t an event for snowboarders like me – the “video part” snowboarders. And maybe that’s okay.

First and foremost, I’ll always be a rider. But we are multi-faceted creatures! If there’s one thing Jess Kimura is great at, it’s discovering and exposing talent in others. I like to think she saw a skill in me that I hadn’t yet recognized. Although I also wonder if she was just taking pity on my reluctance to let go of riding in the event. Either way, this is how I ended up shifting into a new, nonathlete role at the Uninvited Invitational. 

As it turns out, attending an event as media can be a lot more fun than attending as an athlete. Snowboarding in front of an audience can elicit some pretty unpleasant nervous system responses for me. As media, I get to have all the fun with none of the scary, jittery stress. 

I spent the two qualifying days at Woodward Park City doing as many laps as possible with absolutely zero pressure or expectation. While the 75 competitors fought it out for their spot in the finals, I was enjoying dreamy, fun laps through mini pipes, mini jumps, and mini jibs.

“It’s exciting that there’s enough space in snowboarding for everyone to find their own way to belong” 

Finals day was my moment to step into media mode. It became clear fairly quickly that I had made the right decision. As soon as the confetti cannon went off, the girls were throwing down. Some of my favorite notable moments include Nora’s front and back 270s onto the down ledge, Hinano’s front blunt 450 on the out ledge, Himari’s beautiful back blunt 270 through the kink rail, Katja’s gap to back blunt 270, Emma’s gap to front boards, Annika Morgan’s noseslide pretzel on the kink, every trick Jess Perlmutter stomped, and so many more. There were big gaps, big transfers, technical tricks, switch tricks, and way too many hammers to list them all. My only job was to watch snowboarding and comment on it, but the action was happening so fast that it was hard to keep up. 

The gap between the video-centric snowboarder and the contest snowboarder seems to be widening fast these days. Perhaps as a result of there being more contests, or perhaps as the industry seems to put less emphasis on full videos (sadly). My heart will always be with the snowboard videos, and my heroes will always be the greats who have filmed parts that have blown me away… but I am highly anticipating seeing some of the tricks I witnessed at the Invitational go down in the streets. A Jess Perlmutter cab 270 would be an insane treat for everyone’s eyes. I can’t wait! 

In the meantime, until the Uninvited Invitational generation moves into the streets, I’m excited to keep watching them on Ben B’s masterfully designed course. And I’m even more excited to keep announcing their crazy tricks on a live feed. It fills my heart to be able to contribute to an event that means so much to me. Broadcasting a snowboard event feels like the most natural thing in the world. It’s easy and fun for me to talk about the things I love and care about more than anything else. I never would have discovered this possibility if I hadn’t let go of my self-inflicted pressure to ride in the contest. 

Through this experience, my biggest takeaway is that there are various avenues to stay involved in the world I’m so passionate about. I truly believe we still NEED video part snowboarders. Snowboard videos are a crucial and integral part of snowboarding. And I’m still determined to film my best video part yet. But maybe it’s okay if I’m not always part of the action at everything. And maybe I should allow myself that grace. And finally, when it eventually comes time for me to stop filming, I now know I’ll easily find my place in snowboarding. At the end of the day, human beings just want to feel like they belong to something. It’s exciting that there’s enough space in snowboarding for everyone to find their own way to belong, whether we’re competing in contests, filming video parts, organizing events, or being media powerhouses!