NEXT BIG THING ON SNOWBOARD

COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colorado—The 11-yearold snowboarder from China has jokes. Lots of them. She even wants to write a joke book one day.

How do you know if a plant is smart?” Patti Zhou playfully asked.

“It has square roots.”

I nstant giggles. It’s just the kid in her shining through.

The Beijing-born, Colorado-based Zhou could be the next big thing in snowboarding, maybe even this weekend at her Dew Tour debut in Copper Mountain, Colorado.

She might have even been a halfpipe/slopestyle contender at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy—if only there weren’t age requirements (she won’t be 15 yet). It’s the same sort of thing that kept two-time Olympic halfpipe champion Chloe Kim on the sideline for the 2014 Sochi Games.

Z hou reasons it just gives her more time to learn bigger tricks like one of her favorite halfpipe riders, Olympic gold medalist Ayumu Hirano from Japan.

Z hou started riding a snowboard at the age of 2—was even given a lollipop to sweeten the deal (strawberry-flavored, she believes). It didn’t take her long to fall in love with her mountain surroundings.

“ When I was young, I thought the mountain was so big and so scary and so dark. But the mountain is actually alive,” said Zhou, who’s slated to compete in the halfpipe and super streetstyle competitions on Saturday at the Dew Tour, along with a halfpipe high air & best trick jam on Sunday. “So when I go snowboarding I always try to find the animal creatures in there.”

Then, she gives them names.

A particularly tall deer she once saw she named after Australia’s particularly tall snowboarder Scotty James, who has earned two Olympic medals in the halfpipe. An inquisitive crow she named after Hirano. And a squirrel bouncing around in the woods she named after two-time Olympic silver medalist Danny Kass.

A ll part of her fun and games.

R aised in Beijing, she and her family have now settled into Silverthorne, Colorado (they rent a place from Norwegian snowboarder Torstein Horgmo). Ask her where she’s from these days and she jokes: “I say that I’m from ‘Beijing, Colorado.’ Everybody’s like, ‘What?’”

A t ypical morning for her during snowboarding season starts off with a bowl of Cocoa Puffs (her favorite), and a trip to nearby Copper Mountain for training sessions (or just to ride). No session is complete, though, without sharing some hot fries smothered in ketchup with her younger sister.

Then, it’s homeschool time, where her favorite subject is “all of them,” she proudly announced. If pressed, though, history tops the list.

I f there’s time, she might watch one of her favorite science fiction movies, which include “The Martian,” “Interstellar,” “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” “The Matrix,” and “Avatar.”

Th at may explain why her top place to visit would be Mars.

“ Maybe if I live there for a few a break to start a family and, like everything else, was rendered inactive during the pandemic. Melencio ruled the Penang Open Championships last September 10 and the Danspiration Open Championships in Kuala Lumpur a day later. She then snatched the Amateur Latin crown in the 10th Singapore Open Dancesports Championships last November.

Melencio and her partner Jumil Edera Bacalso will be rocking anew on the global dance floor when they compete in the Amateur Open Latin of 2023 Asia Open Dance Tour-Asian Open Dance Championships in Tokyo on Sunday where they will face the challenge of 30 other couples.

VETERAN international dance athlete Judith Anne Melencio never stops jiving and winning.

At 32, Melencio, of San Rafael, Bulacan has been an active dance competitor and trainer at least for the past 25 years—inspiring dancers of all ages to excel in their craft and bring their winning acts on the international dance floor.

Melencio fell in love with dancing when she was only 7 and has competed locally and globally in Latin and Standard. She’s one of the top athletes of the DanceSports Council of the Philippines Inc., the governing body for dancesports in the country.

Her journey as a national dance athlete and certified instructor continued to accelerate after she took

I have been in the dance sports competitions since when I was seven,” Melencio said. “I really love this sport. Besides competing, I also teach aspiring dance athletes in different fields—basics and advance.”

But I still compete internationally, which I love most. I love winning not only for myself but also for our country,” she said. “It’s not just expressing our inner self when we dance, it also shows the proper perfect movement, the grace and how competitive one can be.”

She and Bacalso will also compete in the World Grand Prix Open in Taipei on April 9, before throwing their hat on the dance floor in the Blackpool Dance Festival from May 20 to June 2 at the Winter Gardens days, I might find an alien,” she said.

“I’d name it after me—’Patti the Second.’”

See, jokes.

But this was serious business:

Watching all the action unfold at the Winter Games last February in the mountains outside of Beijing. She was captivated—and motivated—by the triple corks of Hirano on his way to an Olympic gold medal in the halfpipe.

She also drew inspiration from Eileen Gu, the freestyle skier who grew up in the US but competes for her mom’s homeland of China. Gu won gold in big air and halfpipe, along with silver in slopestyle. Same sort of motivation struck while watching Su Yiming , the Chinese snowboarder who won Olympic gold in big air and silver in slopestyle.

China is booming now with sports and (Su and Gu) inspired so many young people to start riding,” said Zhou, whose sponsors already include Burton, Oakley, Woodward Copper and Sun Bum. Snowboarding isn’t the only sport where Zhou is making waves. She’s also a surfer and frequently trains at a wave pool in Waco, Texas. She said both sports are complementary to each other. So she envisions a similar path for both.

I see myself going to the Olympics in snowboarding but after snowboarding I’ll try to get there in surfing as well,” said Zhou. “Try to get a title or something.”

For now, she’s trying out new tricks—and new material for her joke book. What’s the biggest cat?” she asked. “A Sno-Cat,” she cracked in reference to the enclosed-cab, truck-sized vehicles designed to move on, well, snow.

I just made that up,” she said through laughter. AP