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SASKATOONEXPRESS - February 1-7, 2016 - Page 1
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Volume 14, Issue 4, Week of February 1, 2016
Saskatoonʼs REAL Community Newspaper
Kings of the Hill Brothers work to create new winter playground
Anthony and Nathan Thoen have been snowboarding since they were youngsters in Prince Albert (Photo by Curtis Matwishyn)
O
Cam Hutchinson Saskatoon Express
ptimist Hill at Diefenbaker Park is all about children. That, quite simply, is what motivated Anthony Thoen and his brother, Nathan, to lend their time and names to the project. “The bottom line is this project is about getting kids to go play outside,” Anthony Thoen said. “Today there are so many distractions, whether it be smart phones or the Internet, so it is easy when it is minus 20 outside for kids just to sit inside and play on the computer. It’s important for kids to get outside and to play with one another and enjoy the outdoors. That is what this campaign is all about.” Thoen is speaking from both the heart and from experience. When he was a little gaffer in Prince Albert, he spent hours upon hours at Little
Red River Park, just north of the city. Thoen, who turned 26 last month, said he learned life lessons on that tiny hill. “At Little Red, the older snowboarders were helping the young snowboarders, showing them the way. That kind of interaction will build soft skills for kids that will take them a long way in life. It’s not math and it’s not English, it’s learning how to take turns, learning how to share the hill, learning how to encourage each other, things like that. I think this hill is going to be a beacon for that kind of encouragement. It is going to pull the community tighter together.” In most ways, everything he has done in life is linked to his time on a board. “It played a big role in what I do. The first job I had was teaching snowboard lessons at the hill (at age 12). I was teaching snowboard lessons to younger kids and kids my age.” His next job was working in a snow-
board shop in Prince Albert. Now there’s a surprise. Along the way he kept teaching and started competing. He used to race on Saskatchewan hills against Regina’s Mark McMorris, now one of the top boarders in the world. Thoen shot two full-length snowboard videos featuring Saskatchewan riders and riders across Western Canada. Those led to his current job at an advertising agency. “My love for snowboarding has just evolved. Through that, I got experience in design and videography and graphic design. It really stemmed out of snowboarding — making snowboard videos to putting together creative projects with friends. It all stemmed from this small snowboard hill north of Prince Albert where I spent my evenings and weekends, probably four or five nights a week during the winters. “A lot of the friendships I made there I have carried with me and they are still some of my best friends today. I have
tonnes of great memories growing up there.” He would like to help create those memories and friendships for Saskatoon children. He and Nathan got on board, not long after Nathan received an email pertaining to a market research survey. The survey asked whether he would use a tube hill/snowboard hill if Saskatoon had one. The research was being done at the University of Saskatchewan on behalf of the Optimist Club. Nathan emailed back and said he and Anthony would be all in should the project proceed and if members of the Optimist Club wanted their help. “This is something me and my brother had been talking about for years, prior to hearing about the Optimist Hill campaign,” Thoen said. “We talked about how much Saskatoon really needs a snowboard hill.” (Continued on page 4)