SLIDE SHOW: photos courtesy of Carbon 14

New York, NY - Korath Wright had no problem doing a 180, 360, corkscrew, tame dog or a backside 720 when he took his snowboarding tricks to a trampoline in Central Park Monday evening.

But when asked to do a Spark 60, Flamingo, an Andre 3000, and an upside down 360 – snowboard tricks originating from the minds of 9-year olds – he said he started to feel a bit uneasy.

Wright improvised. Within the 50-foot circumference of the green trampoline, he flipped backwards and forwards, spun his body in all directions and slid one foot out of the snowboard binding attached to his skateboard while midair.

“He’s pro,” said 9-year old Kimi Cortes, one of 70 kids cheering Wright on in Central Park. Several afterschool programs of the Department of Parks and Recreation organized the event with Carbon14, a new brand of watches Wright is promoting.

Wright will be competing in the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics in Canada, the first ever to compete from the Bahamas, and in the snowboarding World Cup in New Zealand.

Korath Wright (left) with owner of Carbon 14 watches Robert Hollander (right) pose with children who came out to see him perform stunts on a trampoline in Central Park, NY. The event was a promotional launch for Carbon 14's new Korath Wright wrist watch. Photo: NY Sentinel

Wright is an atypical islander with a passion for extreme snow sports – but it was a move with his family that initially led him to choose snowboard over skateboard.

“I didn’t realize I was living my dream until a few years ago,” Wright said, casually dressed in jeans, t-shirt and Nike sneakers, after climbing down from the trampoline after exhibiting a series of stunts.

Wright picked up the sport when he was 10 years old in Canada where he moved a year after he was born in the Bahamas.

“When snow covered the grounds during the winter I started snowboarding,” he said.

When he was 14 he began to compete in local half-pipe competitions and worked his way up the ranks.  He is now training with the Canadian, Dutch and United Kingdom Olympic teams. At 24 years old, he is ranked 38 in the world.

Far from snow and without a snowboard, Wright came to show his skills to kids in New York City.

“I got terrified that he would fall on the metal part of the trampoline,” said 10-year old Jordan Manigo.  Next to him, Camila Quintero, also 10, said, “But if you fall, you’ll just jump back up again.  It’s safe.”

Still, Wright put on a helmet when the kids asked him to do a newly invented upside down 360 and a triple front flip.

“It doesn’t matter where you are from,” Wright said, whether it is the Bahamas or New York City.   It doesn’t even matter if there is snow – a trampoline can help build up a snowboarder’s air awareness.

Wright hopes that by showing kids what he does that they will be motivated to go outside and play sports.

This past summer, Wright partnered with High Cascade Snowboard Camp to bring nine teenagers from the Bahamas, free of charge, to the nine-day summer camp in Mount Hood in Oregon.  “These were kids who had never seen snow,” Wright said, “and in one summer they were jumping and doing 360s.”

Article SOURCE

The new Korath Wright Carbon 14 wrist watch.

www.korathsnowboarding.com