OH! Magazine - Australian Version January 2018 | Page 4

( OH WOW )
BELLE BROCKHOFF
GOING FOR GOLD ON
& OFF THE SLOPES
Former Winter Olympian and Australia's best female snowboarder
Belle Brockhoff was ready for PyeongChang 2018, until tragedy struck – again.
hen you’re talking about the
success of an elite athlete these
days, the reality is that their performance
on the field – or slopes, as the case may be
– is only half the battle. Because thanks to
the likes of social media and the internet,
athletes are now also judged by what they
do off the field; and this includes the
professionalism of their online presence.
W
These days, you won’t find a top-level
athlete without some sort of web page or
social media account. This is because
such platforms are considered an extension
of any athlete’s personal branding; and
this extension is so important that – much
like an athlete’s nutritional or training
plans – it too needs to be handled by
highly experienced professionals with
expertise in this area of communications.
Winter Olympian Belle Brockhoff is
currently the world’s #3, and Australia’s
#1 female in the Snowboard Cross
discipline.
Skiing since she was aged three, Belle
Brockhoff (bellebrockhoff.com.au) took up
snowboarding at age 10, and just three
weeks after first trying the sport, she won
her first interschool nationals title.
Brockhoff trained and competed in a
4
OH! MAGAZINE ( JANUARY 2018 )
number of snowboard disciplines,
competing on the World Cup circuit in
Parallel Giant Slalom, before settling on
Snowboard Cross for her first World Cup
circuit in 2012/13.
In 2014, Brockhoff competed in her first
Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia,
where she achieved the highest placing of
all Australian Snowboard Cross athletes,
finishing eighth.
Fast forward to the 2016/17 season and
Brockhoff was a force to reckoned with,
having won two World Cups (Montafon,
Austria and Bansko, Bulgaria) plus a silver
at Feldberg, Germany. She finished overall
third in the World Cup standings – despite
dealing with a knee injury toward the end
of the season.
To-date, Brockhoff has participated in 32
World Cups, and earned three gold, three
silver and one bronze – impressive
achievements that have firmly positioned
her as a major contender for the podium at
the
Olympic
Winter
Games,
in
PyeongChang in February. Brockhoff
admits that while she’s got the training
and nutrition components of her
preparation sorted, what she does need
help with is her ‘digital game’.
'As a competitive sportsperson, we turn to
the experts to ensure we get the best from
our training and nutrition efforts,” she
says. “So it makes perfect sense to work
with a professional when it comes to
developing and maintaining a website and
social media presence.'
Gym Click Media is a Melbourne-based
digital media agency, which boasts an
impeccable reputation for its extensive
work with the leading brands in the
Australian fitness industry. Says Gym Click
Media co-founder, Eugene Downing, 'For
elite level athletes, training and nutrition
are clearly the two most critical
components for success in their sport.
However, the third – often overlooked –
element that sportspeople of Belle’s
calibre need to pay attention to, is an
engaging, innovative and interactive
presence on the internet. Here at Gym
Click Media, we understand that elite
sportspeople have so many things to focus
on while preparing for competition; and
building or maintaining a professional web
and online presence should not be one of
them.'
Presenting a lifetime’s achievements, and
snapshots of an athlete’s personality via a
professionally maintained website, ensures