A talented 13-year-old snowboarder from Queensbury has walked away with the title of British Indoor Slopestyle Champion.

Jamie Nicholls, who goes to Queensbury Upper School, on Deanstone Lane, started boarding at the age of just seven and began competing around the country aged nine.

In six years, Jamie has been able to build up a reputation as a promising prospect for the future and is beating off much older snowboarders with his technical skills - culminating in picking up the national title at a recent competition in Glasgow.

His mum, Charlotte Taylor, 36, explained that she encouraged Jamie to learn how to snowboard so that he would have a hobby to focus on.

"I've always been interested in extreme sports and it just so happened that there was a ski slope within five minutes of our house. I just want both my children to grow up with a hobby that would give them something to focus on," she said.

And now Jamie is competing across the country as well as in European competitions in France.

So mum, his dad, David, and younger sister, Sophie, all come along to cheer him on.

Jamie has managed to secure sponsorship deals with Xscape, Salomon Snowboards, Bonfire Clothing and recently he has joined Nike's NKE 6.0 team which is made up of snowboarders, surfers, skaters, downhill mountain bikers and BMX riders.

"Joining the NKE 6.0 team has been good for Jamie's confidence and a great way of meeting people. He's been very lucky to get this as there are only eight of them in the team," said Charlotte.

Despite Jamie's sponsorship his family are having to cover the majority of the costs involved in competing at a high level.

"It's very, very hard in this country because there's not much support for snowboarders. He could have every opportunity to get to the Olympics but because snowboarding is not really recognised as a sport it will be difficult to fund. Hopefully, by that stage, he will be able to get the support that he needs through sponsorship.

"We do as much as we can but it is expensive travelling around the country and abroad to compete," said Charlotte. Even though Jamie is only 13, because some of the competitions are during term time he occasionally has to miss time from school but luckily staff at Queensbury Upper School have been very supportive.

Jamie is hoping to be able to carve out a professional career in snowboarding and if he continues to progress as quickly as he has he will definitely be a name to look out for in the future.

"We're all really proud of him. Sometimes he does things and you think where has he learnt that from? He works hard but he's got natural talent too - he's just got that little bit extra," said Charlotte.

e-mail: sunita.bhatti @bradford.newsquest.co.uk