Cheryl Maas is one of the strongest and most predominant competitors on the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour. She started riding when she was just nine years old after her brother picked the sport up on skiing holidays. She rode a lot on plastic slopes back home in Holland and became sponsored at age 11. When she finally hit the real slopes at 16 she had morphed from a ‘dryslope rookie’ into a powerful future champion.

Her biggest accomplishment on the Tour to date was becoming the inaugural TTR World Tour Champion in 05/06. She finished at World Nr. 3 in 06/07 with all her Top 6 results falling in the each event's Top 5, including a 2nd place podium finish at the 6Star Roxy Chicken Jam Slopestyle in Kaprun.  In 07/08 she again managed a Top 5 finish which was helped by her victory at the 6Star Roxy Chicken Jam where she had finished second the year before.

In 08/09 Cheryl Mass is definitely a serious threat whenever there is a contest on and when she drops into the Slopestyle course you are guaranteed to see an epic run.  Cheryl is a fierce competitor and vocal advocate of women’s snowboarding – making her one to watch.

You won the TTR championship title after the 05/06 season. What did this mean to you?

Last season winning the TTR championship title was a big thing for me, because it was the first Women title ever in the history of the TTR. I will always have that title for the rest of my life and I am really stoked on it. So for this season, a lot of people know that I want to go for the title again this season, which is good for my career, but there is a lot of good riders out there, so i wonder how it's gonna be this year.

Which TTR event do you like the most and why?

I like the ROXY Chicken Jam because it’s well organized, always a lot of fun and it’s just the girls so we get all the attention from the mags.

Where do you see the TTR Women’s tour evolve in the next couple of seasons?

I think it will grow a lot, because the whole woman's market is growing, and i can see al ot of riders are interested in the tour and the public loves to see a world champ. So I think there will be more and bigger female contests coming in the future.

How do you feel the night before an important event and how do you prepare yourself?

I’m getting nervous and don’t sleep so good, I'm still trying to find a way to be more on it.

Where did you start snowboarding and when was your first big trip abroad?

I started in my home town on plastic slopes and did little contest there, than my first season in the snow was in Mayerhofen. My first big contest was in Amsterdam at the “Nokia totally board big jump”, I won that and started to compete more.

Dutch snowboarding is a lot about dryslopes/snowdomes by now. How big might the impact on the international Dutch riding level be in the future?

I think the Dutchies are stepping it up, but there will always be a handicap
so I think it’s even more respect worth.

We saw you do clean BS 720s at the Roxy Chicken Jam in Kaprun earlier in the season. Tell the girls out there how you got to learn this trick?

Well you just build it up first you get comfortable with a bs 180 than 360 and you will feel every time more that you can spin it easier, so just do it a lot and eventually you will be able to spin 7s or more...

Are you working on a new trick right now?

Well, I'm always trying to improve my ridding and as i explained earlier with spinning, I'm comfortable on the 7 so I'm trying 9s and landed some of them already. Stoked!

Who are the female riders bringing progression to the sport right now?

Janna Meyen, Natazja Zurek, Torah Bright.

When you’re not in the snow, where can we find you?

Surfing in Biarritz!

Which was the funniest experience you ever had in a foreign country?

That I landed in a country, got in a taxi payed and then the guy asked me what kind of money I gave him. I thought I was somewhere else in a different country, I looked pretty stupid.

You plan to shoot with YEAH! Productions this winter – how important is a movie part for you and how does this fit into your contest schedule?

I really like to film because I think than you can really show what kind of rider you are, not just do one or two runs and be judged! But yeah, this year I'm still doing a few contests so it will be hard, but I'm trying to make the most out of the filming time I have.

What is your advice to any upcoming grommets that don’t live in the mountains?

Just do it with what you have and be creative, then you will get the reward one day anyway.