[Photo: Lori Adamski-Peek, Park City]

If you are just starting on a career in competition, you will probably face a terrible Catch 22: to get sponsorship you need results, but to get results you need sponsorship.

Even if you are a member of a club, or national Federation, it's the same around the world - until you are well-known it will be entirely up to you to raise sponsorship. What you'll need is determination, bloody-mindedness and a bit of charm. Here's how it works:

Put together a really good info-pack on yourself. It should include

• a resume, describing what you have done and covering anything a bit "different" which the press might be able to use (eg experiences you have had, where you grew up, other weird hobbies, poetry prizes, illnesses you have had to overcome, anything like that but not too much);
• a results sheet with competition successes - list anything that sounds good, many sponsors don't know the difference between a rocky mountain cup and the world champs;
• the papers, film/news/radio appearances - even if they were nothing to do with snowboarding - sponsors want to know that you understand how important coverage is.
• some great photos, but not too many as they are expensive to print.

Next, be prepared to send out hundreds of letters. You can find addresses on the internet or in a local library, but don't just send letters. Find the name and exact title of the Marketing Director of the company and address your letters to his/her attention. Don't just approach ski industry companies, they are deluged with requests. Think about local companies who might be interested - perhaps where your parents work, or where you have had a student job. Think about friends of the family who work in companies who might be interested and ask them to hand-deliver your letter to their marketing department.

Make sure your letter is short and well-presented (ie no spelling or grammatical mistakes - you have to seem professional), and offer to send a copy of your info-pack to anyone who responds. Don't mention how much you need in the first letter - that comes later. Follow up with a phone call within a week or so to ensure that the letter has arrived.

You will get one or two replies for every hundred or so letters sent cold, a higher response rate if you have the correct name or from personal contacts. You send them a copy of the pack with a cover letter explaining what competitions you want to do, and approximately how much money you need to raise. Tell them you will call them in the next few days to follow up, and do it - sponsors don't want to have to chase you, they need an easy time.

From there it's a question of selling yourself. This is where the charm comes in. but don't forget to point out to the sponsor what THEY get out of the whole thing - articles in their company paper, coverage on local radio, appearances at their kid's party, postcards to their staff. Look at it from their point of view.

Be prepared for the long haul. Most companies will take up to 6 months to decide, so you need to be talking to them in March for the following season. If they say no, - keep the door open and find out when you can come back and discuss the next season with them. Never give up - it might take three seasons to land a big sponsor. Be prepared to start small, with some free product or a minimal amount of money. Anyone who gives you something this year will double it next if they like you.

Finally, get as much press coverage as you can. Don't rely on anyone else to send out press releases - do it yourself. Call the papers in which skiing articles appear and ask for the journalist who writes them by name. Meet him/her at your local slope. Be imaginative. Think about things from the journalist's point of view: they want an easy life. Help them hit their deadlines by supplying them with a good story and some great photos. Once they have written about you, send them postcards from each competition, and give them some extra information from behind the scenes. Local papers will almost always run a story if you make it easy for them and provide them with great photos, as will internal company magazines. It all looks good in your portfolio.