Eric Willett quietly stepped into the competition scene during the 2008/2009 winter. The young buck, born and raised in Breckenridge, Colorado, quickly started showing the world what happens when you grow up riding one of the best snowboard parks in North America. First he started to podium at some lower-level pro contests: a 3Star TTR big air comp here, a 5Star slopestyle contest there. And then bam, headed out of the 09/10 season he nabbed the gold at Winter X Europe, and then came back to podium this past winter in almost every major contest he was in. (He just won the Billabong Ante Up last week, too.) All with a smile on his face.

Willett is part of the new generation of kicker kids who you will for sure see taking the 2014 Olympics by storm. He's nice, he's friendly. He's just the kind of person you want representing your country on a Wheaties box. But in the meantime, his prowess in the double cork arena got him an invite to the Brain Farm Aspen shoot. We caught up with him there to talk about his season. Watch video»