Yes, it’s in a ski resort in the middle of Switzerland. Yes, not everyone can attend it. You can talk shit as much as you want. At the end of the day, Team Trouble brings the fun back into skateboarding the best way possible.
By David Turakiewicz, photos Thibault Le Nours
THE BREAKFAST
Riders, TM’s and media people are invited and get to meet every morning for breakfast at the infamous Rider’s Hotel. Since everything (at least for a non-Swiss) is crazy expensive, the trick is to eat as much as you can in the morning to be able to skip lunch (or get over a hangover) and survive with sandwich vouchers the rest of the day at the Freestyle Academy (where the bowl and the vert ramp are). Not the most difficult challenge since the food is just delicious. Breakfasts are also great non-formal meetings where important decisions that define the hours until the start of the contest are taken: who’s down for snowboarding? Who’s in for a dip in the lake?
TOM SCHAAR
Tom was on some skate trip the weekend before in Laax, and just like Lizzie Armanto and a few more people, stayed a little longer to attend the infamous Team Trouble. Let’s be honest, just like Jimmy Wilkins did in 2023, having the hottest vert rider of our time on-site brought the event to another dimension. And since Tom and his team won, the chance that they’ll come back next year is high…
THE SIDE EVENTS
Team Trouble is not only a team bowl contest. It also brings a couple of vert sessions, some best tricks with custom obstacles added up in the bowl, and a few surprises like a slappy session on a glittery concrete snake in the club nearby. Add a WAW mini village (with a great tombola), a mini media-conference to anticipate FORM26 (see FORM25 here), and of course video premieres at the local Indy bar or DJ sets in the club (same place as the slappy session, yes). Oh, and a tattoo corner by Julien Benoliel, in case of emergency.
QUEEN TROUBLE
Team Trouble might be the only skate comp where genders mix so naturally. Women-only teams or mixed ones – no one cares as long as you get creative and bring the fun. But still, since an MVP award already existed (Tom Schaar took it this time), organisers decided a female MVP award was needed. Emilie Alexandre logically brought it home by skating the vert, the bowl and whatever she could find on her way with a big smile (and a homemade crop top). Well deserved.
SNOWBOARDING
In case you didn’t know, Laax is one of the few hotspots for snowboarding. They have built a massive infrastructure with a 7-meter-high (and 200m long) halfpipe and a couple of snowparks up there with crazy rails and mega kickers, and people come from all over the world to ride them. Even if skateboarding and snowboarding have split ways a long time ago, watching a 5-meter-high backside air or a 20-meter-long frontside 360 in real life will always be a treat for the eyes of any skater (not sure about triple-kink boardslides 270 out, though). Add to this the tons of snow they received the days before this TT edition, and you could have had the chance to see Doobie shredding in the pow like a maniac for a week straight.
ONE MORE DMC
The guy in the middle of the photo above is DR Fad-R and is rumoured to be the best contest DJ in the world. The English teams get some drum and bass to hype their final runs, the French get some Jul or IAM killer tracks, the Americans get Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA”, and even some classic soul songs during practice to give the crowd a bit of rest between 2 jams. Besides that, heavy metal classics are just played most of the time. Don’t be fooled by appearances.
The other 2 guys are the MC’s (Cedi on the left and Seelander on the right) and can naturally switch from English to (Swiss) German (and French) when they’re not just skating with their own team and outfits.
THE LEGALLY CORRUPTED JUDGES
If doing doubles and triples (or even quadruples or quintuples) whilst wearing crazy outfits and having original trick ideas will bring points, breaking rules seems like the best tactic to convince the judges. These same judges can also decide if a trick deserves ONE MORE try, no matter the clock, with the accompliceship of the MC’s. Corrupting them with cocktails or any gift during your run is also totally legal, if not recommended. Gotta keep’em entertained, after all.
THE FOOTBALL
In 2025, Vincent and Nathan Matheron showed up for the first time, and even if they didn’t make it to the finals, they secured themselves a spot for 2026 with some funny football choreography and double 540’s. If skating with 3 or 4 other people in a bowl at the same time is what all teams have to face, these guys (add Emilie Alexandre and Julien Benoliel in that mix) made it even harder, having a football rolling around in their runs. Probably the only time when football is fun to watch.
THE NEON STICKERS
Last year, Alan Maag (the brain behind TT) came up with the idea of having neon stickers with short quotes to put on boards, tees or walls, just to bring more fun, and I just made it happen. Now I’m the sticker guy, and I believe I produced more than 150 this time. Some are made specifically for people, some are just random (or stupid) quotes that people relate to in their own way, and some are made on demand. I have total freedom. I even bring a little politics in there sometimes (I can’t help it), even though the goal is to make people laugh, not to offend.
Sticker „my dad was a pro“ was made for him (would have worked on Zack Miller too).
Sticker „my dad was a pro“ was made for him (would have worked on Zack Miller too).
Sticker „my dad was a pro“ was made for him (would have worked on Zack Miller too).
THE VERT RAMP
Vert sessions are rare, and when they take place with these guys, things get kinda surreal. Watching Tom Schaar skating the vert like a mini, legend Pudi ripping (he just turned 60), Jimmy Wilkins rotating 360 grab-less over Shea Donovan, or Lilly Strachan’s executing BS airs like nothing will give chills to any street skater. Add to this some special obstacle created by the good people at Wonders Around The World (that no one really knew if it was skateable at first) that eventually got destroyed, keeping the WOW/stoke level as high as a 3.5 meter-high ollie to fakie from Tom. BIG TIME!
RESULTS
Best outfit: Pocket Fluff
Queen Trouble: Emilie Alexandre
Mr Trouble + best trick: Tom Schaar
Bowl double trouble: Matteo Vanderputte & Pieter de Clus Van Lierde
Fence bounce: Robin Bolian
Smooth operator: Jordan Thackeray
TEAM TROUBLE WINNERS
1 Dirt Bags: Lizzie Armanto, Corbin Harris, Tom Schaar, Kieran Woolley, Raphae Ueda
2 Family First: Emilie Alexandre, Nathan & Vincent Mathéron, Julien Benoliel
3 One Ten: Alfie Mills, Alex Hallford, Jordan Thackeray, Dean Greensmith, Ewen Bower (as man ramp)
4 Laaxative: Robin Bolian, Archi Bruno, Gaëtan Ducellier, George Poole
Full video recap clip HERE. More info: teamtroublelaax.com, and TT’s Instagram HERE. Special thanks to Dave Morgan, Cedric Romanens & Alan Maag.