Rejected Edits – Where Are they Now – Yougofirst

Riders: Domagoj Miro Miloslavić, Mario Veljača , Vid Barić, Ana Rumiha, Matic Zavodnik, Marko Skender, Filip Grilec, Davor Uidl + friends

filming: Dario Gilja Gilj$on + friends

Yesterday, we got a note from our old pal Vid Barić. If you remember the name, you may remember his Dachstein-based, Balkan snowboard crew Yougofirst and their rise from the bowels of rejected edits to a mainpage feature super stardom. Oh you don’t? Just trust us – they came along way in a few short years.

It’s three years later now – and like many core boarders, this crew’s lives have taken them in many different directions – but one commonality remains, they haven’t been able to break their snowboarding habits. So when Vid sent over this Yawgoon’s inspired-edit of his new local crew – RITAM sekcija – who make it happen at the small resort called Sljeme, near Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, we got excited. It’s not the sickest boarding we’ve ever seen, but we think it’ll make you smile. And if not – scroll down to learn some shit and relive some memories.

Vid Baric and some pretty ladies.

About how many times do you watch a Yawgoons edit after it drops? What other snowboard crews do you like watching?

Well basically like five times in a row when it drops, and then I’m back at it in few days, and back again in few months as well. Yawgoons edits are the only thing in snowboarding I still follow on a regular basis. Besides that, I’m trying to check new clips and movies that are coming out from my dear European shred buddies I made friends with during my snowboarding years, like Postland, Sane Crew, 45 degrees and others. Of course, I will always check summer shred clips from USA resorts as well if it appears on my Facebook wall. Also, I really appreciate when I see anything from Jon Stark or Trash League. This kind of aesthetics and riding is really interesting to me.

Full snowboarding movies I stopped watching long time ago, but I do watch them when someone mentions some specific movie to me as something different and fresh, both in terms of riding and editing.

“Probably the last street rail I will ever hit in my life.” – Vid. Photo: Peter Fettich

What sort of stories are you covering as a journalist in Croatia? Does the American-media adage “if it bleeds it leads” – in other words, fires, crimes, deaths, etc are the top news stories- apply in Croatia as well? More importantly, does your president/prime minister/governor/king have a Twitter account?

I work at a mainstream news website, so yes I am covering all mentioned: crime, deaths, political crime (highly popular here.) It’s a known fact that people are always really excited on reading this kind of news. I’d say “if it bleads it leads” tactics are now on their peak in Croatia. Not to mention they also really enjoy sex-related content and bizarre news.

Besides this stuff that pays for my bills, I also do some long-reads on topics that are of my interest, some commentaries on daily sociopolitical things going on in Croatia, travelogues with photo galleries (I enjoy shooting analogue) etc. Not as many people really want to read this, although those who want know how to do it, appreciate it.

Luckily, we don’t have a king in Croatia so he doesnt have a Twitter account. But everyone else from political caste have it. I guess it comes handy for spreading the bullshit. But you’d know everything about it, right?

The Yougofirst Crew, From the making of Nothing Really Extreme. Somewhere in Bulgaria.

What happened to the rest of the Yougofirst crew? Do they have real grown up jobs now too?

Well yeah, I am on the line with most of the Yougofirst boys I was traveling and riding with, they are all around doing different stuff for living and they seem to be happy and healthy. Most of them are real grownups now but still snowboarding hard – maybe just not traveling that much or being involved in bigger projects. Nejc Ferjan had a sick edit come out from Vogel, Slovenia last year. Žiga Rakovec is still destroying it and riding like there is no tomorrow… That guy has the best board control ever. Our youngster, Nejc Pucko, is now on top of the game actually. Andrej Marinčić is somewhere literally ‘In The Army Now’, Matic Zavodnik is running his own business producing videos for different people and companies, Georg Obermeissner Church is taking care of his farm life, Davo Struber is out there in Vienna living his life on a bicycle and Georg Ischepp Scheps is taking care of musicians – if I got it right from his IG and Facebook…

Fuck, I really miss all of those guys. “The Dachstein connection.”

Vid Filming Matic.

Matic just called me actually, he is trying to organize a filming trip to Kitzsteinhorn with the boys, for the good old days. Who knows, maybe there is a new Yougofirst clip coming out in this season. I am pretty scared though since I haven’t been riding real parks for like 3 years now.

The good thing is I can still gather all of these shred buddies for the rail jam I’ve been organizing in my hometown Rijeka, Croatia for 10 years now. This year it’s happening on February 3, 2018, so if anyone reading this wants to join, find me on Facebook.

How does the healthcare system in Croatia work? If you get hurt snowboarding is there any chance you will lose your job or go bankrupt?

It is not like USA, for sure. You will get your treatment from the state if you are a tax payer and in most of the cases you are not going to be bankrupt. Probably you will wait for your surgery though if you dont know someone who can make a call for you. I got 3 surgeries because of snowboarding in Croatia. Two of them were in public hospitals where I got a cool treatment but, yeah, someone had to make a call for me so I wouldn’t wait for like 5 months to get my shoulder fixed.

What do your coworkers think of your snowboarding habit? Do they even know about it?

They know about it and they find it cool actually.

Anything else you’d like to say to the yobeat public?

I just want to say that it is going to be alright in the end.  Also, I’d like to thank to my friends, family and Death Label Snowboards for sending me the best boards for 7-8 years now. These guys sure know how to make a proper snowboard.

Follow Vid’s vids:  https://vimeo.com/vidbaric