Video: Behind-the-scenes footage of how Mark McMorris, Olympic and X Games snowboarding medalist, started his career in flat Regina with skateboards and trampolines

Mark McMorris has become one of the world's best snowboarders, but there was a time when he was rarely able to get to any sort of substantial mountain. McMorris and his brother Craig, also a famed professional snowboarder, grew up in Regina, Saskatchewan, well-known for its flat terrain. The nearest snowboarding hill of any size, all 292 feet of it at Mission Ridge Winter Park, was 72 kilometres away. Mark's managed to find remarkable success in the snowboarding world, though, winning five gold medals at the X Games (including both the slopestyle and big air golds at this year's event this past weekend) and a bronze at the 2014 Sochi Olympics (Canada's first medal) despite a broken rib, difficult qualification and a judging controversy. He and Craig have even had their own show on MTV Canada. So, how did such a dominant snowboarder come from such a lack of hilly terrain? A mini-documentary from Red Bull gives us part of the answer, using exclusive home video footage of the McMorris brothers at an early age practicing moves on their skateboards and their trampoline:

Mark talks in there (at 1:05) about how the lack of easy access to great terrain actually helped make him and Craig better, and more persistent and innovative, as snowboarders.

"I think coming from where we came from challenged us to open our minds," he said. "We had no choice but to be creative. It doesn't matter what you're given, you do it because you don't have much. It makes you want something so much more."

Craig mentions (1:20) that the other sports they tried gave them unique approaches that they then brought to snowboarding.

"We grew up without that traditional path, or guys that went before us who became pro snowboarders from where we're from," he said. "We didn't get that, but what we did get was a different set of skills from wakeboarding and skateboarding, and then also, scratching tooth and nail to get on the snowboard as much as possible. I think that's what drove our passion. We had to be creative and innovative, and find different ways to do it, and I think we're continuing in our snowboarding to find different ways of reaching that next step."

The footage of a young Mark and Craig pulling off remarkable tricks on skateboards and wakeboards is impressive, but it may be the trampoline that was most crucial to the brothers' rise. Their father, Don (a long-time provincial MLA and the current Minister of Crown Investments), talks about how much that trampoline mattered at 2:10:

"Our trampoline has been worn out two or three times, because if they weren't on the water or on the snow, they were on the canvas," he said. "They were bouncing and just, you know, becoming comfortable with being upside down and spinning and all that. They could do it when they wanted, how they wanted. They didn't have to worry about conforming."

That may be an unusual upbringing for professional snowboarders, but it's worked out very well for Mark and Craig. The whole video is worth watching for early footage of the tricks they were pulling off on the streets, on the water, and on the trampoline, and you can see how that background has translated into their snowboarding moves. The best may be yet to come for Craig and Mark, who are just 23 and 21 respectively. They certainly don't have to rely on occasional trips to 292-foot hills any more, but that lack of access to typical mountains may have done a lot to get them to where they are today.