SPORTS NEWS
November 21, 2008
Catching Up with Shaun White
The snowboarder answers TFK Kid Reporter Harrison Gilman's questions
 |  ADAM MORAN Shaun White hit the slopes in Chile earlier this year. |
Shaun White, the former kid wonder on a snowboard, is all grown up. With 14 X-Game wins and an Olympic gold medal already under his belt, the 22-year-old athlete is gearing up for another busy snowboarding season. White is hard at work off the slopes, too. He just completed a fan-filled tour with the rest of the Burton Global Team. And his new video game, "Shaun White Snowboarding," hit stores this week.
TFK Kid Reporter Harrison Gilman caught up with White at the Los Angeles stop of the Burton tour. They talked about how White got his snowboarding start, why it's important to have fun on the slopes and what White has in store for the year ahead.
TFK:How did you get started with snowboarding?
 The video game "Shaun White Snowboarding" hit stores on November 16. | |
It was pretty wild. At the time, no one was really doing it too much. But I have a brother seven years older than me. He started snowboarding at about the time it started to become popular. And having an older brother, it was like anything he did, I had to do. I got on my board and it just felt right and I took off.
TFK:How about skateboarding?
White:It was a funny thing. Have you seen little kids on the street when they are on their knees (on a skateboard) and they kick at the ground to get around? I did that forever because I didn't want to stand on my board. One day, I got into a race with my brother to see who could go faster. I was on my knees and he was standing, and he beat me at the race. After that, I started standing because it obviously was faster the way he did it. The local YMCA had a skate park in Encinitas, (California), where I live, and, after that, I pretty much would go there every single day.
TFK:You've been competing since a very young age. What is the greatest challenge that you've had to face so far?
White:There was a point where I went from being a kid snowboarder to an actual professional adult, and it was a weird transition. I was 12 years old when I first started traveling. I went to Japan and all these (other new) places. Picture being in Japan and having to close the curtains in the hotel to do homework. It was a challenge to get through school and then to find my own way because all my competitors where about 22 and 23 years old, and the cartoons I was watching weren't really that funny to them. I ended up doing my own thing until around 16 or 17 years old, which is when I made a transition from being a young kid snowboarder to one where I was actually winning events.
TFK:For you, what is the hardest snowboarding or skateboarding trick?
White:I would say learning a new trick is hardest. You get to a certain point where your new trick has got to be a double back flip with a 1080 and something else. How do you work up to that? It gets so complex, and you have to work it out in your head before you go for it.
TFK:Tell me about your new video game, "Shaun White Snowboarding."
White:I've been working on it for two years now. I did motion capture, with motion sensors they put on your body. I looked like a futuristic Christmas tree. I used a skateboard because you can't capture snowboarding because it's too big. They put me in this ridiculous outfit, and I had to do all these tricks in a special room. I did a lot of voiceover for the game too. My actual voice is (the voice of) my character.
TFK:You've won many awards. What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment?
White:The Olympics was pretty heavy. It maybe wasn't the hardest competition ever, but it was more about what it stood for. I would have people come up to me that had nothing to do with the Olympics, but they work in the snowboard industry, and they would say, "Since you did so well in the Olympics, my aunt or my grandmother knows who you are, and it gives me a legitimate career. She now understands what I do." It was a crazy thing.
TFK:What upcoming events are you looking forward to?
White:The Olympics. They are already coming back. We go into this next season, and then that season pretty much roles right into the Olympics. We go in the summer to New Zealand and start practicing for the Games. That's going to be cool. I'm also going to Dubai for a skateboard contest, X-Games Dubai.
TFK:Besides snowboarding and skateboarding, how do you like to spend your free time?
White:I just like hanging out. I rarely get free time, so I go to movies and do normal stuff, like help my dad in the garden.
TFK:I heard you met Tony Hawk at a young age. Do you think you would have had the same interest in skateboarding if you hadn't met him?
White:I had already been skating before I met Tony, but just meeting the guy was really cool. It was one of those wild things where I ended up in the local park that he happened to go to. It was awesome-your hero at the park. You get to ask him what tricks to learn. It's cool that we're friends now.
TFK:What advice would you give to kids who share your dream?
White:Have fun. That is obviously why I started. It was fun, it was what my brother did, and I wanted to do it. Every time I'm up on the mountain, I sit there and I say, "I'm going to train, I'm going to learn this new trick." I beat myself up about learning a new trick and then I can't do it; I can't learn it. And right when I let go and start having fun, everything comes together and starts happening.
