Interviews
Interview with Brooke Shaw
By Jessica Powers
National Sports Academy ‘08
March 2, 2008
Member US Snowboarding C Team
2007 USASA Nationals Gold Medalist, GS & Boardercross
2007 World Junior Championships, SBX Bronze
2007 US Snowboarding Grand Prix, Half Pipe, 4th
2007 Revolution Tour Half Pipe and SBX Champion
Jessica Powers: Do you mind if we ask you some questions?
Brooke Shaw: No problem, I am on Japan Time because we just got back from Japan, so I go to sleep at 2:00am and I am wide awake all night and then I have to get up in the morning and I go, “Noooo!” I just want to fall asleep, but yeah, lets do it!
JP: Thanks! My first question is, how did you get into Boardercross?
BS: Well, I started out skiing when I was two and I started snowboarding when I was six. I would go to Vermont and do USASA. I would do Boardercross on the weekends. These were little night time Boardercross events and I would do them because Lindsey (Jacobellis) would do them and we grew up together. We have been friends since we were babies. She would be like, “Oh yeah, you should come do it.” So I figured if they looked at Lindsey and said, “Oh my God, who’s that,” and she said I should do Boardercross, then I’d do Boardercross. And then I was winning.
JP: What did you do before Boardercross?
BS: Before? I think I was just in Vermont. I would go and ride on the weekends. I would do a little bit of pipe and slalom, like hard wooding, and I practically do everything now.
JP: Did you do any other sports before Boardercross?
BS: I did soccer a lot. I’d do soccer and I’d do gymnastics. Anything to do with sports.
JP: Through this whole process who have your mentors been?
BS: Besides Lindsey? Mostly I have a bunch of coaches and people with me because I am so young. I am only sixteen so you really can’t go anywhere by yourself. I am on the US Team, so I have two coaches that come with me, and then I have a private coach with me and then I hang out with the US Team Riders.
JP: What’s been your main drive in racing Snowboard-cross?
BS: The course is just so exciting. When you are a kid and watch it, it is so awesome! When I was a little kid I’d say, “Wow, that jump is so insane.” Then I’d go do it. I’d look at it and go, “Oh my God, I don’t want to do this. Please!” And then right when you make it over it is, “Wow that was awesome.” It is the trill of riding. It is so much fun. And its like, “Yeah!” You just want more and more of it, so I just kept doing it.
JP: Yeah, you are coming to the take-off and you go, “No No No,” And then you’re in the air.
BS: Your heart is just pounding.
JP: And then your are in the air and you land and it is…
BS: Ahhhh Yeah! You get that dynamite every time. It is exciting. So much fun.
JP: And you’re all, “Why was I even scared?”
BS: Yeah, like Go! Go! Why were you scared? I don’t know.
JP: Everyone does it too!
BS: I know! I know! Yeah, it’s like, what, were you going to die on me baby?
JP: Ha! So what sacrifices have you made since you started competing at such a high level?
BS: Oh boy, a lot. After 8th grade, I started home schooling because I couldn’t process school and snowboarding at the same time because I was so young. We traveled constantly so I had to get a tutor. Now, I have a tutor that travels with me and my brother. And I don’t see my family. I have two younger siblings, One travels with me sometimes, but we don’t see much of each-other. I don’t see my family or my pets at all. Don’t see them for months at a time. Hanging out and getting any real experience with school, being with other kids, hanging out. High-school is, I don’t know what prom is like. I haven’t been to any of those. I miss out on all that stuff. People say, “But you’re so lucky.” And I am, “But you get to have a real life.” But I get to travel the world and see everything that is out there. So, there’s ups and downs.
JP: How do you deal with that?
BS: I don’t know, sometimes when I go abroad, such as to Japan, I go, “This is awesome!” I can’t wait to tell everyone, but then on the other side, who am I going to tell? I don’t have any friends like I do at home. The people here are all twenty years and older. I am the youngest in the whole entire thing. I think, “OK, I have two friends at home,” But, I haven’t been home in awhile. I have some friends who snowboard at SMS back in Vermont, and I do get to go hang out with them once in awhile, but not really often. I am on the computer talking with my friends all day. Constantly. People here go, “You are such a nerd, you are on the computer all the time.” But I don’t get to talk to my friends, so it’s…
JP: You’re outlet?
BS: Yeah, I just have to deal with it.
JP: How do you deal with your fears?
BS: I think, “OK, this is a big competition and I made it here, so I should be able to do everything the other riders can do.” If I made it this far, there is no way I can stop now, I am doing so well and all the other riders think I am good at it, so I just got to do it. I say to myself, “Just relax.” I actually get very tired before my race. I start yawning at the top. I think it calms me down. Others say, “Wake up! Get psyched!” And I say, “Nope, this is just how I am. I am kind of sleeping on the job here!” (Laughs) And then, when I am in there, I am, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Go, Go, Go!
JP: So, what is your favorite thing about Snowboard-cross?
BS: I don’t know, just going out there and riding and having a blast doing it. Everyone likes to see a good show and we like to give it them.
JP: What are some of your greatest accomplishments outside of your sport?
BS: I have no idea because I have just been snowboarding non-stop.
JP: What are your goals and dreams?
BS: I would just love to go to the Olympics and represent the USA and then, go back to the X Games and see if I can hammer out do really well there. Just going to the X Games and the Olympics would be awesome.
JP: What about outside your sport?
BS: Mostly, hang with my friends and family and do lots of summer stuff. In the summer we hang out a lot and wake board and dirt bike - anything that moves or has to do with sports. Just to hang out, relax and have fun after snowboarding.
JP: What are you most proud of?
BS: Every event I go to, I am just, “Wow, I actually beat this person, or did really well in this.” I am most proud of doing every event. Every girl here does just Boardercross. I do Boardercross, Pipe, Slalom and GS. I have to bring all my stuff everywhere. I got to board bags, all this stuff and I am like, “Oh my God.” So every time I go to an event they are just practicing and then thy get a break for a couple of days, and then they have their event. I am practicing and then the next day I have to practice for another event. This morning, I had to practice GS and then head over to the Boardercross. Tomorrow I have GS. I am insane.
JP: What do you feel has been your most important accomplishment and why?
BS: I think maybe making it to the X Games, because that’s the biggest thing I have done. Ever. Just making it through the course, because it was so scary! Making it through and being the youngest, because when I signed up they were, “Hey you are the youngest one here!” I’m all, “Sweet!”
JP: Do you ever feel that you get pressure from being the youngest?
BS: Kind of. Well, I am the youngest so they don’t expect me to do well, but I want to show them that I actually am super good and I want to beat some of them. I want to say, “See, I am young, and I want to get you when I get older and go beyond you guys. Just watch out.” They are always saying, “Just don’t pass me. Don’t make me look bad. I’m older than you, stay behind.” But I’m, “I need to catch up to you, I want to get good.” They are like, “No!”
JP: What do you want to do when you are done riding?
BS: I don’t know, because now I am thinking about college, what am I going to do, because I am snowboarding non-stop right now, I’m thinking next year is going to be even more intense. I am either going to go do school, or college on line or something, but I don’t know what I am going to do after that… I am so young I have a long time to figure it out. Right now, the plan is just to snowboard until I can’t snowboard anymore.
JP: Until you’re dead?
BS: Until I’m dead. Until I can’t snowboard anymore. Until I get a job.
JP: You’ll be the only 83 year old in the World Cup.
BS: Until I’m old like Shawn Palmer. He is probably like, 40 and he’s still doing it. I’ll be an old woman doing this stuff. I’ll get married but I don’t know about kids. I’ll just chill out. I’ll be exhausted by the time I get to that age.