Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're headed
Speaker 1: home from the epicenter of women's sports in Portland with
Speaker 1: eleventy new badass women's sports friends, a purse full of
Speaker 1: Tillamook cheese, and quads made of jelly from doing a
Speaker 1: workout with performance Coach to the Stars, and last chance
Speaker 1: to fix my spine made a dust. Friend of the show,
Speaker 1: Susan Porchard, y'all, these WNBA player workouts are no joke.
Speaker 1: It's Monday, August twenty fourth, and you'll get a full
Speaker 1: debrief of the Portland trip, the new practice facility, thorns
Speaker 1: and fire games, and so much more later this week.
Speaker 1: But on today's show, five time Paralympic medalist Brenna Hackabee
Speaker 1: joins us, now fully mostly recovered from she weekend in
Speaker 1: Vegas where the two of us got to hang out
Speaker 1: and chop it up, and she is a delight. I
Speaker 1: knew we had to have her on the show, so
Speaker 1: we sat down last week to talk about how she
Speaker 1: became a winter sports athlete despite growing up in Louisiana,
Speaker 1: why she can't help but be outspoken, how she handled
Speaker 1: being a teen mom while keeping her Paralympic dream, alive
Speaker 1: and the important difference between being kind and being nice
Speaker 1: plus double trouble Sanchez shines and Tosh reads them for filth.
Speaker 1: It's all coming up right after this Welcome Back Slays.
Speaker 1: Here's what you need to know today, Starting with tennis.
Speaker 1: While Serena Williams won't be playing in the singles tournament
Speaker 1: in the upcoming US Open in New York, she is
Speaker 1: teaming up with one of the biggest stars in the game,
Speaker 1: seven time Grand Slam winner Carlos Alcarez, to form a
Speaker 1: formidable mixed doubles duo. The mixed doubles' main draw begins
Speaker 1: on Tuesday, with the winning team sharing a million dollars.
Speaker 1: Speaking of scrilla, it's been announced that the US Open
Speaker 1: will offer the biggest prize pool in Grand Slam history,
Speaker 1: with a total of one hundred eight million dollars handed
Speaker 1: out across the tournament. That's a twenty percent increase from
Speaker 1: last year, and the singles champions will take home five
Speaker 1: and a half million each, a ten percent increased from
Speaker 1: last year. You remember, the world's best players have been
Speaker 1: asking for a higher revenue share at the major tournaments,
Speaker 1: and when it hasn't come through at other Slams, some
Speaker 1: athletes have chosen to limit their media appearances as a
Speaker 1: form of protest, per The Guardian, after this prize pool
Speaker 1: was announced, top players have promised not to continue those
Speaker 1: protests at the Open. More Tennis, the four tennis Grand
Speaker 1: Slams have announced the creation of a Grand Slam Player
Speaker 1: Advisory Council to service the forum for direct communication, feedback
Speaker 1: and collaboration between the Grand Slams and players. According to
Speaker 1: a press release, the council will launch after the upcoming
Speaker 1: US Open and players will be able to apply to
Speaker 1: take part. It's unclear how those players will be chosen
Speaker 1: or how many will be selected, but one can expect
Speaker 1: that the players who have been more vocal in advocating
Speaker 1: for increased revenue share this year, like US pro Jessica Pagula,
Speaker 1: will be interested in applying to soccer and a new
Speaker 1: Golden Boot. Leader Ashley Sanchez tallied twice on Saturday, including
Speaker 1: a penalty kick in the seventeenth minute of second half
Speaker 1: stop time, and the North Carolina Courage defeated the Boston
Speaker 1: Legacy two to one. Sanchez's penalty strike was the latest
Speaker 1: goal in NWSL regular season history, and with her pair
Speaker 1: of goals. The Courage Star took the lead in the
Speaker 1: race for the NWSL Golden Boot heading into Sunday's contests.
Speaker 1: The Golden Boot is awarded annually to the highest goal
Speaker 1: scorer in the regular season. Also Saturday, Sophia Wilson scored
Speaker 1: her tenth goal of the season and the Portland Thorns
Speaker 1: best at the Denver Summit One. Nil Thorn's legend Tobin Heath,
Speaker 1: was honored before the game. She'd signed a one day
Speaker 1: contract to retire with the Portland team she helped to
Speaker 1: two NWSL titles. The Portland Cherrybombs mascot Mary T. Cherry
Speaker 1: was at that game and I'm miss her. Y'all gotted
Speaker 1: lots more in the game, Experience and Portland later this
Speaker 1: week more NWSL and news last week that the San
Speaker 1: Jose Earthquakes have hired Gavin Wilkinson as a consultant through
Speaker 1: the end of the season. Wilkinson's long tenure as GM
Speaker 1: and president of soccer for the Portland Timbers and Portland
Speaker 1: Thorns ended with his fire when he was named in
Speaker 1: the Yates Report. He recommended head coach Paul Riley to
Speaker 1: another NWSL team, despite having recently dismissed him for cause
Speaker 1: due to sexual coercion of multiple Thorn's players. Wilkinson was
Speaker 1: also implicated in the Timbers failure to report domestic violence allegations.
Speaker 1: BAFC has denounced the hiring, telling USA Today Sports in
Speaker 1: a statement quote, as an organization committed to building a safe, inclusive,
Speaker 1: and respectful environment, we believe the actions in history associated
Speaker 1: with Wilkinson's time in professional soccer are inconsistent with the
Speaker 1: standards we hold for those entrusted to lead in our sport.
Speaker 1: We stand with the players, survivors, and advocates who have
Speaker 1: worked tirelessly to make soccer a safer and more inclusive place,
Speaker 1: and we will continue to put the safety, dignity, and
Speaker 1: well being of our players in our community first enquote.
Speaker 1: The Earthquakes and BFC are not affiliated, but they share
Speaker 1: a stadium to the WNBA, where Angel rescored a career
Speaker 1: high thirty one points and added fourteen rebounds for her
Speaker 1: twenty fifth double double of the season, leading the Atlanta
Speaker 1: Dream past the Phoenix Mercury ninety nine eighty nine Saturday night.
Speaker 1: The wins secured a playoff berth for the Dream, who
Speaker 1: have won five of their last six games. The loss
Speaker 1: ended the Mercury's postseason chances. Out at Barclay Center on Saturday,
Speaker 1: the New York Liberty topped the Indiana Fever one oh
Speaker 1: nine to one oh two behind twenty two points from
Speaker 1: Brianna Stewart. Kelsey Mitchell extended her WNBA record twenty plus
Speaker 1: points scoring streak to twenty two games, finishing with a
Speaker 1: game high twenty five points in the Fever's losing effort.
Speaker 1: The Liberty are still pushing for a playoff spot, while
Speaker 1: the Fever secured a postseason birth on Friday when the
Speaker 1: Portland Fires loss ended any reasonable path for Indiana getting caught.
Speaker 1: Speaking of playoff chances, the Toronto Tempo's loss to the
Speaker 1: Washington Mystics on Wednesday officially eliminated them from playoff contention
Speaker 1: in their inaugural season, ending head coach Sandy Brondelo's WNBA
Speaker 1: record playoff streak. Her teams had made the postseason in
Speaker 1: each of her first thirteen seasons as a head coach.
Speaker 1: More WNBA and the return of the dildos, you might
Speaker 1: remember last July, second toys were thrown onto the court
Speaker 1: during six w games. Two men were ultimately arrested and
Speaker 1: the acts were revealed to be in connection with a
Speaker 1: cryptocurrency scheme. Well mean green, as sid Colson put it
Speaker 1: last year, is back. On Thursday, someone tossed a green
Speaker 1: sex toy onto the court during the Sparks Dream Game
Speaker 1: in LA, and the next night in Chicago, multiple sex
Speaker 1: toys were thrown, at least one of them landing on
Speaker 1: the court during the Sky's seventy three to seventy win
Speaker 1: over the Golden State Valkyries. Now, by the way, if
Speaker 1: you heard about the dil dos but not Sidney Taylor's
Speaker 1: sick game winning three pointer, please check the show notes
Speaker 1: for the video. The Sky's undrafted rookie sensation is putting
Speaker 1: on a show this season anyway. Per the Athletic, the
Speaker 1: individual in LA was arrested and indefinitely banned from all WNBA,
Speaker 1: NBA and affiliated league games and events. As for the
Speaker 1: culprit or culprits in Chicago, investigations are underway. After that game,
Speaker 1: Natasha Cloud took a moment to speak to the return
Speaker 1: of these incidents. Take a listen, y'all.
Speaker 2: Lame is sorry, Mama. I just in most of these
Speaker 2: occasions it's men, and I want you to know. That
Speaker 2: is the gayest thing that you can do is to
Speaker 2: go to a store, a sex shop, buy a dildo,
Speaker 2: come to a woman's game, to throw the dildo on
Speaker 2: the court.
Speaker 1: That is the gayest shit that I've ever heard.
Speaker 2: So I'm a firm believer, and anyone that has so
Speaker 2: much problem with a certain marginalized group just come out
Speaker 2: and say that you're a part of our marginalized group,
Speaker 2: because that hate is unwarranted, it's not factual, and it
Speaker 2: says more about the internal struggles of that individual than
Speaker 2: it ever will say about the collective group the men
Speaker 2: that are throwing it, But also shows that you are weak,
Speaker 2: like extremely weak, and it says a lot about how
Speaker 2: you feel about women.
Speaker 1: Oh one last word from Cloud.
Speaker 2: And Green, like get your skin color, my man, Sorry,
Speaker 2: thank you for asking, and that I've been waiting for
Speaker 2: this question. Y'all weird?
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 2: This was well, Like it says dildo on their credit card,
Speaker 2: Like they have to go through their financial advisor and
Speaker 2: be like, what's this green dildo? Are you good?
Speaker 1: Chad? You good? Richard? Are you good?
Speaker 3: Paul?
Speaker 2: Because it also is a certain demographic.
Speaker 1: Y'all cool? Are y'all cool? Now, this is obviously not
Speaker 1: the kind of hoops and gay shit we like talking about.
Speaker 1: And whether the men doing this are dealing with internalized
Speaker 1: homophobia or hatred of women. They're back on some crypto
Speaker 1: scheme bullshit, We're making bets on some prediction market. This
Speaker 1: shit's exhausting still more. WNBA News ownership of the Minnesota
Speaker 1: Links and Minnesota Timberwolves is changing once again. Former minority
Speaker 1: owner Mark Stad, a tech founder and investor, is taking
Speaker 1: over controlling ownership after purchasing a majority stake from Mark
Speaker 1: lore Laura will take a step back. Stad and Alex
Speaker 1: Rodriguez will work side by side on day to day
Speaker 1: leadership of the teams. This is the second major ownership
Speaker 1: ship for the teams and in the last year and
Speaker 1: a half, as Lauren Rodriguez joined the franchise as limited
Speaker 1: partners in twenty twenty one, but didn't officially take full
Speaker 1: control until June of last year. The Links have won
Speaker 1: sixteen of their last seventeen games. They sit comfortably atop
Speaker 1: the WNBA standings to baseball and another home run for
Speaker 1: Kelsey Whitmore, the friend of the show and star two
Speaker 1: way player for the San Francisco Fire, Bells notched another
Speaker 1: long ball in her team's twelve five went over the
Speaker 1: Boston Hunters on Saturday. Whitmore is tied for the league's
Speaker 1: home run lead with New York's Dene Benitez Aka Danita Benita.
Speaker 1: Both have eight on the season. Heading into Sunday's action,
Speaker 1: Whitmore's fire Bells sat atop the league standings at six
Speaker 1: and four. We're now in the final two weeks of
Speaker 1: the wpbl's inaugural regular season playoffs begin September ninth. Finally,
Speaker 1: to the Track and an update on Olympian Jenny Simpson.
Speaker 1: We told you a couple months ago that on June sixteenth,
Speaker 1: Simpson went into sudden cardiac arrest while taking part in
Speaker 1: a community running event. She's been recovering ever since, and
Speaker 1: last week she shared an update on Instagram, saying that
Speaker 1: after that event at the track, her heart continued to
Speaker 1: fail at the hospital, but miraculously, within days her heart
Speaker 1: and lungs were strong enough to work on their own.
Speaker 1: Simpson was ultimately diagnosed with a rhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy,
Speaker 1: a rare inherited heart condition, writing that the diagnosis quote
Speaker 1: means it would be dangerous for me to return to running.
Speaker 1: That chapter has ended, thankfully, my story hasn't end. Quote.
Speaker 1: Simpson was a mainstay of the US and international track
Speaker 1: scene for well over a decade, and she reflected on
Speaker 1: her career in the post. We'll put a link in
Speaker 1: the show notes if you want to read the whole thing.
Speaker 1: We're wishing her all the best as she continues to recover.
Speaker 1: We're going to take a break slices when we come back.
Speaker 1: My conversation with the lovely Brenna Huckabee joining us now.
Speaker 1: She's a five time Paralympic medalist, winning gold in bank
Speaker 1: slalom in twenty eighteen and twenty twenty two and bronze
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty six, and in snowboard cross she won
Speaker 1: gold in twenty eighteen and bronze in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1: A gymnast as a kid, she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma,
Speaker 1: a rare bone cancer, and had her right leg amputated
Speaker 1: at age fourteen, discovering snowboarding soon after, the first Paralympian
Speaker 1: to appear the SI Swimsuit issue. An SB Award winner,
Speaker 1: mom of two girls and a kitty, she loves sewing, gardening,
Speaker 1: biking and glitter. It's Brenna Huckabee.
Speaker 3: Hi Brenna, Hi, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: Well, thanks for coming on. I'm so excited because you
Speaker 1: were supposed to come on during the Paralympics and we
Speaker 1: just didn't have time because you were too busy competing
Speaker 1: and winning and being popular. So we get to talk now,
Speaker 1: and now we actually got to hang out in Vegas
Speaker 1: together before this, so it'll be all the more fun.
Speaker 1: Are you fully recovered from she Weekened?
Speaker 3: Yes? Barely. It felt like it took a minute.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Maybe physically, maybe not mentally. Maybe we'll never recover
Speaker 1: from from the joys of she Weakened.
Speaker 3: No, I think I need to, like, maybe we just
Speaker 3: have to do it again, Like yes, maybe it's just
Speaker 3: we just need to keep experiencing it and then maybe
Speaker 3: one day we'll recover from it. But there's only one
Speaker 3: way to know, run it back.
Speaker 1: It's like if you never stopped drinking, you can't be
Speaker 1: hungover exactly.
Speaker 3: I literally see no downsides.
Speaker 1: Except for the whole competing as a Paralympian and making
Speaker 1: you know, making a career and winning more medals. Let's
Speaker 1: go back to the beginning. I want to talk about
Speaker 1: the start of your snowboard career. Tell us about getting
Speaker 1: started in sport.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I grew up in Batner's, Louisiana as a gymnast,
Speaker 3: so snowboarding was never on my radar. I like have
Speaker 3: one memory of watching it on TV. I was watching
Speaker 3: the Olympics at some point, and then I have another
Speaker 3: memory of always playing this snowboard like Xbox game. It
Speaker 3: was actually Snowboard Cross, which is my sport now, and
Speaker 3: I loved that game. So those are like the only
Speaker 3: experiences with snowboarding that I had most of my childhood.
Speaker 3: And then after I was diagnosed with ostio star cooma
Speaker 3: bone cancer, my whole identity and life completely shifted and changed,
Speaker 3: and I went from being this you know, athlete gymnast
Speaker 3: with these plans of college and scholarship to someone that
Speaker 3: I did not recognize at all. And my hospital sent
Speaker 3: me on a rehabilitation ski trip. Their whole idea was
Speaker 3: if they could take kids who lost mobility from cancer skiing,
Speaker 3: then when they got home and had to do like
Speaker 3: everyday things, it would be easier because they did something
Speaker 3: that was just objectively difficult. Skiing is just objectively hard.
Speaker 3: So when they got home, they could do the things
Speaker 3: that felt so hard, and so I went on that trip.
Speaker 3: I begged and pleaded to let them let me snowboard
Speaker 3: because one I thought it looked cooler, and two it
Speaker 3: reminded me of a balance beam and like, I would
Speaker 3: have done anything to have my life back at that moment.
Speaker 3: And they didn't want me to snowboard because as an
Speaker 3: above anyputee and especially this was like twenty eleven at
Speaker 3: the time, there were like hardly any above than the
Speaker 3: AMPT snowboarding, so they thought it was too dangerous. They
Speaker 3: were like, nope, it's too dangerous for you to be
Speaker 3: on a snowboard. And I'm like, please, like I can
Speaker 3: handle it, and so I begged. I was insufferable, but
Speaker 3: they finally let me do it, and I fall in
Speaker 3: love immediately.
Speaker 1: We're going to talk about you advocating for yourself because
Speaker 1: it seems to be a theme, but very quickly X
Speaker 1: Game Snowcross in case you have ever played the actual
Speaker 1: version in an arcade where you sit on a thing
Speaker 1: and do it, that is my voice for the video game.
Speaker 1: So if you ever come across the sit on the
Speaker 1: snowmobile thing Snowboard X Cross, that is me saying good trick,
Speaker 1: Wait to go.
Speaker 3: That's awesome.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Okay, so let's talk about the advocacy, because your
Speaker 1: incredible haul of medals is way more impressive when one
Speaker 1: realizes that you had to fight to be able to
Speaker 1: get those medals, not just to win them, but to
Speaker 1: actually compete. So tell me about the IPC cutting the
Speaker 1: above the knee amputee events that you want in Pyeongchang
Speaker 1: and your fight to be able to compete in metal
Speaker 1: events that were initially limited only to less impaired athletes.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So the Paralympics are in resting space. Like the
Speaker 3: whole idea is to have equal or equitable sports as
Speaker 3: best as we can. You know, there's not as many
Speaker 3: athletes that are disabled doing sports at this level, so
Speaker 3: there is a smaller field than you would see at
Speaker 3: the Olympics. There are just some unique rules, I mean
Speaker 3: in guidelines that the IPC has to follow. One of
Speaker 3: them is there needs to be a certain amount of
Speaker 3: athletes from a certain amount of countries competing throughout the
Speaker 3: World Cup and World Championship seasons to justify having those
Speaker 3: categories in those sports at the Paralympic Games. So with
Speaker 3: that said, in twenty eighteen, we had a lot of
Speaker 3: women retire, especially in my category, the L one category,
Speaker 3: which is above the nemputee or something similar double below
Speaker 3: the amputees or in that category, and a couple other
Speaker 3: neurological disabilities. Because of this, the IPC said we didn't
Speaker 3: have enough women to compete in our own separate CAUs
Speaker 3: category at the twenty twenty two Paralympic Games. However, during
Speaker 3: this time, myself and another athletes is still Hernandez, who
Speaker 3: is in my category. We were competing on the World's
Speaker 3: Cup circuit in the other category, the LL two category,
Speaker 3: because us being there is not taking anything away from
Speaker 3: these less impaired athletes. If anything, we're helping the field
Speaker 3: because there's more women. Unfortunately, when the Qualification Guide, which
Speaker 3: is basically the rules for the Paralympic Games, came out,
Speaker 3: the rule stated that myself and Cecil and any other
Speaker 3: L one that could could show up that season would
Speaker 3: not be eligible to compete anywhere not combined, like could
Speaker 3: not compete. And when I heard this, I was confused,
Speaker 3: because like, why can I compete everywhere else except for
Speaker 3: this one stage that ultimately matters because it's the only
Speaker 3: time that we get visibility. It's the only time that
Speaker 3: you can make any money from the games, seat only
Speaker 3: time people want to partner with you. So I'm like,
Speaker 3: this is crazy. Why is it the way that this is?
Speaker 3: And I could not get a single answer as to
Speaker 3: why I was myself an l one was ineligible to compete.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because like track and field and swimming, athletes are
Speaker 1: often able to compete in the more able classification if
Speaker 1: their classification isn't available exactly.
Speaker 3: I also equate it to like wrestling sports, right, it's
Speaker 3: like a weight class, but it's disability, Like why again,
Speaker 3: not taking anything away, and like you said, it happens
Speaker 3: in other paras sports. So that was one of the
Speaker 3: arguments that we made. But I found a lawyer, ended
Speaker 3: up having to hire a German lawyer, and we sued
Speaker 3: the IPC on the basis of disability discrimination. Like they
Speaker 3: could not give me a reason why I couldn't compete,
Speaker 3: so the only logical reason was I was too disabled.
Speaker 3: That's discrimination. So we won. We won the case, we
Speaker 3: were eligible to compete, and at that games, Cecile, my
Speaker 3: other l one counterpart, won a gold medal and so
Speaker 3: did I. So it was really amazing poetic.
Speaker 1: Yeah, is there any chance that they thought your prosthetic
Speaker 1: might be an advantage?
Speaker 3: No? No, And if you look at the data, you
Speaker 3: can tell that, like truly, I mean you can look
Speaker 3: at the men's data, the women's data, we are at
Speaker 3: a disadvantage.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, it's badass that you fought for it, and
Speaker 1: badass that you made it worth fighting for. I mean,
Speaker 1: it would have been worth fighting for just to be
Speaker 1: able to compete, but to win is pretty awesome. You
Speaker 1: said in an old interview that I read with you
Speaker 1: that you can sometimes be quote too outspoken. Now I
Speaker 1: say no such thing, but I mean people in my
Speaker 1: life would disagree. What do you mean when you say
Speaker 1: that you're too outspoken sometimes?
Speaker 3: I mean, I guess, like if you're just comparing it
Speaker 3: to like the whole or like the majority of people.
Speaker 3: But I'm definitely someone that if I see something wrong,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna say, hey, that's wrong, or like why are
Speaker 3: we doing that? Or there's God Like, I'm just someone
Speaker 3: that's gonna speak up, which does, unfortunately get you in
Speaker 3: a lot of trouble. But also that's how change is
Speaker 3: made and that's how things get better. So as hard
Speaker 3: as it is like, I know that it's necessary.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I feel the same way, And like,
Speaker 1: if you're built to be someone who can be outspoken
Speaker 1: about things and take the sometimes negative responses to them,
Speaker 1: I think it's basically your duty to speak up for
Speaker 1: people who are either less capable or are saddled with
Speaker 1: more things that make it hard for them to speak up.
Speaker 1: I feel that way a lot about being like a
Speaker 1: cis white, straight, able bodied person, like I don't have
Speaker 1: a lot of barriers, so I should be out front,
Speaker 1: like fighting the battles that I can because I'm strong
Speaker 1: enough to do so and can handle it. And I
Speaker 1: was so impressed by what you said about the White
Speaker 1: House visit recently. Part of the reason she weekend happened
Speaker 1: is because the US women's hockey team wasn't really invited
Speaker 1: correctly to the White House or at all really, and
Speaker 1: so the invite recently came for the twenty twenty six
Speaker 1: Olympic and Paralympic team to be honored. I guess is
Speaker 1: what you would call it you weren't in attendance. You wrote,
Speaker 1: it's a shame such an honor as tainted because of
Speaker 1: the administration in office. And I could not stomach endorsing
Speaker 1: the president, even just being there. Was that an easy
Speaker 1: decision for you? And was it hard to see other
Speaker 1: teammates like being there and their content of being there.
Speaker 3: It was a very easy decision for me because I
Speaker 3: feel very strongly against the current administration, Like there was
Speaker 3: no way I would be there. However, it still sucks, right,
Speaker 3: Like that is such an honor to be able to
Speaker 3: go to the White House, to be able to meet
Speaker 3: the President, to be able to experience that. And so
Speaker 3: I can understand and I have a level of understanding
Speaker 3: for teammates who might have chosen to go to the
Speaker 3: White House because that could be their only time ever.
Speaker 3: And I get that, And like, we all have to
Speaker 3: look back one day in our life and look at
Speaker 3: the choices that we made. And I would rather tell
Speaker 3: my kids and my grandkids, like, yeah, I got invited
Speaker 3: to the White House, but because of the things that
Speaker 3: were happening in America, I chose not to go. And
Speaker 3: for me, that feels better than saying I went, so
Speaker 3: that I could say that I went to the White House.
Speaker 3: But I have a live with me and those are
Speaker 3: their choices, right, So we all get to do our
Speaker 3: own thing.
Speaker 1: That's like literally exactly the answer I would give and
Speaker 1: exactly the thought process that was going through my mind
Speaker 1: when I saw the content. You know, before your success
Speaker 1: as a paralympian, you became a mom, and you've talked
Speaker 1: about your oldest daughter, Leila being a surprise. You were
Speaker 1: nineteen years old, cancer survivor, up and come and snowboarder,
Speaker 1: trying to figure out what your new life looked like.
Speaker 1: How did you deal with the twist of being a
Speaker 1: young mom.
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness. When I talk about this, there's nuance, right,
Speaker 3: there's always space for so many different things happening at once.
Speaker 3: When I first found out I was pregnated, honestly felt
Speaker 3: a little bit like getting diagnosed with cancer again. And
Speaker 3: I know that sounds crazy because one is like very
Speaker 3: negative and the other is a very big positive. But
Speaker 3: at the time of my life where I was just
Speaker 3: picking up the pieces of getting my life back together
Speaker 3: after amputation, figuring out who I am, I just moved
Speaker 3: out fully on my own and then to just like
Speaker 3: be hit with something that's gonna what felt like take
Speaker 3: away my life again, take away my identity again, Like
Speaker 3: I just picked up all the pieces. It was really hard.
Speaker 3: But then I have this conversation with my mom and
Speaker 3: I'm telling her essentially what I just told you, and
Speaker 3: she was like, do you remember why you started snowboarding
Speaker 3: to begin with? And I'm like, yeah, like a for
Speaker 3: my own feelings, but also because I wanted to show
Speaker 3: people with amputations and other disabilities that, like, life might
Speaker 3: look different than it used to, but it doesn't mean
Speaker 3: it can't still be great, Like we can keep going,
Speaker 3: we can redefine ourselves all of these beautiful things. And
Speaker 3: she was like, well, why can't you do that for
Speaker 3: your daughter? And that shift, that like perspective shift, allowed
Speaker 3: me to go, Okay, we're gonna do this, Like I'm
Speaker 3: going I'm not going to give up on snowboarding, which
Speaker 3: was my initial reaction. I'm going to be the best
Speaker 3: snowboarder that I can be because if I'm gonna leave
Speaker 3: my sweet little daughter, like I better win, and I'm
Speaker 3: going to try and build a business out of this, right,
Speaker 3: Like I I don't have a college degree at this point,
Speaker 3: I felt like I had no skills, so I was like,
Speaker 3: I better figure out how to make money from this
Speaker 3: if I'm going to do it. Yeah, I don't think
Speaker 3: I would be here right now had I had not
Speaker 3: have Leila, which I think is very interesting.
Speaker 1: That's really cool. Yeah, a lot of people in sports
Speaker 1: talk about their why and how that just changes their
Speaker 1: perspective on the work they're doing and how much they
Speaker 1: care about success and puts it in perspective but also
Speaker 1: drives them. You said in an interview that you emphasize
Speaker 1: kindness with both your daughters, but you also point out
Speaker 1: that being kind isn't always the same as being nice.
Speaker 1: I freaking love that. Can you share why you thought
Speaker 1: it was important to raise them knowing the difference.
Speaker 3: There's been a lot of times in my life that
Speaker 3: I felt nice and it was more people pleasing, more
Speaker 3: setting aside what I thought was right because it was
Speaker 3: what everybody else is doing or what I thought they
Speaker 3: wanted or whatever. Okay, sometimes being nice is I think
Speaker 3: setting your own values aside. Being kind is doing what
Speaker 3: is right because it sticks with who you are and
Speaker 3: your values, and also it aligns with like helping and
Speaker 3: being a good person. And I don't know, there's just
Speaker 3: this level of value and identity and boundary and all
Speaker 3: of these beautiful things that we want to teach our
Speaker 3: kids in kindness that I don't always see in niceness.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean niceness is usually relating more to like
Speaker 1: politeness or rules around how to behave, and kindness comes
Speaker 1: from a good place. And sometimes kindness is even not
Speaker 1: being nice to someone in a moment that they need it,
Speaker 1: because ultimately the kindness is the most important thing, which
Speaker 1: I think also being outspoken, like we are, we're used
Speaker 1: to people sometimes thinking we're not nice, even if deep
Speaker 1: down it's all coming from kindness, that outspokenness and the
Speaker 1: things we most care about. How does having your kids
Speaker 1: impact your perspective on the highs and lows of competition?
Speaker 3: Mmm, gosh, well, I think it reminds me that it's
Speaker 3: not that serious. It's I mean, sport is incredible, Sport
Speaker 3: has the ability to transform society, change our lives. It
Speaker 3: is serious in a lot of ways. But when you're
Speaker 3: on the field sometimes and like you're on snow, it's
Speaker 3: really not that serious. Like I am sliding on a
Speaker 3: piece of wood, Like I tell people all the time,
Speaker 3: I'm like I'm not saving lives. If anything, I am
Speaker 3: job security for the people that are saving lives. But
Speaker 3: like it's not that serious, and and yeah, I just
Speaker 3: I think my kids help remind me that because like,
Speaker 3: oh my goodness, this last Games did not go how
Speaker 3: I wanted it to. I mean, I totally saw myself
Speaker 3: walking away with more metals, hopefully you know, more than bronze.
Speaker 3: You know, that was the goal. And to have an
Speaker 3: event where I walked away with a sixth place finish
Speaker 3: like that was hard. But I got down and I
Speaker 3: just was like, my kids are here. They're in this
Speaker 3: most beautiful place ever that I've experienced, like Cortina is incredible. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and I'm like, that's what this is about, Like, yeah,
Speaker 3: of course I would rather have gone better, but it
Speaker 3: already went, so we gonna do right. And that's I
Speaker 3: think having kids really helps me with that, staying present
Speaker 3: and one foot in front of the other.
Speaker 1: You also have a third daughter. Your cat named mouse,
Speaker 1: mouse is pictured on your snowboard, gets a little kissed
Speaker 1: before you compete, and I feel like with the highs
Speaker 1: and lows of training and competing, like an animal has
Speaker 1: a different place than the humans in your life in
Speaker 1: terms of like support and keeping you grounded. And I
Speaker 1: mean my dogs are one thousand percent therapy for me
Speaker 1: when something's going wrong. So how does mouse play into
Speaker 1: the highs and lows.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Mouse is absolutely my emotional support animal. I mean
Speaker 3: she's like all of our emotional support animal, which I
Speaker 3: think is really cool. My whole family is obsessed with Mouse,
Speaker 3: like we're weird. But it's like a connector of like
Speaker 3: the family unit. Like I don't know how to describe it.
Speaker 3: It works really well for us, and I wish we
Speaker 3: could have taken her with us to Milan, imagine if.
Speaker 3: But that's why I had her on my snowboard because
Speaker 3: I'm like, our third daughter is here.
Speaker 1: How old is Mouse?
Speaker 3: She is two and a half.
Speaker 1: Oh, she's a little baby.
Speaker 3: She is a little baby.
Speaker 1: Well, you and Mouse have a sponsorship deal together with
Speaker 1: the pet brand new Low, and that included promoting the
Speaker 1: upcoming New Lo summer games, which I love this idea.
Speaker 1: So pet parents can post a photo or video of
Speaker 1: their dog or cat showing off their best sport quote
Speaker 1: unquote or athletic moment on Instagram through August twenty sixth,
Speaker 1: and one dog and one cat will win a whole
Speaker 1: one year team Newlow endorsement contract, a year's supply of
Speaker 1: new Low pet food, and the chance to appear in
Speaker 1: an upcoming national campaign. So mouse already got that deal
Speaker 1: because you're a new low partner. But if she was
Speaker 1: in the contest, what would her winning trick be.
Speaker 3: Originally, when I thought about this, I was like, obviously
Speaker 3: she's she's a hiker. Okay, she can rock sprawl, and
Speaker 3: she likes to jump on things. But she actually can
Speaker 3: jump so high. She's like five pounds. She's tiny, but
Speaker 3: she if I'm standing up tall, she good jump, Like
Speaker 3: she can probably jump on the top of my head
Speaker 3: if she wanted to. But she jumps on my shoulder.
Speaker 3: She jumps on my husband's shoulder. My father in law
Speaker 3: six or four jumps onto his shoulder. So she can jump.
Speaker 3: She's crazy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, so we'll put her in the track and
Speaker 1: field events. Make her a high jumper. I gotta think
Speaker 1: about because you know people can enter this. And I
Speaker 1: have three dogs. One is very old, so like going
Speaker 1: down the stairs at fourteen and a half, is that
Speaker 1: a sport? He makes it look like one, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: I have to think about what they can do. You
Speaker 1: are an athlete, you have multiple sponsorship deals, you have
Speaker 1: mastered sort of creating content. I love following you on
Speaker 1: social Do you have tips for the dogs? And cats
Speaker 1: slash their owners who are entering the contest. Based on
Speaker 1: your expertise making content, I would.
Speaker 3: Say, keep it fun, keep it natural, don't try and
Speaker 3: shoot for perfection. Okay, sometimes you never know. Sometimes the bloopers,
Speaker 3: it might it might be the ticket.
Speaker 1: I'm not a judge, but good if I were, I
Speaker 1: know there are some slices out there with animals that
Speaker 1: are going to try to enter this, So that's a
Speaker 1: good tip. Speaking of your content, you know, you seem
Speaker 1: like such a natural talking to camera, making your video,
Speaker 1: sharing your life with fans. I can genuinely see you
Speaker 1: doing media when you're done competing. You're just You're such
Speaker 1: a good watch. And I wonder what your relationship is
Speaker 1: with social media and that side of being an athlete
Speaker 1: these days. I would say two parts of it. One
Speaker 1: sharing your life is that something that comes easily and
Speaker 1: naturally to you. And then secondarily having to just be
Speaker 1: on social media and think about creating content and driving
Speaker 1: clicks and things like that.
Speaker 3: I've definitely had my ups and downs with social media.
Speaker 3: Really this summer, I completely got off of it. I
Speaker 3: would post and then I would not scroll. In the
Speaker 3: last couple of weeks, I've been on it a little
Speaker 3: bit more. But the way I see social media nowadays
Speaker 3: is I use it as a tool, and anytime I'm
Speaker 3: on it, it's intentional. I'm getting on here to comment,
Speaker 3: I'm getting on here to post, I'm getting on here to.
Speaker 2: X, Y and z.
Speaker 3: Because I it's so easy to replace your everyday, present life,
Speaker 3: and I refuse to be a part of that. So
Speaker 3: for me, social media it's a way to get my
Speaker 3: story out there. It's a way to get my sport
Speaker 3: out there. But I will not let it take away
Speaker 3: from my time at home, which then kind of brings
Speaker 3: me to the next point of like creating content. I
Speaker 3: try and make it as like resistant free as possible,
Speaker 3: so like I'll just film things I'm already doing and
Speaker 3: then I'll find a way later to like put it together,
Speaker 3: which doesn't work for everybody, But I've just found the
Speaker 3: easiest way for me to be present and have you know,
Speaker 3: time away from the devices while also making intentional time
Speaker 3: on it. And it's takes me a while having it there,
Speaker 3: but that's how I do it.
Speaker 1: That's really smart. I know I have a friend who
Speaker 1: like made a rule for herself that she cannot put
Speaker 1: on makeup or do hair just for social content. If
Speaker 1: she's already going somewhere and wants to film, that's fine,
Speaker 1: But she doesn't want to find herself in a rut
Speaker 1: where like when she wants to say something or cover something,
Speaker 1: she doesn't want to stop herself because she doesn't look
Speaker 1: cute enough, because that will disrupt her life and also
Speaker 1: will prevent her from making the priority the content she
Speaker 1: wants to make about the thing that matters. I also
Speaker 1: have a rule, like on Instagram, if you go to
Speaker 1: the three dots in the top right, you can choose
Speaker 1: snooze suggested posts. You have to do it every thirty days,
Speaker 1: but it means that the only things that come up
Speaker 1: are the things you chose to follow instead of the
Speaker 1: things being served to you. And so I think it's
Speaker 1: really smart to come up with your own rules. You know,
Speaker 1: when we were in Vegas, you and your fellow cultured
Speaker 1: partner who will get to that in a moment, Danny Arovich,
Speaker 1: were so locked in on all the panels and the conversations,
Speaker 1: learning more about your careers outside of competition, learning about,
Speaker 1: like you know, ways to take advantage of your brand.
Speaker 1: And I thought the conversation that you and Danny and
Speaker 1: the expert had about social and had to schedule it.
Speaker 1: Like an athlete, you've got lifting, you've got nutrition, you've
Speaker 1: got social media, you've got sleep, you've got community. Like
Speaker 1: actually scheduling it and treating it like that as opposed
Speaker 1: to letting the day take you and suddenly two hours
Speaker 1: later you're still scrolling was really smart and I really
Speaker 1: loved how you and Danny were so locked into all
Speaker 1: that stuff. What were your biggest takeaways from like showing
Speaker 1: up and hearing all the panels and stuff.
Speaker 3: I just like was blown away by the level of
Speaker 3: expertise that was there in that room. I think one
Speaker 3: of my favorites were the sports.
Speaker 1: Psychologist doctor Colleen Hacker.
Speaker 3: Yeah the best, She is the best, But yeah, I
Speaker 3: think one thing that I hope as I continue to
Speaker 3: get older is I hope I continue to learn, and
Speaker 3: I don't want it to just be learning on social media,
Speaker 3: though I do think sometimes that there's value, but like
Speaker 3: going deeper and like really making sure that the knowledge
Speaker 3: that I am getting is from somebody reputable. I think
Speaker 3: it's really easy to fall into a trap of things
Speaker 3: that sound good but they're not necessarily backed by anything
Speaker 3: so I encourage everyone to learn, read more books. Go
Speaker 3: to your library. There's so many book yes, and it
Speaker 3: can be fiction.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I just had such a great time, like learning about
Speaker 3: what I could be doing as an athlete and with
Speaker 3: my brand and for my future. And I don't know
Speaker 3: where it'll go for sure, but I love hearing all
Speaker 3: the places that it could take me and trying to
Speaker 3: figure out, you know, what I want to land on.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you and Danny started this media company called
Speaker 1: Cultured Couple fellow para athletes. What's the latest and greatest
Speaker 1: with that endeavor and what you're trying to do with it?
Speaker 3: Our whole mission is to make para sports mainstream. We
Speaker 3: want broadcasting for para athletes, not just at the games,
Speaker 3: but all four years leading into it, and every conversation
Speaker 3: I've had has always landed back to, well, when you
Speaker 3: have more fans, you can have more broadcasting. And so
Speaker 3: this circle, this cart before the horse, this how do
Speaker 3: we make this happen? Has been a conversation for years
Speaker 3: and finally one day Dan and I just had a
Speaker 3: chat and we were like, why are we waiting for
Speaker 3: other people to do it? Let's just get this started.
Speaker 3: So with Cultured. It's all about changing the narrative of
Speaker 3: how we talk about parasports. We want it to be
Speaker 3: athlete focused, disability centered, and we want fans. Like we're
Speaker 3: trying to build the fandom of parasport because Parisport is
Speaker 3: really freaking cool. I don't think people understand the amount
Speaker 3: of athleticism that goes into it, and like you hear
Speaker 3: about adaptation and resilience, but I don't think you understand
Speaker 3: when you're dealing with disability and equipment and systems and
Speaker 3: how to make them work. And it's just love parasport.
Speaker 3: So we want more fans. So that's what Culture does.
Speaker 3: You can follow us on Instagram and we have some
Speaker 3: consulting that's happening in the background with Danny and aj
Speaker 3: whatever other founders, and hopefully a podcast to launch this year. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 3: be on the lookout for that.
Speaker 1: Well linked to the Cultured account in the show notes,
Speaker 1: so y'all can give them a follow along with Danny
Speaker 1: and of course Brenda too. What's your next big competition
Speaker 1: and where are you in your training cycle?
Speaker 3: So I'm headed on snow next week to New Jersey,
Speaker 3: which is crazy. It's an indoor ski resort. They're building
Speaker 3: us a course. It's going to be sick, So yeah,
Speaker 3: I'll be training there and then I'll come home and
Speaker 3: I've got some home time to love up on my
Speaker 3: babies until November and then it's game on. It's until March,
Speaker 3: back and forth from europe World Cups, and then at
Speaker 3: the end of the season we have World Championships, so
Speaker 3: hopefully you can get another title. That would be sick,
Speaker 3: but that's the plan.
Speaker 1: We're at four four World Championships.
Speaker 3: I honestly don't even know, Okay.
Speaker 1: I think it's four. Will be rooting for you whether
Speaker 1: this would be five or six or seven. I guess
Speaker 1: it's a nice problem to have to have won so
Speaker 1: many World championships that you don't remember how many. I
Speaker 1: know how many I've won. Guess how many I've won? Zero,
Speaker 1: zero World Championships anything. Brenna, you're the absolute best. I
Speaker 1: had so much fun hanging out with you in Vegas,
Speaker 1: and it was so great to have you on the show.
Speaker 1: We will be submitting all of our pets for the
Speaker 1: New Low Games, and we will be keeping up with
Speaker 1: your schedule and hopefully have you back on closer to
Speaker 1: the Championships.
Speaker 3: Hey, thank you.
Speaker 1: Thanks again to Brenna for taking the time. Loved hanging
Speaker 1: out and getting to know her in Vegas and love
Speaker 1: chatting with her for the show. Don't forget. You can
Speaker 1: now watch full length Good Game interviews on the Iheartwomen's
Speaker 1: Sports YouTube channel. We got to take another break when
Speaker 1: we come back. Producer Bianca gives it the old college try.
Speaker 1: Welcome back, Slaicys. We love that you're listening, but we
Speaker 1: want you to get in the game every day too,
Speaker 1: so here's our good game play of the day. Follow
Speaker 1: Brenna on social media. She's a great follow with so
Speaker 1: much energy, passion, and personality. We'll put a link to
Speaker 1: her insta in the show notes, plus links to her
Speaker 1: cultured co founder's pages as well, so you can keep
Speaker 1: up with the whole squad. We always love to hear
Speaker 1: from you, so hit us up on email Good Game
Speaker 1: at wondermedianetwork dot com or leave us a voicemail at
Speaker 1: eight seven two two oh four fifty seventy, and don't
Speaker 1: forget to subscribe, rate and review. It really helps the
Speaker 1: show and it's easy, easier than completing a triathlon. Just
Speaker 1: ask producer Bienca.
Speaker 4: It's been a while, but I got back in the
Speaker 4: triathlon game. Rating one out of three sports works just.
Speaker 1: Fine for me.
Speaker 4: Review Sunday was the Boston Triathlon and I competed on
Speaker 4: a relay team with my fiance and our friend. Our
Speaker 4: friend was the swimmer. I biked and my partner did
Speaker 4: the running leg, and we had.
Speaker 1: So much fun.
Speaker 4: We were doing the race with a bunch of other
Speaker 4: queer and trans folks and Skyler Baylor was our team leader.
Speaker 4: We've talked about him on the show before, but Skyler
Speaker 4: was the first trans athlete to compete in any sport
Speaker 4: on any NCAA D one men's team. He's still super
Speaker 4: involved in sports and advocacy and he coaches a queer
Speaker 4: and trans barbell club in the Boston area, which is
Speaker 4: extremely cool. And Skyler is so nice. So it was
Speaker 4: a bunch of us just spending the morning together, competing,
Speaker 4: cheering each other on, and having a gaye time. I've
Speaker 4: done a few triathlons before, but this was my first
Speaker 4: time being part of a relay and Guys, I don't
Speaker 4: know if I'm ever going to go back to doing
Speaker 4: triathlon solo because for someone like me who has a
Speaker 4: very competitive spirit, but not necessarily the speed to match that.
Speaker 4: I got so much more joy and fulfillment from being
Speaker 4: part of this team than I've gotten from doing an
Speaker 4: entire triathlon by myself. Shout out to the Boston Trathlon
Speaker 4: race organizers because that was a really well run race.
Speaker 4: There's a lot of logistics that go into putting a
Speaker 4: trathlon on, and from what I could tell, everything went
Speaker 4: so smoothly.
Speaker 1: Also shout out.
Speaker 4: To Skuyler for getting everyone out there, coaching us, supporting us,
Speaker 4: creating a space where.
Speaker 1: Everyone could thrive.
Speaker 4: And also shout out to my team, y'all we can
Speaker 4: crush that.
Speaker 1: You're a freaking bad ass. Pianca, so cool. All right,
Speaker 1: now it's your Turnslaics Rate and Review. Thanks for listening, y'all,
Speaker 1: see you tomorrow. Good game, Brenna, Good game, Tosh Cloud,
Speaker 1: you dildo boys girl. The fuck up. Good Game with
Speaker 1: Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership
Speaker 1: with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us
Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network, our producers are
Speaker 1: Alex Azzi and Bianca Hillier. Our executive Producers are Christina Everett,
Speaker 1: Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder. Our editors are
Speaker 1: Emily Rutterer, Lucy Jones, Britney Martinez and Gianna Palmer. Production
Speaker 1: assistants from Avery LOFTUS and I'm Your Host Sarah Spain