WEBVTT - The Comeback Mindset with Maddy Schaffrick 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:14.040 Hi, everyone, Welcome to mind Over Mountain with me Cheryl Strade. 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:18.360 This week my guest is pro snowboarder Matti Shaffrick. She's 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:21.280 fresh off the US Women's Olympic team, where she competed 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:25.560 in the halfpipe, and fresh off an amazing comeback. Mattie 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:29.080 went pro at fourteen, retired by twenty, had a little 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:32.600 foray as a plumber's assistant, and then became a coach 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:36.479 before making that amazing comeback. In our conversation, we talk 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:39.000 about all the high points and low points and the 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:41.680 healing in between. Let's listen to our conversation. 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:44.720 Mattie Shaffrick. Welcome to mind Over Mountain. 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:47.320 Thank you, Cheryl. I'm so happy to be here. 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:48.360 Thank you. 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:50.360 You know, I am really excited to talk to you. 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:53.680 We have tons of stuff to talk about. You went 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:57.280 pro as a snowboarder at age fourteen, by twenty you 0:00:57.360 --> 0:01:00.279 had retired, and then nine years later you may this 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:02.800 amazing comeback. And I have to say I'm one of 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:05.840 the many, many people who were riding and sailing and 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:10.040 flying along with you through really the glorious comeback you've 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:11.040 had recently. 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:13.600 On Instagram, I follow you like so many others. 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:16.480 You said that this past season was a season for 0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:21.120 the books because of course it included the Olympics in Milan, Cartino, 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:23.760 where you were a member of the women's snowboard team, 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:27.479 and also very recently you took second in the women's 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:31.560 snowboard half fife at the Snowboard World Cup. What was 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:35.080 this amazing comeback season or these last couple of years 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:37.040 like for you as a snowboarder. 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:43.640 Yeah, there's it's hard to like put in a few 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:46.720 short sentences what the last couple of years have men 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:50.800 and this whole comeback journey I've been on. So last 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:55.760 winter season was my first season back competing since twenty fifteen, 0:01:56.440 --> 0:01:59.360 And yeah, it was nine years and eight months I'd 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:04.880 taken off from competition and you know, had tried different careers. 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:11.640 But like, my main approach in making this comeback, or 0:02:11.720 --> 0:02:13.880 like the reason I wanted to do it was to 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:17.800 do it differently and to do it authentically and do 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:20.680 it in a way that was very connected to who 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:21.240 I am. 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:25.320 And how I want to be in the sewer career. 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:31.680 And and yeah, it's been very high highs and very 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:35.280 low lows, like challenges I was expecting. And also challenges 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:37.760 that I couldn't have predicted. 0:02:39.360 --> 0:02:39.480 That. 0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:41.720 You know, It's funny you get what you ask for, 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:45.800 like I wanted to. I wanted to see what I 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:53.639 was truly capable of in this comeback in all ways physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:59.400 Like that was one of my main whys for coming back, 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:05.239 was what I was truly capable of. And I feel 0:03:05.240 --> 0:03:05.560 like I. 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:08.840 Got pushed to the edge of. 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:13.320 In all of those realms and was challenged and really 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:15.880 like I was required to rise to the occasion in 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:20.639 a lot of different areas, which yeah, has been fun 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:24.560 and purposeful and also yeah, a wild journey of just 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:29.720 self exploration and getting to know myself way more and 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:30.840 believing in myself. 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:34.720 I also wonder if a piece of that, you know, 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:38.000 finding your why again, in finding your way back to 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:41.680 snowboarding goes way back to when you were a child 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:43.640 and at first falled in love with a sport. 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:46.440 Yeah, it absolutely has. 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:50.440 I mean, like you said, I first joined the US 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:56.040 team and became a professional snowboarder at fourteen. I loved snowboarding, 0:03:56.280 --> 0:04:00.160 you know, like that was my why leading up to that, 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:05.560 that US Team nomination back then and all of yeah, 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:10.800 and at fourteen, no one knows who they are at fourteen, 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:15.720 and my entire all of my teenage years and my 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:20.440 entire high school experience, I was. I was on the 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:24.000 road with kids much older than me. I was the 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:27.120 youngest on the US team by three years at that 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:33.840 time and remained the youngest for several years. But I 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:38.280 was trying to figure out who I was during a 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:40.320 time that, you know, in a. 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:42.520 Very adult world where. 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:47.200 I had external expectations and pressures as far as like 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:52.800 US team expectations, sponsor contracts, agents, and a lot of support. 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:56.400 That was all so helpful and I needed it or 0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:59.400 someone in that position, it's that's very helpful to have 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:04.960 all the support and being a teenager trying to also 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:08.080 just like yeah, figure out who. 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:09.440 And how I wanted to be in this world. 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:13.040 It was it was a lot, and I didn't have 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:14.400 the coping skills yet. 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:20.000 Really tell me, you know, fourteen, What always amazes me 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:23.599 about your your experience is that, yeah, as you said, 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:28.520 who at fourteen knows who they are? The whole situation 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:31.719 with being fourteen, it's like it's your job not to 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:35.600 know yet, right, It's your job to go on that 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:39.560 journey full of like mistakes and victories and all kinds 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:42.440 of things. It's to be in the spot like the 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:44.640 way you were to be before that, to be called 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:48.760 a child prodigy, it's just an immense amount of pressure. 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:50.200 What was that you know? 0:05:50.400 --> 0:05:53.360 What was that like for you when you were among 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:57.279 the people who I imagine like these other snowboarders in 0:05:57.320 --> 0:05:59.800 the field, who were like your idols. What was that 0:05:59.880 --> 0:06:01.600 like for you as a child to be among the 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:05.120 people who are older, making, you know, being their peer 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:06.440 or their colleague. 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:09.320 I think there were a lot of like facets to that, 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:13.240 because the reason I started snowboarding when I was seven 0:06:13.360 --> 0:06:18.200 years old was because I watched Gretchen Bleiler on the 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:22.960 TV during X Games. I forget what season it was, 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:25.320 but I remember I was I was six when I 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:29.200 saw her on TV, and I just remember she was 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:32.400 in all yellow. I don't think it was a one piece, 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:34.440 but it was an all yellow outfit, and I remember 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:37.680 that so clearly, and I remember watching her and her 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:41.920 run and knowing that's what I wanted to do. I 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:44.280 was always into sports. I've always been an athletic kid. 0:06:44.760 --> 0:06:47.240 But I saw her compete in X Games in snowboarding, 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:49.200 half fype and I was like, that's what I want 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:49.400 to do. 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:51.600 Then fast forward. 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:55.760 But wait, why what was it about seeing her do that? 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:57.000 That's a good question. 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:00.839 I would have to like, I know, I'd have to 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:03.320 tap back into my six year old brain then. 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:05.360 But maybe it was. 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:08.640 I don't know, Maybe it was just I think it 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:11.280 was probably just the energy she was admitting that I 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:15.160 was feeling, and. 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:15.520 You're like, I want to be that in the world. 0:07:15.680 --> 0:07:17.000 Yeah, totally. 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:21.280 And all of those women were like having so much 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:25.840 fun and pushing each other and supporting each other and doing. 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:28.520 Really cool things. That looks so cool. 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:32.280 And I, yeah, I was. I was drawn to it. 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:36.760 I'm imagining you know, when you get such high validation 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:39.720 and praise, Yeah, being called a child broto d You're 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:42.800 at fourteen turning pro and you know, joining the team 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:44.480 that you'd only dreamed of being on. 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:46.120 It's both positive. 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:49.320 It's incredibly validating, right, You're like, oh my, all of 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:52.840 my dreams have come true. Yeah, and it's also strangely 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:55.080 depleting and diminishing. 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:57.680 I'm going totally totally. 0:07:57.800 --> 0:08:02.760 I mean, yeah, it was fast forward eight years from 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:04.000 watching Gretchen on TV. 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:06.040 I was on the team. 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:10.520 With her, and yeah, and being called a child prodigy 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:13.640 and having a lot of eyes on me, and absolutely 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:16.040 it was validating, and it was so fun and all 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:18.760 of my dreams were coming true. 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:24.560 And how do you you know, uphold that? How do 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:29.040 you maintain it? And I don't know. I just I 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:30.040 felt the pressure. 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:34.360 And though, here's the thing. The first two years I 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:38.720 was on the team, from age fourteen to sixteen, I 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:42.520 had a really great time. I did not feel that 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:46.760 much pressure. The best analogy I can say for it 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:50.800 is I felt like I was on a wave and 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:53.000 the wave was pushing me. I was just riding that wave. 0:08:54.160 --> 0:08:57.360 When I was sixteen, I had a really big knee 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:00.960 injury and a hip injury, just big fall in New 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:04.760 Zealand and I was going into my junior year of 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:08.440 high school and I had it was my third knee 0:09:08.440 --> 0:09:10.199 surgery at that time, but it was the biggest one 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:11.000 I had ever had. 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:14.360 And third knee surgery by sixteen. 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:19.240 Yeah, out I know, and and so I'd been Yeah, 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:25.520 I'd been through injury before, but I had never experienced 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:27.479 that big of an injury, injury. 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:28.240 At that level. 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:32.560 With all the eyes on me yet, or being on 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:33.760 the US team yet. 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:36.720 Right right at this level where people actually weren't just 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:40.240 concerned for your health. They were like, well, we want 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:43.319 her to perform. We had expectations of her. 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:47.440 Right, I needed to fulfill contracts, right. 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:52.400 But Yeah, that injury and. 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:58.400 I took eleven months off of snow and went back 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:01.160 to high school to say, at a desk with all 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:03.679 of my peers that I had grown up with here 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:07.520 in Steamoat, Colorado. And the last time I had sat 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:11.720 at a desk, you know, was like seventh grade for 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:13.320 the entire school year. 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:13.920 Wow. 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:17.400 And I didn't know how to really relate to kids 0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:20.640 my age anymore. All of my friends that I used 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:23.840 to play soccer with were doing totally different things. 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:26.840 Yeah, they had a different life totally. 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:32.960 Yeah, And so that was a hard year just mentally 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:34.720 and emotionally, you could imagine. 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:37.360 But yeah, how did you I mean, how was it hard? 0:10:37.480 --> 0:10:41.560 Was it was it hard finding friends again or having 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:43.040 authentic connections with people? 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:45.360 What did your peers think of you? Were they like, 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:46.920 she's the snowboarding star? 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:48.079 Yeah? 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:51.960 I mean they thought I was cool, but we didn't 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:57.000 know each other anymore. And the things that they were 0:10:57.200 --> 0:11:03.040 interested in or you know, pursuing, I didn't. I didn't 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:08.040 know how to connect to that anymore. And then all 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:10.760 of my you know, friends who had spent the last 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:15.320 couple of years with they were still traveling the world busy, 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:19.000 and you know, I. 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:19.760 Doing the things that you thought you were supposed to 0:11:19.800 --> 0:11:20.440 be doing. 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:25.360 Right, And I'd say, like, you know, those first two 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:27.840 years on the US team, I was riding that wave. 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:32.040 And then after that injury, I fell off that wave. 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:39.640 And that's when it felt like the awareness of the contracts, 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:44.160 the pressures, the expectations, that's when all of that came 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:47.720 in and hit me so hard in a way that 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:49.920 I didn't I didn't know what to do with it. 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:54.520 In my own life too, when I've been overwhelmed with 0:11:55.360 --> 0:11:58.760 grief or sorrow or whatever, you know, fill in the 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:02.320 dark hard word, you do, you do something with it. 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:03.920 It can be self destructive or not. 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:06.560 And I mean, what did you do? 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:12.040 Yeah, it means all fairly destructive. 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:17.480 And I started building like self sabotaging behaviors. 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:17.720 And. 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:22.760 You know, it was It wasn't only in you know, 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:25.200 there's an element to snowboarding. Used to be an element 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:27.319 to snowboarding that was like there was a very much 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:31.520 a party culture involved it. That's not really the case anymore, 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:34.640 especially in the high level competition, which is definitely for 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:40.080 the best. But I leaned into that side way more 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:44.040 than I ever had before. But also, you know, speaking 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:48.480 about those women that I was teammates with, that I 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:52.840 looked up to so much, I started comparing myself to 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:55.680 them in a way that was not helpful. 0:12:56.559 --> 0:13:00.560 It never is any like I have never been from 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:05.160 comparing myself to anyone else. Totally, No, it only it 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:08.679 only makes you feel less than. What's always crazy too, 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:11.160 is little do we know they're probably doing the same, 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:15.800 you know, totally us, And it's it's like it's like 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:18.599 a shame building machine, that comparison. 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:21.280 Yeah, it's the past joy as they say, yeah. 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:27.160 Yeah, And it becomes a habit yeah, and a pattern 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:30.520 that you know, if you go deep enough into it, 0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:33.120 it takes it very intentional work to come out of 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:35.480 and bring that habit. 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:36.880 So how did you do that? 0:13:36.960 --> 0:13:40.480 I mean, not just the comparison part, but this era 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:44.320 you're describing where you got pretty dark, Like, how how. 0:13:44.200 --> 0:13:45.880 Did you find your way out? What did you do? 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:48.480 I left? 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:53.000 I Yeah, I retired when I was twenty, and I 0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:59.359 retired so full of anger and resentment and blame. 0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:03.719 And who were you angry at and resentful tour? 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:11.840 Yeah, I've the industry, coaches, sponsors, I was that whole, 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:15.000 real one that yeah. 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:15.440 Everything on the outside. 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:20.120 I was angry at competition itself, Like I felt competition 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:24.360 had taken this thing. I loved snowboarding, this passion I 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:27.120 was so connected to and tainted it. 0:14:27.920 --> 0:14:30.960 Yeah, you fell out of love with snowboarding, not so 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:35.440 much for snowboarding itself, but everything that surrounded it exactly. 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:36.400 Yeah. 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:41.200 So when I when I announced my retirement at twenty 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:46.320 in twenty fifteen, I swore I would never touch another 0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:52.239 snowboard again. I really thought I was never gonna turn back. 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:54.640 In any way, even recreationally. 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:57.680 I was like, I'm so done. 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:07.080 What did you do with your snowboards? 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:10.280 Did you have like a bonfire in the backyard? 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:12.520 I think I gave a lot of them away. 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:17.320 Yeah I still have, Like I think I have three 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:21.160 snowboards from huh that era of my life, And I 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:23.040 honestly don't know what I did with the rest. 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:25.560 They were like out in the back for this garage 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:29.240 or something. I don't really So then you know, I 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:34.000 understand you. When you retired at twenty, you did what 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:36.400 many many twenty year olds have done, including my own 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:42.960 twenty year old right now, retreated to their parents' house. Right, Yeah, 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:45.800 and you grew up writing steam Boat Springs, Colorado. 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:48.200 So you moved back in with your folks. 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:52.440 Yep, moved back in into the basement. It was good. 0:15:52.480 --> 0:15:53.400 It was where. 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:57.760 I needed to be to just you know, they created 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:00.840 a safe space for me to break down and just 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:07.440 drop everything and yeah, you know, hit an emotional rock 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:08.280 bottom and not. 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:09.440 Know where to go next. 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:12.640 I mean, the great thing about rock bottom, though, because 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:14.240 I know this is the next part of your story, 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:16.400 is like, once you get to the bottom, there's the 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:17.960 only direction to go is up. 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:21.160 And it sounds like, I mean, it. 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:24.280 Might take a while, but and it might look different 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:28.280 than maybe most of us imagine, but from there we 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:29.360 do begin to rise. 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:31.480 So what happened to you next? 0:16:32.800 --> 0:16:36.840 Well, one part of my story that people really love 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:39.920 this here during the Olympics. 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:42.360 But I know what's coming. 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:46.520 Yeah, I moved back into my parents house. I was 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:47.280 in the basement. 0:16:47.960 --> 0:16:52.800 They gave me a few months to you know, sulk 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:54.880 around and I don't even know what I was doing, 0:16:54.960 --> 0:16:57.640 but they my dad was finally like, all right, if 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:00.560 you're going to live here. You need to pay some 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:03.080 rent or help us buy some food. 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:07.960 The food you're eating you just need. Yeah, so get 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:08.399 a job. 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:14.800 And and I had a family friend in town here 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:19.520 that owned a plumbing and heating business. I asked him 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:22.320 one day because I knew, you know, I hadn't gone 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:26.240 to college. I hadn't the last time I went to 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:29.359 school was like I just didn't connect with it. I 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:33.919 had no motivation and so it was not very like 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:35.240 healthy environment for me. 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:38.680 And I had no. 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:44.639 Other like work experience besides snowboarding, and I knew I 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:48.080 had emotional stuff I needed to work through in my body. 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:50.240 So I was like, I want to use my hands. 0:17:50.280 --> 0:17:52.199 I want to use my body. I don't want to 0:17:52.200 --> 0:17:56.080 sit behind a desk. I asked my friend Joe, Joe 0:17:56.119 --> 0:17:56.640 the plumber. 0:17:56.800 --> 0:17:57.000 Joe. 0:17:57.040 --> 0:17:58.520 It's like he's even got the name. 0:17:59.359 --> 0:17:59.679 I know. 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:02.639 When I asked him, I was like, do you have 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:06.800 any friends in the trade, you know, industry that need help. 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:09.000 I want to learn something new and I want to 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:13.679 keep moving, and he goes, yeah, you can start for 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:19.320 me on Monday. So I became Joe the Plumber's apprentice. 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:23.679 Made thought that I had, but please tell me that 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:27.120 your other coworkers were named Earl Bob, and Frank. 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:30.440 Was Dallas. 0:18:31.000 --> 0:18:32.840 Oh no, that's no, that's. 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:35.479 Not a plumber name. I don't know you think Dallas 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:36.360 is a plumber name. 0:18:36.880 --> 0:18:37.480 I don't know. 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:39.600 He was. He's a good plumber. 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:39.879 To be Dallas. 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:42.240 It's like he's like he's like an actor. He's not 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:43.760 like Broadway or yeah, you know. 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:46.280 I mean. 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:48.119 The thing is I love about this is it's it 0:18:48.240 --> 0:18:51.320 is both totally unlikely and also I will say I 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:55.240 actually think it's it's most of us have that kind 0:18:55.560 --> 0:18:57.720 of story at one point or another in our lives 0:18:57.720 --> 0:18:59.800 where we're like, Okay, I was lost and then I 0:18:59.840 --> 0:19:02.520 just decided to do this like totally out of nowhere 0:19:02.640 --> 0:19:07.000 thing and it helped me be found. And you knew 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:12.120 instinctually that you had to work with your body, make 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:15.119 something do, make something happen with your hands, and you 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:18.600 trusted that girl, and that is like, that is golden 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:21.120 and that is healing right there. So you were beginning 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:23.320 even when you asked that question of Joe the plumber, 0:19:23.400 --> 0:19:25.920 So well done, Yeah things. 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:27.160 How did why are you not a plumber? 0:19:27.160 --> 0:19:27.400 Now? 0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:29.960 So how'd that plumbing career go? Okay? 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:34.560 So I I apprenticed for a little over a year, 0:19:35.560 --> 0:19:38.080 learned a lot, and one of the main things I 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:40.720 learned was that I do not want to split spend 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:41.480 my life plumbing. 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:44.639 Okay, I don't want to be a plumber. I respect 0:19:44.840 --> 0:19:46.159 the trade so much. 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:49.840 And I will say too that one year of plumbing 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:53.400 was harder on my body than seven years of professional sommarty. 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:55.800 Oh my gosh, like mad respect. 0:19:55.920 --> 0:19:56.800 Are you serious? 0:19:57.080 --> 0:20:01.280 Yeah, I'm serious, because you're like on your knees under 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:04.600 a sing or cabinet right, or you're in a crawl 0:20:04.640 --> 0:20:08.880 space in some contorted position, or you're like fun scaffolding 0:20:09.240 --> 0:20:11.240 hoping of holding a pipe over your head. 0:20:11.840 --> 0:20:14.080 It was so hard on my joints. 0:20:14.200 --> 0:20:18.480 I imagine early twenties, Like imagine you're like some old guy, 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:22.040 yeah or Dallas or whatever. Also, you have to wear 0:20:22.119 --> 0:20:24.920 really baggy pants so they fall down totally. 0:20:25.400 --> 0:20:27.760 I'm about to throw all your belts. 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:34.119 I hope, I hope somebody saw your butt track at 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:38.240 some point, Maddie, I'm sure. I come on, well, but 0:20:38.320 --> 0:20:40.960 you were just an apprentice, so like maybe you didn't 0:20:41.000 --> 0:20:45.760 reach the full plumber of you know, wardrobe malfunction level. 0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:46.720 But I'm true. 0:20:47.720 --> 0:20:51.119 Okay, but my burning question that I have for you 0:20:51.119 --> 0:20:54.760 about your your short career, but short but informative career 0:20:55.400 --> 0:21:00.280 and physically challenging career and plumbing is I know you're 0:21:00.320 --> 0:21:02.240 you're not interested in being a plumber. Now do you 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:04.800 do your own home repairs? Like if things get moving 0:21:05.040 --> 0:21:06.800 a little slow, like you know how to fix it? 0:21:07.440 --> 0:21:08.280 Yeah? I do. 0:21:08.800 --> 0:21:12.720 I've done like the little like external repairs if it's 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:15.120 in a wall. I called somebody. 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:16.160 I called Joe. 0:21:16.560 --> 0:21:18.119 Joe, you guys are still passed. 0:21:18.200 --> 0:21:21.560 I bet yeah, Okay, what did What did Joe think 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:23.880 of you when you're like, you know, I mean going 0:21:23.880 --> 0:21:26.720 to the Olympics and stuff. I bet that I met 0:21:26.800 --> 0:21:29.760 The Plumbers Association of America is very proud of you. 0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:32.800 Oh that's so funny. 0:21:34.400 --> 0:21:36.200 He has been so supportive. 0:21:36.400 --> 0:21:40.040 And so he has three kids that are all younger 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:44.159 than me, and uh huh, I lived with them my 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:47.280 junior year of high school when I was back during 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:53.280 that time. So yeah, they I mean those kids at 0:21:53.280 --> 0:21:56.880 that time too. The oldest was eight and the youngest 0:21:57.000 --> 0:22:00.560 was maybe two. And now this is twenty three. 0:22:01.560 --> 0:22:04.320 Have you have you taught them snow snowboarding or taken 0:22:04.320 --> 0:22:05.480 them out on the snow at all. 0:22:05.880 --> 0:22:08.840 Yeah, I mean looking back when I was in high school, 0:22:08.880 --> 0:22:09.520 when they were young. 0:22:09.760 --> 0:22:12.160