Enjoying The Ride: The Shaun White Interview
Interview By Brad Oates

Do you ever skate street?
Yeah. I just started. It’s so much fun. Like kickflips are so annoying, but I finally learned how to do them, and it’s so much fun now. I’ve been hitting little handrails and stuff. Most of the time everybody just sees me at the Encinitas YMCA because it’s so close to my house, I never really get too much time to skate besides the summer, so basically in between snowboarding I’ll just jet to the Y.

Do you remember your first street rail on a snowboard?
I just remember that I had just started to do frontsides on rails and started to get it locked down and I remember the worst thing is showing up and going, “Yeah, okay, I got it”. They shovel it the whole time, and get it all ready. Then you actually have to hit it. I don’t know, I just got on it a couple of times, and the thing about handrails like that is you’ve just got to go for it. I ended up going for it and stuck one that was perfect and rode away 4 feet and caught my edge on the flat. And I was like “No!” But then after that, I got another one, so it worked out.

You completely kill it in ever contest you enter. Do you have any superstitions?
I have this special Ozzy shirt that I wear, but that’s about it. I think I just wore it because it was long and wouldn’t come out of my pants, so I wouldn’t get snow down there. For me, contests, my mindset going into it is that I don’t care. When I don’t really care about the contests, and I tell myself I don’t have to win, that’s the best. Just having the most fun helps me out so much. Because you can’t get stressed out on wether or not you think you are going to make the run. I guess I just like contests.

What’s your perfect day?
My perfect day? I don’t know. Ahhh, Hold on.

(talking to some girls walking)
Where you guys going?

All right. All right.

Sorry.

Wait, where are the ladies going?
They are going to watch some movie or something. I’ll just wait for them to come back by.

You’re killing it with the ladies now aren’t you?
Negative. I just think it’s the funniest when girls come up and ask for hugs. I don’t know, I’m mellow.

Have you been stalked?
I haven’t been stalked, like, you could say I was just mellow stalked. Not really like hardcore, but I had somebody following me for a little bit.

How crazy did it get?
It didn’t get bad at all. I just got some calls and whatever and then it was over. I might have accidentally given her my number. I swear something weird like that. She seemed cool at the time. A lot of girls are so scared to come up and talk to me, like I’m going to bite them or something? They are so scared! It’s funny, even sometimes when little kids recognize me they are scared to come up and talk to me, I don’t know why. I’m pretty mellow. The weird thing is, with people you meet, you don’t really know anything about them, but they fully know about you.

So, let’s back up a little bit. What’s your perfect day?
My perfect day would just be learning a new trick. That just makes the day. You know how it is, you skate a lot, if you try that trick all day and you finally make it, then everything is sunshine after that. I hate walking away from a trick that you don’t make. You try it all day and you don’t make it. That’s just the worst feeling because it’s in the back of your mind, like everything is just not as good ? dinner, and everything ? it’s just awful. Learning a new trick makes it the perfect day.

How far off are you on doing 30 feet on a quarterpipe to get your pure gold watch?
I’m just kind of waiting for the right quarterpipe. Oakley is putting up this watch that is solid gold bullion, worth like 25 grand. It’s so heavy, I mean I already put it on. I’ve been told to just try it on because I already have it. It’s a crazy gold watch, but you have to hit a 30 foot backside air to get it, and basically I tried it once. I came close at the Arctic Challenge going 24 feet. There was one kid who went 26 or 27 feet and has the record so far. I am just always kicking myself and telling myself I could have gone bigger that day, but whatever, I am just waiting for another good quarterpipe to try it out on. Plus, I grew a little, so I think I can stretch out and get a little higher.

Okay, I have one more question.
Hit me.

What has skateboarding and snowboarding given you that you hope other kids receive?
(Long Pause) Hmm…Given me that I hope other kids get?

Yeah.
I guess I just want kids to experience a little bit of what my life is like now. I don’t know, I do all this crazy stuff and I just hope skateboarding gives everyone else as much fun and happiness as it’s given me. Such a good time when I go skate and snowboarding, and kids should experience that instead of going out there and beating themselves just to get sponsored. Just skate and have fun. Snowboard and have fun, that’s what it’s all about.

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