Shaun White Dons Snowboard for Winter X Games IX
(Sunday, January 23 12:04 AM)
By George Dickie

If action-sports athlete Shaun White isn't a man for all seasons, he's pretty close.

When the weather is cold and the snow is flying, he can be found on his snowboard, practicing moves on the half pipe in preparation for events such as the Winter X Games.

When the weather is warm, he'll be on the skateboard, sharpening his vert moves for the summer games.

His love of his chosen sports has paid off, earning him double gold in the Slopestyle and SuperPipe events at the 2003 winter games and gold in the Slopestyle in 2004. Two summers ago, he crossed over into the realm of professional skateboarding, debuting at the 2003 Summer X Games in the vert event.

This week, the 18-year-old Southern California native is be in Aspen, Colo., competing in Winter X Games IX. ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 offer live and taped coverage Saturday, Jan. 29 through Tuesday, Feb. 1.

Zap2it: What are you working on for the X Games?
White: Basically the trick to do right now is doing 1080s. That's like the spin. ... So I've just been working on that, you know. The thing is, the year starts out and there's not a lot of snow, so you're basically on a mission to just find wherever it's the best and actually just ride. And that's the whole kind of practice that you need to do, is just get out there and ride and get used to snowboarding again and get ready for the contest.

Zap2it: You've been away from snowboarding for a while?
White: Yeah, because especially for me, like most of the guys end up once the winter's over, they go straight to somewhere tropical. But I end up staying at home because I skateboard during the summers. So I do like Winter and Summer X Games. I do both.

Zap2it: Is it weird going between snowboarding and skateboarding?
White: Yeah, it's kind of awkward sometimes. I find it's much easier to go from skateboarding and then go to snowboarding, instead of the other way around. Because for me I'll be snowboarding a lot, and you have your big boots on, and you've got your board. And in the summer you go to skateboarding, and all you have is your shoes, and your board's really small. It's just a lot harder for some reason.

Zap2it: What's the toughest snowboard trick for you?
White: The toughest trick for me? I don't know. I think right now it's been the 1080s because it's a pretty big spin, and I've been working on it. It's just whatever is kind of a new trick for me, so I haven't really done those a lot, so I'm starting to do them now. And then I don't know. You always kind of gravitate to your favorite tricks for some reason, and so I'll go to the park and I'll just end up doing all my favorite tricks, and then when the time comes, you buckle down and you work on that one trick that you really want to learn. But, yeah, probably 1080s are probably the rough one.

Zap2it: Do you ever worry about getting hurt?
White: Well, yeah, that's the thing. You fall here and there. Some are worse than others, but the whole thing is if you feel confident enough that you're not going to fall, you stop thinking about it and you're kind of 'on.' You're like, you can't fall. That's how I feel sometimes. Like at X Games or something like that, you're kind of in the zone. You're not even thinking about getting hurt at all. Like, that's the last thing on your mind is you just know you've got your tricks down, and it's a really good feeling to have. It's pretty cool.

Zap2it: What's more fun: snowboarding or skateboarding?
White: Oh, man. That's the hardest thing for me because ... snowboarding takes up most of my time. There's always snow somewhere in the world. I end up going and doing photo shoots and stuff. And there's kind of a cool balance that I find, is during the winter, I'm snowboarding all year and I just want to go skateboarding. Then, once I'm on the skateboard after the summer, I just want to go snowboarding. So it kind of stays fresh. You know, I'm really excited to get back on the skateboard after snowboarding for a while, and once I get back on I learn all these new tricks. It just kind of keeps me into it.

Zap2it: Who in the business do you admire?
White: Definitely, like, Tony Hawk, because of what he's done for the sport and just because he's such a cool guy. I respect him on a couple of different levels.

Zap2it: You're friends with him?
White: Yeah, I'm pretty good friends with Tony after skating with him in demos. I actually talked to him before I decided to go pro in skating. I'm like, 'Do you think I should do it?' And it's funny because I always see those guys at, like, the demos and stuff like that, and they're like, 'When are you going to turn pro on skateboard?' And so I ended up doing stuff with those guys. And then Tony was cool enough to invite me on, a couple of years ago, the Tony Hawk Tour. So I was able to go on this bus with all these pro skateboarders and hang out, and go to skate parks, and it was a blast. So Tony's an awesome guy. It was the best.

Zap2it: What do you do when you're not performing or practicing?
White: That's what's funny about me, is people are like, 'What are you going to do if you're at home and relaxing?' I'm like, 'I'd probably be skateboarding.' It's kind of funny because that's when I feel the most relaxed. You know, 'What are you going to do?' 'I want to go skate and have some fun.' And then a big hobby of mine is surfing. I love to surf. I ended up getting a house at the beach so I can go surf. I love it.

Zap2it: What was it like winning the 2003 ESPY for best male action sports athlete?
White: Oh, that was amazing. That was one of the best things I've ever done. Just to be on the stage with all those other athletes, which was so amazing. Who else was up there with me? Serena Williams. You know, like, some amazing athletes. To be associated with that was just awesome. That was a blast.