Catching big air with Ty Walker

Like any other Brunonian, freshman Ty Walker is steadily adapting to this new college atmosphere, taking advantage of the open curriculum and deciding whether or not to take a class S/NC. But, unlike most, or all, of us, Ty has represented the U.S. at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi as a member of the first-ever Women’s Slopestyle Snowboarding Team.

Ty sat down to talk with the Tab about her experiences as a professional athlete and her exciting plans for the future

Representing Team USA in Sochi

How did you end up choosing to go to Brown? What appealed to you the most about going here?

I admired Brown’s atmosphere to allow people to have their own personal freedom to make their own choices. I have always made my own decisions, whether it had to do with training, competitions, my education, contracts or sponsorships. My parents would always let me make my own choices with those things, so I had to trust myself to make the right choices in my best interest. I believe that Brown fosters the same type of trust in its students.

So school and training, that must be hard. How did you balance your education and competing as an professional athlete?

All of my schooling was done online so that I would have time to train. That’s why it’s so hard to say where I live because I train in Utah, which is where I did my schooling, but I also had an apartment in Colorado where I would live for six months of the year, and my family lives in Stowe, Vermont. Now that I’m at Brown, it’s definitely some sort of culture shock because I’m staying in one place.

How did you get started with snowboarding?

My family and I used to live on Long Island, and we would go to Vermont on the weekends to ski. My older sister was always better than me at skiing so I wanted to do something different and decided to try snowboarding. I started to competing when I was eight in local competitions and then just gradually progressed from there.

So your specialty is in Slopestyle and Big Air. What exactly are these styles?

Big Air is kind of like a shorter version of Slopestyle. For slopestyle, there is a whole course with multiple jumps and rail features. Big air, on the hand, is just one huge jump for us to do tricks on. For both events, points are given out based on completion, success and difficulty.

Flashback to the first ever Women’s World Big Air Cup where you came home with the gold. What was your reaction at the end of the jump and learning that you won?

I knew that I would have a good chance at winning the event if I landed the trick I did on my last run. When I landed, it was the best feeling in the world. My heart was beating a million times a second and I was pretty much speechless when the score came out. The real impact of the shock did not really hit me until after the fact, especially because this moment was historic. I was the first woman to win a Big Air World Cup, and I’m pretty proud of that.

What was the atmosphere like in Sochi?

Looking back, I think that the atmosphere was weird. When I think about some of the things conditions were in… it wasn’t like a typical event.  We couldn’t use the tap water, and nobodyy liked the food, but honestly at the time it didn’t even matter. All of the athletes were just focused on staying positive and doing their best in their events. Everybody was just happy to be there, and everybody had a positive, intense mindset contest-wise, so we didn’t really leave room for negativity.

How did it feel the first time you were called an Olympian?

It was definitely surreal. Ever since I started snowboarding, I always told myself that I wanted to go to the Olympics. It is crazy to think that I was on the same team as some people who I looked up to as a kid. On the other hand, I feel like some people label me now as an “Olympian”, and I understand how significant that title might be but I guess I still just see it as one piece of my life and my journey in snowboarding.

Should we keep our eyes out for any exciting plans for the future?

I am still recovering from ACL repair from an accident in the spring. As of now, I am training to get back into shape for competition. I have plans to join the US Team and the other rides at a Big Air event that is going to take place in Fenway Park in February, so that is super exciting. I might compete at X Games Oslo in 2016 if I get an invite for that. For this year, I’m mostly planning on staying on campus though and getting back to my highest level of riding. After that, I will take the spring semester of my sophomore year and the fall semester of my junior year off to try to re-qualify for the 2018 Olympics,  ideally for both Big Air and Slopestyle. I’m optimistic, but it’s definitely going to be interesting to see how things go balancing snowboarding with being here at Brown!

Capturing the gold at the 2014 Istanbul Bir Air World Cup