(BEFORE THEY WERE SUPERSTARS)
(TY WALKER. AGE: 14. DATE: NOVEMBER 2011)
(SPORT: SNOWBOARDING. LOCATION: COLORADO, USA)
Back in 2011, Ty was living and training
in the Colorado town of Breckenridge,
at the base of the Rocky Mountains' Tenmile Range.
She was being coached by Dave Boldwin.
She's a handful, but it's a good time.
- Hey! - Well, you are.
I'm not a handful. I'm the best.
He doesn't know what he's talking about.
I am the least problematic
14-year-old girl you've ever seen in your life, OK?
I'll give her that much. She's not very problematic,
but she is a handful, but it's a lot of fun.
- What's the difference? - It's a good thing.
Born on Long Island, New York, Ty hails from a skiing family.
She spent much of her childhood on the slopes
in Stowe, Vermont.
I think really what attracted me to snowboarding was
I was always at competition with my sister, and my sister
was always better than me at skiing.
And so I think I wanted to kind of do my own thing.
But for my seventh birthday I asked for a snowboard
and they couldn't really not get me a snowboard
and I've been snowboarding ever since.
I would say that snowboarding is 50% mental, 50% physical,
because you can have all the talent in the world,
but you need to be able to put yourself
in the right state of mind to compete
and to always be out there on the hill training.
And, you know, there are some sacrifices
that go with snowboarding.
If you just don't have the mind-set,
like a positive mind-set towards it,
then you can have all the talent in the world,
but you're not going to be successful at your sport.
Along with around four to five hours a day on the slopes
from Monday to Saturday, Ty's training regime also
included indoor simulation work
and time spent on the trampoline.
The trampoline is a really good place to learn tricks.
It helps take a trick you want to learn on the snow
and do it in a situation that's not quite as consequential.
It's also good for air awareness.
Say if you're falling, how to twist yourself in a way
so that you're not going to hurt yourself as much.
During the season, Ty's coach, Dave,
doubled up as her full-time guardian.
There was a fine line between allowing Ty to develop
at her own pace and pushing her to reach her full potential.
That's the challenge as a coach.
You've got to maintain that trust you have in a friendship
and you've got to draw the line
where it's time for you to be the tough guy and let them know
that something's not good or that something needs work.
Ty decided to move here to Colorado during the season
in order to focus more on her sport.
With her family back in Vermont,
the teenager lived with a group of fellow snowboarders.
Breakfast is ready.
My drink.
Ty had to combine her sport with her studies
and the youngster found it tricky trying to juggle
the 'boards with the books.
In the past, I've been home schooled for the winters
and it's been a lot easier cos in middle school
you don't really have that much work.
And so whenever I'd have time after contests
and after training I'd just come home,
do some work and call it a day.
But now that I'm in high school, it's getting a little
harder because they don't want me to leave my public school
for half the year and then just come back.
So I had to do all my schooling online.
I have a joke in my family that my mom doesn't like anyone
who's not good at math.
So, if my grades slip, if I'm not doing my school work,
I get on the next plane home because, I mean, education
is the most important thing to my parents
and I think it's, obviously, really important because
if snowboarding doesn't work out then you need
something else to do with your life.
Growing up, Ty was very sporty.
Ice hockey, baseball and ten-pin bowling
were just some of her favourites
and they always brought out her competitive streak.
20 bucks says I kick both your asses.
I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding. It was a lie.
While some parents wouldn't approve of their teenage
daughter spending so much time away from home,
the Walkers recognised that Ty's desire to become
an Olympic champion required certain sacrifices.
And, fortunately, the environment in Colorado
was one of fun and friendship for the teenager.
Yes! Woo!
A lot of fun, but I think I may be a little better
at snowboarding.
Slopestyle is one of several snowboarding disciplines,
along with half-pipe, parallel slalom and snowboard cross.
Since the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano,
three out of the four had been part of the Olympic programme.
The exception was slopestyle, Ty's chosen discipline.
However, it would feature at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
I'd really like to be just the best snowboarder I could be.
I want to be able to both ride half-pipe and slopestyle.
And I think that it's pretty important to be diverse.
And I really want to go to the Olympics in 2014
and, hopefully, medal or something like that...
..and maybe make the Olympics in 2018 or 2022, whatever.
She's always letting me know that she wants to be the best.
She lets everybody know.
Nobody comes out wanting to finish second,
and I've never met anyone that wants
to finish first more than Ty.
In the years ahead, Ty would continue to compete
against older girls on the TTR Tour.
And although she struggled in some competitions,
it was those events that would teach her a lot more
than victories over snowboarders her own age
ever could.
Everybody knows that she's a force to be reckoned
with right now and, at 14 years old,
she's got at least five years on most of the other girls
that she competes against and usually more than that,
it's usually closer to ten years.
So you can tell that they're stepping up their game
knowing that Ty's bringing a level that is soon
to be surpassing everyone's in the female snowboard.
Ty competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
She was one of the youngest members of Team USA.
However, her performance was hampered
by injury and she wasn't amongst the medals.
Yet, shortly after the Games, she won the first ever
World Cup for women's Big Air,
an event that will make its debut
at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
I think she has the potential to be the best female
snowboarder of all time.
She's very focused, sets goals and usually achieves
those goals when she puts her mind to it.
And she's driven.
That's what she wants to be. She wants to be the best ever.