Snowboarding
Let’s learn a little bit more about the multi-talented pipe slayer from Down Under.
It’s a fact of life that hard work will only get you so far and that’s doubly true when it comes to being a successful pro snowboarder. The tough truth of it is that if you’re lacking what sponsors call ‘marketability’ (in other words… if you’re boring) then even if you can stomp triple corks all day long, nobody will really care. But what’s all this got to do with Australian halfpipe ripper Scotty James? Well… absolutely nothing. Look up ‘marketable’ in an Australian dictionary and you might just get:
adjective mar·ket·able \ ˈmär-kə-tə-bəl \
a. being in good demand; saleable
Example 1: A boomerang that always comes back when you throw it
Example 2: Scotty James.
To put it another way, Scotty's got it going on. Besides the fact he’s one of the top three halfpipe riders in the world right now, what else do we love? Let’s cover the essentials.
1. He’s funny
Scotty put out a web series last year called All Day SJ that’s a refreshing take on the standard pro-on-the-road formula, with a great athlete manager character who definitely resembles Murray from Flight Of The Conchords.
2. He’s got a cool trademark
Be your own brand, baby! Ever noticed Scotty rides in a pair of bright red boxing gloves? He first wore them at X Games 2017, saying they put him into a fighting mindset. It worked: he won gold, and now a bit of shadow boxing is an indispensible part of his pre-flight warmup.
3. And yes, of course he surfs
He’s Australian! There’s nothing Scotty likes more than an extended stopover in Indonesia or Mexico in between Northern and Southern Hemisphere winters. And he’s good mates with surfing star and fellow tall blonde dreamboat Owen Wright.
4. He's not shy to admit he's only human
While regularly pulling off really stylish tricks, Scotty recently explained how intimidated he was learning the Switch Backside 1260, how it gave him nightmares – and how he ultimately overcame his fear and went for it.
Watch Scotty James and Ståle Sandbech battle it out in You Be The Judge:
5. He's a man of many talents
As if snowboarding and surfing weren't enough, he plays a mean banjo and he can fly a plane.
Go behind the scenes with Scotty James as he takes on the world's biggest contests in his new series, Glimpse/ on Red Bull TV.
Download the free Red Bull TV app to catch the snowboarding action on all your devices! Get the app here.
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