Terry Foster: Five Questions With Jake Vedder

By: Terry Foster
@terryfoster971

NAME: Jake Vedder
HOMETOWN: Pinckney
Ht/Wt: 5-foot-10, 175 pounds
Age: 17
SPORT: Border Cross Youth Olympian
WHAT: Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway
WHEN: Feb. 12-21

Vedder is the world's second ranked border cross youth Olympian and is an ambassador for Detroit and the state of Michigan. He has won the US Junior Nor-Am and qualified first for the World Cup race at age 16. He was also named to the Vail Epic Pro Team.

The dream for Vedder is to place on the United States Olympic team and win a gold medal. For the past few months he's lived in Colorado with members of the US snowboarding team.
We caught up with Vedder as he prepares his next step.

Question: What goes through your mind before a race? Are you more locked in mentally or are you more pumped up?

Vedder: "No matter what the competition is I always have my head phones on. I don't talk the morning of a competition. I am zoned into my music. I am zoned into myself. You won't catch me talking to anybody. Still I am pretty pumped up. Some are laid back. I am getting super jacked. I am being motivated by rap and hard core rock before my race. Right before the gate drops I will take off the head phones."

Q: What is the worst accident you had and how did you get yourself back on track mentally?

Vedder: "I've been pretty fortunate. I work a lot in the off season to stay healthy. Three years ago I had a hip slip out of place but I was not out long. I was riding like three days after. I just had to keep riding. It was sore. I've seen some recoveries last a long time, like a year and a half. I definitely have been mentally strong and healthy and it always works out."

Q: Why is your sport a blast?

Vedder: "I've been snowboarding since I was two years old. I never fell in love with free style because there are judges involved. If a judge does not like you that day you are in trouble. For the most part I determine if I am going to win or not. It is like motor cross in that someone else can determine if you are going to win. People can wreck your day. You can crash and there is nothing you can do about it. But if you are far ahead of everybody, then you are good. There is the adrenaline of going through a 50 or 60 foot jump. It gets pretty crazy out there and it gets me going. I just know that the first one down that hill wins and that is what I have a passion for."

Q: How does a kid from Pinckney get into this sport?

Vedder: "I grew up near Mt. Brighton. From the time I was two years old we would go there. We would practice skiing and by five I started snowboarding. My dad would pull me out of school and I just started. I saw these guys doing it (snowboarding) on the side of a hill and I had to try it. During one of my first weekend competitions I got beat by a girl because I went on the wrong side of the flag. That got me going. I started winning local competitions and went to Colorado for nationals where I got picked up by the US team. I stopped playing football and lacrosse and went on to the next tour."

Q: Where do you see yourself in the next five years and what is your ultimate goal?

Vedder: "I see myself on the World Cup Tour and on the United States team and when I am on the US team it means I will be top four going for the World Cup and doing very well and competing against the best guys in the world and going on the US team and going to the Olympics."