IN THE AIR | HAILEY LANGLAND

The 24th X Games Aspen 2025 takes place Jan 23rd - 25th for its 24th year. These games will take place in Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen Snowmass where the world's best action sports athletes competing in ski and snowboard events. These days present men’s and women’s ski and snowboard competitions in the disciplines of Superpipe, Slopestyle, Big Air, Knuckle Huck and the debut of medaled event Street Style.

We're excited to see a number of our favorite X Games and Olympic medalists which have included Chloe Kim, Mia Brookes, Ayumu Hirano, Scotty James and local hometown heroes Red Gerard and Alex Ferreira.

There will also be performances by EDM artists deadmau5 (who appeared at the games in 2016), Big Gigantic, Aspen Tessla, Daily Bread and ILLENIUM.

We sat down with 2X Olympic Team USA Snowboarding and 3X X Games medalist, Hailey Langland who will be a snowboarding analyst at the X Games. We spoke with her to talk about her career, passion for the sport, and the upcoming games.

ATHLEISURE MAG: You grew up in Southern California and clearly, you're an amazing snowboarder, but you were also a beach loving girl that has a love for surfing, skateboarding, soccer, mountain biking and more! What do you love about playing sports and having that ability to play a number of them?

HAILEY LANGLAND: I have to owe a lot of credit to my parents. My dad was always trying to get my little brother and I outside to find a passion and an outlet from the rest of the world. We were well versed when it came to sports. I find that it’s helped round me into the athlete I am today. Snowboarding is my first love, but I always try to make time for other passions like surfing and biking in the summer.

AM: What is it about snowboarding that you love?

HL: I definitely fell in love with snow boarding because of my dad. I could see how excited he was to share his passion with me, and I enjoyed chasing him down the mountain. One of my favorite days was learning how to ride goofy, and my dad and I rode switch for the entire day. He always made it fun, and reminded me to keep it fun.

AM: When did you realize that you wanted to be a professional snowboarder?

HL: I’ve always known I was meant to snowboard my whole life. But I don’t think I even thought about being a professional until I went to my first “pro” competition in Mammoth when I was 14. It was a contest that had competitors from the Sochi Olympics and girls I watched in X-Games in it. I ended up winning the event, and I remember standing on the podium besides Anna Gasser and Enni Rukajarvi. I thought, oh my goodness, maybe I can be like the girls I watch on tv. After that event I got wildcard spots to Dew Tour, X Games, and Burton US Open; all contests I watched religiously growing up. That really jumpstarted my career and made it a reality.

AM: As a surfer and snowboarder, what are the synergies between these sports?

HL: Surfing is super hard, which makes me appreciate snowboarding so much. There’s a lot more thoughtfulness to surfing that I think a lot of people realize. Surfing not only requires good athletic abilities, but also the ability of wave knowledge and reading the ocean. But I love watching videos of surfers like Coco Ho, Stephanie Gilmore or Caity Simmers, who have tons of style, and thats something I try to bring to my snowboarding. I find the best cross over from surfing and snowboarding is when you’re riding powder, and it feels just like surfing on a wave, weaving back and forth just trying to make it look good.

AM: You have had 7 Games appearances and are a 3X X Games medalist and have earned a Bronze, Silver, and Gold medal in Slopestyle and a Gold in Big Air. Can you tell us what Slopestyle and Big Air is?

HL: Slopestyle is an event I specialize in. It’s where you ride the given features of the course; such as: jumps, rails, and transition features like a halfpipe wall. Big Air is a smaller version of slopestyle based on one jump. Usually, the jump is bigger than in a slopestyle, and the criteria is to spin or flip as much as you can, and land the trick, as well as make it look good. My favorite event is slopestyle because it is what I grew up doing.

AM: In 2017, you were the first woman to land a Cab double cork 1080 in competition at X Games Aspen! What did it mean to you to achieve this and tell us about what a Cab Double Cork is?

HL: It’s pretty crazy to look back on that time. I was just a kid, and had no idea what I was doing in that contest. I did the Cab 1080 on accident in practice and just thought, alright guess I’ll try that in the contest. Luckily for me it worked out, and I was able to land it second try. I wish I still had that ability to adapt and try things like I could when I was 16. To help visualize, a Cab 1080 is when you ride switch into a jump, for me that is goofy stance, and you would spin to the right three full rotations.

AM: You're known for your ability to push the boundaries of progression on jumps, distinctive style with solid grabs as well as difficult ones! You have received a number of awards including FIS World Cup with 5 career podiums (3 in Slopestyle and 2 in Big Air), you competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Big Air and in Slopestyle and again at the 2022 Winter Olympics, and more. What does it mean to you when you look at your career and all the things that you have experienced?

HL: It makes me really proud, looking back and seeing what I have accomplished, through all the ups and downs. I will always be grateful for snowboarding. It has been the reason I have gotten to travel so much of the world, and have met so many amazing people within the industry.

AM: This year, you are making your debut at the X Games on the broadcast team as a Women's Snowboard Analyst! Why are you excited to be part of this team and what are you looking forward to?

HL: In November I had ACL reconstruction on my right knee, so I will be out for this season unfortunately. I’m excited to stay involved, even if it doesn’t mean I can ride. It will be cool to see X Games from a different perspective, and to see what it looks like to be another part of such an important contest.

AM: How are you preparing to be on the broadcast team?

HL: I’m going with the ‘on the fly’ approach. Luckily, I’ve known Craig and Brando for years at this point now, so hopefully it will just feel like watching a competition with friends.

AM: Do you have any upcoming competitions that you are preparing for?

HL: Since I had ACL surgery at the end of November, I most likely won’t be snowboarding for the next year. So as of now my preparation is mostly physical therapy for my knee, and getting the rest of my body back in shape.

AM: At Athleisure Mag, we love knowing about how people stay in shape and as you are very active, what is an average week of workouts like for you?

HL: It depends. In the summer, it is very much go, go, go. I am lucky to live somewhere I can surf, or bike, play tennis, and golf all pretty much in my neighborhood. In the winter, snowboarding is primarily all I do. It can be an every day thing if the weather is good, but sometimes there are competitions we go to that get completely canceled because of the weather. On days off, I love getting in a core workout, and trying to get steps in. Any movement you can get in the winter is a big win.

AM: When you're taking time for yourself, what do you enjoy doing when you're not in between projects?

HL: I actually started crocheting a few years ago. I love making beanies for friends and family, and lately I’ve been getting into making bags which has been really fun. I’m pretty crafty and I usually always find a way to keep myself busy.

AM: We also know that you're dating fellow snowboarder, Red Gerard Team USA Olympic Slopestyle Gold Medalist, 2X X Games Medalist, 2X Dew Tour 1st place - to name a few. It must be fun to be able to share your love of snowboarding and surfing together. Do you have any upcoming trips that you are excited about?

HL: Red is my best friend. He’s so fun to be around, and he always pushes me to be better person and snowboarder. Since being injured, it’s been really hard to watch him pack up for a snowboard trip, and for the first time in our relationship, I don’t get to come along. It’s been another motivator for me to do whatever I can to get better, because I miss being around him, and taking laps together at our favorite resort. I think at the end of the winter we’ll try to go on a trip somewhere warm with waves.

IG @haileylangland

@xgames

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | PG 46 - 48 X Games Aspen Trevor Brown Jr. | Red Bull Content Pool PG 51 Lorenz Richard, PG 52 Dom Daher + PG 57 Christian Pondella | 9LIST STORI3S PG 54 X Games Aspen/Mark Kohlman/ESPN + PG 54 X Games/Joshua Duplechian |

Read the DEC ISSUE #108 of Athleisure Mag and see IN THE AIR | Hailey Langland in mag.

IN & OUT OF THE POOL | NATHAN ADRIAN

We are 1 year away from the Summer Olympic Games in Paris 2024! There is nothing like that time of year when we cheer for our favorite athletes as they make their dreams a reality! This month, we caught up with Nathan Adrian 8X Team USA Swimming Olympic Medalist (5G, 1S and 2B). We enjoyed seeing him in Beijing 2008, London 2012, and Rio 2016. We wanted to catch up with this freestyle swimmer to find out more about how he got into the sport, competing in it, his Olympic experience, safe sun that allows swimmers to enjoy being in the water without sacrificing their aesthetics, how he gives back to the sport, and how he continues to advocate for men's health.

ATHLEISURE MAG: When did you fall in love with the water?

NATHAN ADRIAN: Oh haha, you know, I think before I was even old enough to make memories to be honest. Some of my earliest earliest memories are my mom going and doing laps and I would just turtle on her back and just cruise around. It was something that was just always deeply engrained in all of us as a family. My sister is 8½ years older than me, my brother is 6 years older than me, so it’s something that I was born into and it wasn’t just something that us as a family picked up.

AM: That’s amazing!

When did you realize that freestyle was going to be something that you wanted to continue to do and excel in?

NA: Oh yeah, good question! So like, swimming overall – freestyle is what I gravitated towards and I had a really good situation and set of coaches that gave me what I needed at that particular time in my life and my development as an athlete. So when I was young, it was just fun times and it was all games, happy smiles and lots of energy. That transitioned into games and also, “hey, let’s set some goals and try to focus while we’re here. Let’s try to show up more,” and that kind of thing. Then, eventually, it was, this is my life and this is how I did it. I set goals, I worked really hard, and through that, that’s how I think that I fell in love with that process. It also me as an individual, looking back, swimming was the perfect thing for me. I had a lot of energy, it helped me focus and it also allowed me to set those big goals and then you set those little goals and if you’re good at it, you can set little goals for every month of practice, every week of practice and down to everyday of practice. If you achieve that, whether you achieve them or don’t achieve them, if you reflect and then you figure out how you can be better, that’s just like a little puzzle that you’re trying to optimize and to figure out how you can be the best athlete that you can be.

AM: So true!

Did you always dream about going to the Olympics?

NA: So that started when I was watching the 2000 Olympics. I was about 11 and then in 2004, I was trying to qualify for the Olympic Trials and I did not and then in 2008, I was like, “hey, I’m 19 and I know that it’s kind of young, but maybe I can do this if the stars align.

AM: We enjoyed watching you and to know that you have participated in the Olympic Games of Beijing, London, and Rio where you medaled as an individual as well as a team of where you swam along with Lochte, Phelps, Murphy, and all of these amazing people, what was it like to work with those people and those various teams?

NA: Oh that was awesome! I feel very very blessed. I really got to experience what I consider to be one of the highlights of Team USA dominance in the sport. You know, people who were around during the 70s and stuff, they would argue back pretty hard core, but that’s ok. This is what I would call the modern era of swimming let’s call it that. There were guys like Michael Phelps (28X Medalist 23G, 3S, 2B), there was Jason Lezak (8X Medalist 4G, 2S, 2B), Aaron Peirsol (7X Medalist 5G, 2S), Ian Crocker (5X Medalist 3G, 1S, 1B), Brendan Hansen (6X Medalist 3G, 1S, 2B) – oh my gosh, these guys had world records in each of their events and then in my 2008 team, I was with Dara Torres (12X Medalist 4G, 4S, 4B), Katie Hoff (3X Medalist 1S, 2B) at the peak of her game, I was with Natalie Coughlin (12X Medalist 3G, 4S, 5B) when she won. There were so many athletes for me to watch and learn from. It was absolutely incredible for me to be part of that and especially on that 2008 team, that was a transition for me from being a fan to actually doing it on that international stage. So I got to see my heroes and watch them, talk to them, hang out with them, and be a part of their team. As you move on from that, as with all things, you see the times that swimmers are going so fast as they are now. You take what they did and try to bring it in to what you’re doing and make it better!

AM: What were some of your favorite moments in competing or just being with them?

NA: Oh gosh, I think that there’s a lot! I mean, I have 8 medals so those are obviously a favorite moment. The ones that aren’t just as public, are those that happen when you are with a team or a group for 3 or 5 weeks all day everyday – like summer camp for adults! But we’re all there for a job with a very, very serious purpose so there’s not much messing around. Whether it be someone I think playing a prank in 2008 and they put a cicada in the trail mix bag which was pretty funny. I mean it’s pretty gross because they’re so big!

Another one in 2012, I roomed with Matt Grevers (6X Medalist 4G, 2S) which is one of my best friends to this day. He looked at me and after we both won, he was like, “dude, think back to a year ago, who would have bet on us besides our parents?” You know? Special moments like that are awesome because in 2011, I didn't medal in any of the individual races and Matt didn’t even make the World Championships team – so we weren’t even on the radar for winning. But here we are at that point, we won gold and we’re preparing for the 4 X 100 medley relay after that. So that was really awesome.

Just eating in the dining hall and experiencing that. World Championships is similar, but not the same as the Olympics. The Olympics are just that special feeling because you have every sport there and to just people watch and to enjoy that. You can watch the pride that people have in their country and as they are getting ready to compete and do what they can to win those medals that’s just something that’s really special.

AM: Obviously swimming is such a great way to meet your fitness goals. Here at Athleisure Mag, we like to ask athletes what you like to do in and out of the water to stay fit that we can add to our fitness routines?

NA: You know, I actually think that one of the things that we did was a lot of good mobility. I actually find myself that after pouring that first cup of coffee, I will just do a really deep lunge hold. My hip flexors, I’m sitting in a chair right now, I need to stretch these hip flexors out. I’m probably not going to do it here at work, but in the morning is a great time as you’re getting your mobility going. Same thing with doing some thoracic spine mobility. Again, this is before my daughter and my wife is awake, I’m just sitting in the kitchen doing Spider-Man stretches which are different rotational stretches. It really is that if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it! I want to be able to keep that mobility and then I do my best to get pops of strength in.

Certain days when I can’t get into a weight room, you need to activate those muscles, you do a push up, a bodyweight squat, you can do a single leg squat – find an overhang and do a pull up. Do something just to activate it and keep those muscles moving. I’m in a pool right now, I work in a pool, but I just try to do it. I’m telling you what I want to do, and I don’t always live by it. But I do try to get into the pool and do some aerobic stuff because you’ve just got to keep that heart rate up and keep it moving.

Definitely another thing that if you don’t use it, you lose it! That’s where Dermasport really comes in nicely because I’ve used it. My break is usually smack dab in the middle of the day and we’re coming in on a California heat wave right now so it’s about to be bright and sunny and I’m swimming in it. So I need to wear my sunscreen and then afterwards, I need to be able to take it off so that I don’t look funky when we’re talking to kiddos and giving them lessons and things.

AM: How did your partnership with Dermasport come about and what was it that you felt was synergistic between you and the brand?

NA: Well, the partnership came about because I was actually working with somebody with some goggles and they knew about Dermasport and they introduced me to the team. They sent me a trial package and I loved it. I grew up in Seattle, so we were doing sunscreen over the summer, but I didn’t have that 365 exposure to the sun that we have here California now. So when I moved down here, it was like, what do I do? Everybody was just like zinc, zinc, zinc – everyone looked like a ghost, the creases in your elbows looked all white even though you scrubbed and did that whole song and dance. I tried this and it’s zinc sunscreen, but it also moisturizes my face and I feel better after I put it on as well as more hydrated than I did before – which is awesome. Then, you do the cleanser which gets it all off and then the moisturizer afterwards as it’s very refreshing. I mean, it’s a product that’s made for swimmers. Even though I’m not still swimming internationally, I'm still very much so a swimmer. I'm a swimmer in California that needs to protect my face. My sister is actually a derm PA so she’s constantly reminding me on my sunscreen. I’m like, “no, no – I got it covered. I’m doing what I can to protect my face from the sun.”

AM: What will you be doing with the brand in terms of clinics, partnerships etc. that people will be able to see?

NA: I think that we’re still working on that and developing it. There’s actually a meet coming up here that I’m hoping – I mean we just got the product launch happening, so if I can get my hands on some, I’d love to go and see some of those master swimmers and let them try. I mean, this is one of those things that I know that people just need to go and try it. You need to just get your hands on a sample, try it, and it will absolutely blow you away with the way that your face feels when using this sunscreen as opposed to the other ones that are made to be in the water. I will say that certainly other people have made sunscreens that make you feel hydrated, that make you feel nice, but this is something that’s taking a beating! We’re in chlorine water and the sun so it has to have some staying power and it does!

AM: Are there any projects that you’re involved in that you would like to share that we can keep an eye out for?

NA: Honestly, right now, I’ve got my hands full. My life has changed a lot since I was done competing. I have 2 daughters now, so that’s definitely a project, I’m here at the Swim School and we’re running swimming lessons trying to teach as many kiddos to swim as we can. I still do a lot of stuff with the USA Swimming Foundation, traveling around especially during Water Safety Month talking about the importance of swimming lessons and how it can save lives.

I also do a little bit of men’s health advocacy. You know, I was diagnosed with cancer and it’s kind of an uncomfortable thing to talk about for some people and I’m pretty comfortable talking with people about it especially because it was testicular cancer (Editor’s Note: At the age of 30 in 2018, Nathan was diagnosed, it was caught and treated.) and I think that there is just a cultural barrier for people – for men specifically to 1, see the doctor and 2, to talk about an issue with their reproductive organs. Most of the time, when testicular cancer is diagnosed, the patients know that something was wrong pretty well in advance. It’s really sad in that way when you talk to doctors and they’re like, “yeah, so many people wait and wait and they wait until their lower back is hurting or they’re coughing up blood because it spread and they just didn’t know.” You can just be out there whether it’s a blurb on the bottom of the ticker tape on ESPN or whatever it might be and say, “hey, testicular cancer is a thing and it affects young people too.” That’s something that means a lot to me.

AM: How do you give back to the sport to the next generation of people coming up?

NA: Well, I was in the water for about an hour today teaching kids how to swim! I have another couple of lessons coming up later on today around 1pm. I mean, just doing what I can! I feel very blessed. Summer is an absolute marathon, just because it’s summer time and that’s when we can run all day long because kids aren’t in school. But it’s an absolute dream come true to be able to do something that I love, to be able to spread my love for the sport and to maybe ignite some passion in some others as well as give a life saving skill. It’s the only sport that is a life saving skill! I just feel so lucky to be able to wake up and be excited for what I’m able to do and to feel good about what I do every day.

AM: What do you want your legacy to be in the sport or in general?

NA: I don’t know. People who ask me that, I thought that I would have a better answer by now. I think that just thinking about it off the top of my head, like I was talking about in 2008, me taking what other people were doing at that time, making it their own and making it better. Just being a small piece of that – maybe the athletes of today saw something that I did or how I approached my swimming. It doesn’t have to be that every athlete has to do their swimming the way that I did. I think that that is something that I learned back in 2008 where I said, “oh, ok I can’t do that.” I can try this, or this might work or I can see myself doing something like that could work. For those that see themselves in something that I do, them taking it and then working with their coaches and then bringing that further and further. The cool thing about swimming is that we’re still setting World Records pretty regularly. I mean track and field is pretty fun and super exciting, but – the 100 meter dash there hasn’t been a World Record in quite some time. So that’s what I love seeing. People pressing it further and further.

IG @nathangadrian

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | PG 52 + 55 Courtesy Narthan Adrian | PG 56 Stephane Kempinaire KMSP DPPI Icon Sportwire | PG 59Zumapress/Icon Sportswire |

IN SYNC WITH STEELE JOHNSON

This month’s issue marks another interesting milestone within the past 15-16 months. Last year, our May Cover Issue #53 was 2 X Team USA Beach Volleyball 2X Medalist April Ross and at that time, we were unsure of whether the Olympics were going forward or if they would be postponed. A year later, we have navigated a pandemic, vaccines are being administered and we have a number of sports and events that have come back. The Summer Games in Tokyo is moving ahead and although it’s been a strange year, it’s amazing to think about what this year has been as we all have our individual stories.

As an athlete, there have been a number of challenges to continue to train in advance of the Olympics whether that has meant modifying their workouts, and/or waiting for training centers to reopen; however, with Olympic Trials ahead for Team USA Swimming next month, we caught up with Team USA Diving Silver Medalist, Steele Johnson. He competed in his first Olympics in Rio in 2016 where he competed in the 10-meter Synchronized with his partner, David Boudia (you can see the 4 X Team USA Diving 4X Medalist's in this month's issue for our 9LIST STORI3S) where they went to the podium with a Silver medal and he competed in the 10-meter Individual. We talk about his Olympic experience, training and qualifying for the upcoming games, what this past year has been in prep for it, Olympic Trials and the importance of creative outlets.

ATHLEISURE MAG: It was a pleasure to see you a few weeks back during the KT Tape Virtual Press Day with you and a number of Olympians that are ambassadors for the brand. When did you realize that not only did you like swimming, but the moment that you realized that you wanted to be a diver.

STEELE JOHNSON: I spent a lot of my time in the summers as a kid in the neighborhood pool. This was at the age of 4, 5, 6 and every time, instead of swimming in the shallow end with my friends, I would always go into the deep end and just jump off the diving board. My mom and dad said it was just all day long and they couldn’t get me off of that diving board. Year after year, I just started teaching myself different flips like front flips and back flips. It got to a point where I was 7 years old and my mom was getting super nervous with the things that I was doing at the neighborhood pool. So she signed me up for some diving lessons just so that I could learn how to be safe with the sport and maybe to give me a sport to do in high school. Overall, it was to learn how to do it safe and if I liked it, I’d be able to keep doing it. The rest was kind of history! I enjoyed it, I stuck with it and I got really good at it from a young age. I just got seen by the right people in Indianapolis and started training in Indianapolis full time by the age of 10.

AM: Diving is a fun sport to watch at the Olympics and obviously, it looks like a very technical sport and you compete solo as well as in a team. Can you breakdown the event in terms of how you go about obtaining points and the fact that you’re doing it with someone else at the same time?

SJ: So, the way it’s scored, especially in Synchro than in Individual – in Individual you have 7 judges, they watch the dive, you get a score. The top 2 scores are dropped and the bottom 2 scores are dropped so that you of course get the middle average. It’s the same for Synchro except, each diver has 3 judges, the high and low are dropped and the middle score stays for each individual diver and then there are 5 Synchronized judges and they keep the middle 3 of those as well. So, it’s a little different score wise, but it’s ultimately the same thing of when you’re doing Synchro.

I mean across the board you pretty much see that everyone chooses one person who just counts – like 1, 2,3, go. Everyone has their own variation of it. For David and I, we just count 1, 2, 3, go and when we say go, we do our dive as normal and it’s in training that you learn the timing of each other, the way we walk down the board, the way we jump and stand and eventually, that stuff becomes second nature the more that you do it. So, it just takes a lot of repetition at home and since we’ve been doing Synchro for a long time, David and I have had the same coaches over the years, all our mechanics are similar all our foundations are similar so syncing up with David is especially easy just because we dive so similarly.

AM: That’s amazing and when you’re outside of the Olympics and doing Championships and other meets, is he always your Synchro partner or is it someone else and is that difficult if it is someone else?

SJ: Over the past few years, especially with 10-meter Synchro, I have competed with multiple different partners – all of who have been my teammates that I train with full time at home. So, it’s been easy for me because the people that I have done Synchro with, I have been able to train with them every day of the week! Whereas, some Synchro teams don’t live in the same city or the same state even and they can train together maybe once or twice a month for a few days. But now, when I compete with David, I only compete Synchro with David so all of our timing – we’re training together every single day.

AM: What are your favorite dives to do?

SJ: On 3-meter, I really enjoy the 3½ Tuck mostly because you start standing backwards on the end of the board so there’s no walk to the end of the board. It’s in that walk to the end of the board that we call the hurdle, that more things can go wrong. I like standing on the end and doing that 3½ and that’s my favorite dive on 10-meter as well. Being able to do it on 3m as well was just a bonus.

AM: We know that you and David are partners, but what are the things that you look for in a partner and what is your training like when you’re together?

SJ: I mean when looking for a partner, it’s typically that you look for and find 2 of the top divers that are in the US and you pair them up!

AM: Oh wow!

SJ: Luckily for David and I, we live in the same town and we have the same coach. Training for us was pretty simple. It was, “hey do you want to do Synchro? Let’s try it out.” We tried it out and if we’re good at it, we can start perfecting it and training more. It all starts with trying it out, trying a couple of jumps and dives – simple stuff to see if we even have a natural ability to time up. If we do, that’s great! Because a lot of times, you don’t have a natural ability to time up and you can work at that and make it better. Typically, you take a couple of the best divers in that event, pair them up and see if they work out.

AM: In 2016, you won the Silver Medal in the 10-meter Synchro at the Summer Games in Rio as well as participating in the 10-meter Individual. What was that like for you with that being your first Olympics, going to the Opening and Closing Ceremony games?

SJ: It was honestly one of the most coolest experiences! My goal when I realized that the Olympics could really be a reality for me, was to make the Olympics. So going to the Olympics, I was just ecstatic to be there. I was excited to go to the Opening Ceremonies, be able to compete and to represent Team USA. To be able to walk away with a medal in my first Olympics ever was just icing on the cake. It was something that I had always hoped for, but I wasn’t holding too tightly to because I didn’t want to walk away from my Olympic experience having my head down if I didn’t achieve what I had wanted to achieve. But rather, I wanted to walk away being excited that I had gotten an Olympic experience. So walking away with the medal, I was just beyond excited and so happy that I could share it with David because he and I have trained together for so long! When I was 10 years old, he actually drove me to and from practice because both of my parents worked. It was cool to actually have that relationship going into a Synchro pairing and going to a podium finish.

AM: We always like asking athletes about the workouts that you do to optimize yourself for your sport. What do you focus on for diving?

SJ: Yeah, the biggest things that I do is core workouts and leg workouts. That’s pretty much 90% of everything I do whether it’s in the weight room, at the pool in dry land. We do pretty intense core workouts because diving is all about having tight form, staying tight through the water so that you can have a small splash. So, all of that tightness starts at your core. If your core is not tight, your dive is not going to be tight and the dive is not going to be pretty. The legs – you just need to get as much out of the board as you can. The jump has to be as high as you can to generate as much force as you can and that comes from the legs. We don’t really do too much arms or upper body because if your upper body gets too big, it makes it harder to make a small splash going through the water. So it’s important to have healthy shoulders and to keep them stable – stable but not to work them too much where you’re building a lot of muscle mass.

AM: This time last year, it was up in the air on whether the Olympics would take place as scheduled or if it would be postponed, so it forced people to not even train in their normal places that they would do. What were the alternative exercises that you had to do to still be ready or at least to maintain what you needed to do?

SJ: We weren’t able to do normal practices because the sport of diving, you obviously need a pool and you need a springboard and platform – which in my small apartment, we don’t have! What I had to do was just a lot of core workouts on the floor. I had mats at home that we would lay out in our spare bedroom and I would do just as much core workouts as I could.

Just trying to keep it fresh and to make up variations. Luckily, we had a bench and some dumbbells, so I was able to do some light squatting stuff, but nothing near as much as being in an actual weight room with a squat rack and things like that. It’s tough to be out of the pool or not to be able to do all the diving specific stuff. Thankfully, our sport is so technical and core focused, there was still a lot that we could do out of the pool that would still benefit us. Thankfully, we were only out 3 months total out of the pool. That’s the longest break that I have ever had in a long time. In hindsight, that’s not too much time to miss. We were able to pick things up kind of right where we left off.

AM: Now that we’re a few weeks out from Tokyo, what does your schedule look like leading up to the Summer Games in terms of qualifying, Championships and other things that are going on?

SJ: We just have our Olympic Trials coming up in the 2nd week of June. So right now, I’m just training fulltime for that. I also work a fulltime job as a videographer for a foundation repair company in West Lafayette. So between the training and the work, I’m pretty busy all the time whether it being at the pool for 4 or 5 hours – doing my workouts, stretching, core and all those things or running off to the office to film videos or sitting in front of my computer for a few hours a day editing and things like that. I’m keeping pretty busy, but with all of that being said, it’s been nice to be able to work from home during this time so I feel like I can get rest and be off my seat when I need to be off my seat.

AM: With things reopening and vaccines being available as I know you just got your second shot, do you have a sense of what the Olympic experience will look like in terms of whether you have to quarantine prior, will you freely be able to move around the Olympic Village? What will that look at as this Olympic experience will be different than any other!

SJ: Right! I don’t know much of any details at the moment. Honestly, I’m not trying to focus too much on those details right now. My goal is to keep my head down, keep my eyes forward, train as hard as I can these next 4-5 weeks to prepare for the Olympic Trials and to just get through the Trials first and do the best that I can there to put myself on the Olympic team. Then, once I qualify for the Olympics, that’s when I will start to look at all these details and to see what this is going to look like!

AM: Looking at the Summer Games in Tokyo, what do you anticipate will be the events that you will participate in?

SJ: So at the Olympic Trials, I will be competing in the Mens 3-meter Individual and the Mens 3-meter Synchronized. Those are the only 2 that I will be doing. I’m hoping to qualify for both of those events and I’m feeling really strong for them at the moment.

AM: How do you decide in terms of Synchro and the Individual – the types of dives that you are going to do?

SJ: A lot of the dives once you get to the Olympic level are pretty standard for each event. In the Mens event, you have to do 6 dives total, 1 from every category – so you’ve got, a front facing dive, a backward, a reverse, an inward and on 3m you have to do 2 twisting dives. Whereas on 10m you do 1 twister and then a handstand dive. With each direction, there are tons of dives that you do, but each of them have a specific degree of difficulty. Once you get at the Olympic level, you pretty much have everyone do the same exact list because we’re all reaching that maximum degree of difficulty of dives that are humanly possible.

AM: What’s your routine like the day of an event – heading into competition. Do you have certain things that you just have to do – what’s that like?

SJ: A lot of it depends on what time the event is. I like to wake up early and getover to the pool and get into the water pretty early in the morning. I like to do maybe half of my competition list just maybe 1 of each of them – something quick. Just to wake up and get my body moving.

It doesn’t necessarily matter how those dives go in the warmup because ultimately, the competition matters. I’m using it as a way to wake my body up and get ready for flipping. Then, I like to get away from the pool, go out and get coffee/breakfast whatever and then come back to the pool for the event warmup and do the other half of my list and then touch basics for whatever I think that I need to work on right before the event. Then I just listen to music and get in the right headspace for the event and hope that I do well!

AM: As we mentioned earlier, we saw you at the KT Tape Virtual Press Day and we know that you are sponsored by the brand. Why did you feel that this was a synergy for you to be with them? Have you always used their products and how does it optimize your work that you do?

SJ: I have been a huge fan of KT Tape for a long time now. From as early on as I could remember. I even remember as far back as the 2012 Olympic Trials which were the first Olympic Trials that I competed in, I had a pretty major ab injury. At the time, the team doctors and the trainers were putting KT Tape on me and I realized that it was helping a lot and it helped me to get through the competition and to feel good enough to keep diving. Over the years as other injuries such as my shoulders and my triceps and back have popped up, my first line of defense has been my KT Tape because I’ve seen it work for me. Even at the 2016 Olympic Trials, I was competing with KT Tape on. In 2017, 2018 and 2019, I have been using KT Tape for 8-9 years now and I just love how useful it is and how helpful it has been for me. So when the opportunity came to partner with them, I jumped on that because it was a no brain er and something that I use whether they are sponsoring me or not. Being able to be supported by that company and to represent them was kind of a dream partnership for me.

AM: What are your favorite go-to KT Tape products?

SJ: Definitely the KT Tape Pro Extreme which is their Pro Tape, but it’s got much stickier adhesive so obviously being in and out of the water constantly, I need tape that is going to stick while I am doing flips in the air, I’m underwater, drying off, getting wet again and that stuff has just been so great for training and in competition. It’s knowing that I can do a full training session and it’s not going to fall off, just gives me the confidence knowing that I’m taped up and that I’m not going to have to worry about it the whole training session.

AM: In prep for talking with you, we saw via your social that you love to play music and that you’re into photography and videography. How important is that to you to have these creative outlets and what do you do when you’re not pool bound?

SJ: I think that having creative outlets even if you don’t classify yourself as a creative person, is vital for people! Me being a creative, I think that that is a pretty cliché thing to say. But there is just a lot of freedom of being able to sit down after a rough day of practice and to just sit down and play guitar and play base or to edit a video that I have been working on in the previous days – edit photos or to go out and take a film camera and to take pictures with my wife. It helps you separate the sport you’re doing or the main thing you’re doing which in my case is diving, it helps it separate from the rest of my life. I’m able to leave diving at the pool as much as I can when I have these creative outlets. I’m not just diving, diving, diving and then coming home and watching diving video, talking about diving and thinking about diving because then that gets exhausting and you’re subconsciously tiring yourself out. By having creative outlets and having hobbies that you can kind of be a little out.

By having creative outlets and having hobbies that you can kind of be a little mindless with, it helps me naturally relax and take my mind off of the stressors that diving can be sometimes is I have a bad day or week in the pool.

AM: Clearly you have a lot going on and I know you’re moving to Nashville with your wife soon. How excited are you to go to this city and what are you looking forward to?

SJ: We are super excited. We have family that lives just south of Nashville so we have been visiting the city many times every year for the past few years. My wife has been going there even before she and I met. We just love the city, we love the culture, we love the people and for me, I love the coffee scene. I’m a huge coffee snob so the coffeeshops there are unmatched! The food is great and it’s just a great environment. You know, I have been in Indiana for over 25 years now so it will be nice to have a change in scenery and a change of pace, but we’re just really excited to be close to family and close to friends and be in a new environment that we get to explore together. Just getting to learn what it’s like and to love the city and the surrounding.

IG @SteeleJohnson

PHOTOGRPAHY COURTESY | KT Tape

Read the May Issue #65 of Athleisure Mag and see In Sync with Steele Johnson in mag.

TO THE BEACH WITH APRIL ROSS

Back in 2016, we interviewed 2 X Team USA Beach Volleyball Olympic Medalist April Ross after her Bronze win at the Olympic Games in Rio. Flash forward to this month's cover, we caught up with April Ross to talk about indoor vs beach volleyball, the AVP Tour and the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo that are slated to take place next year. We also talk about April joining the KT Tape team and how she uses her social platform to inspire and motivate her followers to stay motivated in their health and fitness journey.

ATHLEISURE MAG: When was the moment that you realized that you wanted to transition from an indoor volleyball player to a beach volleyball player?

APRIL ROSS: There was no specific moment, it was kind of a process and I had kind of given up indoor and just fell out of love with it. My big thing is that I just want to be able to enjoy my journey always. I just wasn’t enjoying my indoor journey. My teammate from USC was playing on the beach and asked me to play in some qualifying events on the beach with her to just help her out. I went out there and we didn’t do very well and I wasn’t very good, but I just fell in love with the sport of beach volleyball. I stuck with it and played it for a while, struggled for a while and I finally broke through and started to have some success and then you know, I just kept riding that wave.

AM: In your opinion, what is the biggest difference between indoor vs. beach volleyball?

AR: There are two biggest differences for me – obviously the surface, it is so ridiculously hard to move and jump in the sand – that just creates a totally different challenge in beach volleyball than when you are playing indoor volleyball. The other big difference is that you touch the ball every single play. You are involved in every single play. You can go through an entire rally during indoor and not touch the ball once. On the sand, when you want a point, you have to touch the ball. I feel like there is a lot more accountability on each player in beach.

AM: Last summer, we attended the AVP NYC Open which was a lot of fun. Obviously, you and Alix Klineman won and typically, right now you would be in the thick of the AVP schedule. How have you been spending your time since you’re not doing that at the moment?

AR: Life looks a little different right now. I’m at home pretty much all day. I’m working on some home improvement stuff that I have never had time for. That’s actually really nice. I checked out a big amount of gym equipment from the USA Volleyball Gym and I cleaned out my garage which has been full of storage stuff for the last 10 years. I created a home gym and I am able to get my full lift in there which is about 2 and a half hours. I’m going to Home Depot today to get supplies to make a wooden squat rack. Because I do a little bit of woodworking too and I am getting back into the hobby now that I have some time to explore that so I thought putting my time into making a wooden squat rack would be great. I looked at some designs online that I want to try. Working out, visioning, I’m doing a lot reading and a lot of reflectioning as well as journaling. I’ve been doing a lot of Zoom calls. I mean, everyone is doing the Zoom calls.

AM: For sure. Obviously, with the Olympics being pushed back to next year, what does this next period look like for you especially in regards to training and getting prepared for that?

AR: That’s a constant discussion with my team. We’re trying to grasp onto something in the near future that we can train for and that’s proving hard to do obviously. So, we’re kind of waiting and seeing the government guidelines are when we can get back out on the beach. We want to take advantage of this time, but it’s really hard if we can’t get out on the sand. We can do so much off of the sand, but you have to be able to practice. We’re trying to see how we can have a training camp and if we can do it safely if there is a private court somewhere and we take the proper precautions, maybe in June at some point we can get on the sand and do 3 – 4 weeks of training camp. If there is still nothing on the schedule, maybe we can take a week off. I mean, it’s tough. I’ve never ever had to do anything like this.

AM: It’s a day-by-day thing.

AR: Right, it’s literally a day-by-day thing. It’s a constant brainstorm and getting creative and with each new piece of information, it changes so we’re trying to be really go with the flow!

AM: The weekend of May 22nd, I love that you have partnered with KT Tape to do an Instagram Live event where we can train like an Olympian, actually work out with you and get off of our butts to get a good workout in. Why is this so important for you to participate in this?

AR: I’m really excited for this KT Tape Instagram Live workout. Because I’m not playing and I can’t really interact with fans to encourage and motivate people through my competitions and stuff, I love doing this and engaging people and helping them while they’re at home. Maybe I am creating a little bit motivation or making it a little bit easier for people to have access and information on how to work out and to stay healthy during this time – as well as how to do it while you’re staying at home. I feel like I’m still of service in some way and I just really like to have some kind of positive influence on whoever decides to follow me on social media. I don’t want it to just be “look at me – look at what I’m doing.” I want to give back and I want to help people accomplish their goals and to stay healthy.

AM: You just joined KT Tape earlier this year. What is it about the brand that is such a great synergy with you and how you operate?

AR: I think KT Tape is essential to being an athlete, to staying healthy in general especially in this time. I don’t have a lot of access to physical therapy and therapists. That’s essential to my program and to staying healthy as I have these aches and pains. Because I have KT Tape, I’m able to use that to support my joints and my muscles. All of last season, it was huge as it was for qualifications. I strained my quad early on in the season and it was kind of a big factor and without being able to use KT Tape and tape it all summer, I think I would have been in so much more pain. I had to tape it through World Championships and all through our biggest tournament. Throughout my whole career, I have leaned on my ability to tape myself and literally keep myself together – so it’s a natural fit. As I get older, I need it more and more.

AM: What kinds of workouts will you be including for your Instagram Live with KT Tape?

AR: Well it’s going to be a shoulder stabilization and strengthening workout. I’m trying to think of things that maybe people have not hit so far and that there aren’t a lot of information on. I think that a lot of us are probably on the couch a good amount hunched over and we’re sitting on the computer a lot with Zoom calls. To try and rectify our posture a little bit, I’m going to touch on that stuff.

AM: Who have been 3 people that have inspired you in your career whether you know them personally, follow them online etc? We like asking our changemakers this question as it’s a key one for our podcast #TRIBEGOALS.

AR: Oh wow! People that have inspired me – I would say that one person who has really helped me get through this time is Glennon Doyle. I’m reading her book and she does little Instagram TV videos daily. I love following her. I have recently been inspired by Megan Rapinoe and how vocal she has been for everything, that is amazing. Then, Dr. Michael Gervais – he is a sports psychologist. I was on a panel for Victoria Garrick, she played at USC and is kind of a mental health advocate. She has me, another athlete and Dr. Gervais on to speak to her and her following. Just listening to him, he gave me a lot of ideas that I could be doing in this time to kind of just get my vision right, my mission, my life philosophies etc. so that when we get out of this, I’m all in alignment – spiritually. He’s definitely someone that has influenced me as well.

IG @AprilRossBeach

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | PG 16 - 21 + 29 Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire | PG 22 - 27 + 30 KT Tape - Editorial Design by Athleisure Mag |

Hear 2 X Team USA Olympic Beach Volleyball Medalist, April Ross on our show, #TRIBEGOALS - which is a part of Athleisure Studio, our multi-media podcast network! Make sure to subscribe to find out when the episode drops. You can hear it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Google Podcasts and wherever you enjoy listening to your favorite podcast.

Read the May issue of Athleisure Mag and see To the Beach with April Ross in mag.