#YearOfYou with Austin White: Shredding Slopes to a Career in Sport

At viaSport, we’re passionate about capturing authentic, diverse, and influential stories from all in the BC sport community. The following story is a part of our #YearOfYou series, which focuses on telling stories from individuals from varying experience levels and walks of life.

Sport is for everyone: getting involved in sport not only improves long-term health, but shapes well-rounded, resilient individuals. Participating can help you build meaningful friendships, find community, and positively shape the course of your life on and off the field. Learn more about #YearOfYou and how to start your own journey in sport here.

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As 11-year-old Austin White stood at the finish line of his first competitive Snowboard Cross race, he was stunned at his unexpected victory.

The race, which took place in Red Mountain, BC, marked the beginning of his competitive snowboarding journey. Though Austin experimented with multiple sports as a child, he quickly took to the atmosphere, community and energy of his winter sport. “To be honest, it could have been soccer, or track and field, or tennis, or any other sport,” says Austin. “But it’s the competition that I love and the opportunity that sport provides to go do fun activities with your friends.”

As Austin continued on, he continued training, competing, and expanding his horizons. Even when he was a full-time university student, he still managed to balance his course load with training, travelling, and competing for Snowboard Cross and as a varsity cross country runner for his school. “Being able to balance these opposing physical workloads while repeatedly receiving Academic All-Canadian status during my time studying is something I’ll forever be proud of,” recalls Austin.

Now, Austin works as a Coordinator at Canada Snowboard. He’s passionate about helping others access sport opportunities: an aim of his work is to provide accessible training and development opportunities for snowboarders across the country.

“Sport is for everyone. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never put on a pair of running shoes or if you can’t walk on a beam – everyone starts somewhere. So, don’t let intimidation of fear of the learning curve get in your way, because I guarantee every single person who is currently excelling at sport has fallen down in front of others before,” says Austin. “It’s about the attitude you have towards it that makes it fun and allows you to get up and try again. There are a lot of amazing communities and people to meet, so don’t let anything stop you.”