“I’ve always been an ambassador for the sport,” he admitted. “But it’s such a new sport, we don’t have the jerseys hanging from the rafters yet. I feel like I’m moving into the role of that within the sport. Even with the other riders where we were competitors, we were gunning for the same thing. And now being in the same zone with them and not being on the hunt for medals, I can really kind of connect with people and competitors in the sport in a new way.”
But on whether there are any moments of doubt about his exit from the professional side of snowboarding, Shaun is just looking forward to carving his new path.
“There hasn’t been that knee jerk like, ‘I have to be back,'” he confessed. “I’m just thankful to be in this headspace where I’m at in my life and career, because I feel like I’ve been able to do a lot of work on myself. And it’s really helped me kind of step into this new chapter with a bit of grace. It’s been something that has been on my mind for some time, but you never really think about it until you’re crossing that bridge and go, ‘Oh wow, this is that moment this is so surreal.'”
As the Olympian put it: “To be where I’m at today and just being happy and being content with certain things, it’s been such an amazing feeling.”
