As snowboarding goes, Chloe Kim is on a whole different level. Make that a different stratosphere. That’s what two Olympic gold medals in the halfpipe – still snowboarding’s most visible mainstream event – will do for you. She’s made the talk show rounds from Ellen to Jimmy Fallon to James Corden. Sponsors have come from everywhere. Magazine covers galore. And she’s only 22.
Kim recently took another step up the mainstream ladder when she sat down with Prince Harry. The ex-royal looks as though he’s enjoying his time away from London. Harry took a job with the mental health coaching startup, BetterUp. The platform offers a variety of coaching avenues, mental health included.
With nary a hint of irony, the Prince calls Kim “the Queen of Snowboarding” before getting into her approach in the pipe. Yes, ahem, it’s an advertorial, but it digs into one interesting aspect of her preparation. She references “a coach” that helps her mental approach to riding icy vertical walls on the regular. “I have such high standards for myself — I beat myself up,” she said. “So really, my coach is always just reminding me: calm down, it’s good, there’s always tomorrow, but also acknowledge the progress that you have made today.”
Kim has reportedly worked closely with Rick Bower but it isn’t clear if that’s the coach she references in the interview. Whatever that mystery “coach” is doing for Kim, it has obviously worked. The mental game is surely the most important game.
