Bubba Newby, Ireland’s newest sporting hero from Pyeongchang, has made immense sacrifices to get to the peak of his sport – but he wouldn’t change it for the world. Bubba joined Ger and Eoin on OTB AM to discuss freestyle skiing, his experience in Korea and the rough and tumble of a sport fraught with danger.
Bubba’s appetite for Olympic competition was whet when his father took him to see events in Salt Lake City in 2002, in his home state of Utah – a place that he calls a ‘Mecca’ for skiing.
“The Olympic spirit in Utah is alive and well still. All the venues are used as training venues for athletes currently, so it’s great. Utah is crazy, you can throw a snowball with your eyes closed with your left hand and hit an Olympian – they’re everywhere! It just makes you see that it’s a real, tangible thing.
Bubba talked us through the differences between the different events and how freestyle allows him to express himself.
“In aerials and moguls, they actually have a degree of difficulty – there is a certain maximum score that you can get if you do that and you are trying to do the trick exactly how they say in the textbook. In my sport, you can do whatever you want – it truly is ‘free style’ – you can do whatever you want. You don’t have to tell the judges what you are going to do, you don’t have to tell anyone what you are going to do. If you mess up on one trick, you can adjust your run halfway through.
“I love being creative and I love doing tricks that don’t really make sense physics-wise. I have one trick where I go upside down spinning left, but then halfway through I’ll start spinning right and you can just do whatever want – that really speaks to me that way.”
Bubba will not let his coach give him the standings of the event during the skiing itself, in case of distraction. And while he does not consider himself a veteran of the sport yet, he would like to reduce the physical impact that skiing has caused, in a year when he has received several concussions.
“I’ve had some pretty gnarly crashes - I’m not too hyped on that aspect. It’s definitely a huge mental game. I started working with a sports psychologist this year... [because] you have to get past that stuff in your brain. If you’re thinking crashes, then you’re going to crash.”
Bubba let us know the extent of the sacrifices in finances and time he has made over the years to make it to the very top level. But he would not change anything for the experience that he has had in Pyeongchang.
“I have two jobs – I work in a ski shop and as a ski coach – so that is how I fund what I do. I’ll train all day then I’ll go straight to my job, and straight to my next job. I go home and sleep, and then I come back and do it again.
“I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love it. No one is making ski pipe – I love what I do. It’s all worth it. This Olympics especially has made me realise that every sacrifice has been worth it. Every crash. Every day that I didn’t go out with my friends at night because I had to leave the next morning. It’s all worth it.”
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