“He Would Step Up To The Ball…”- Shaun White Once Revealed The Exceptional Strategy He Learnt From Tiger Woods

Shaun White has become a source of inspiration for many around the world. Though this wasn’t always the case. Certainly not when he first stepped on a skate or a snowboard.

Every champion athlete has had a source of inspiration to draw from. The saying “champions are not born, but raised” stands true indeed.

Shaun White talks about being inspired by Tiger Woods

Whilst skateboarding legend Tony Hawk may be his biggest inspiration, White has always tried to draw inspiration from many athletes. One such source of inspiration for the snowboarder is legendary golfer Tiger Woods.

Shaun once talked about how Woods inspired him during an interview. In a podcast, ‘The Ed Mylett Show’, Shaun White was featured as a guest in an episode. Talking about ‘how to reach your ultimate goal’, he spoke about the incident.

“I’ve watched people go up there and over-practice,” said White as he talked about Tiger Woods, “and it’s something that I’ve noticed Tiger Woods does, in a way,” White told Ed that he had once watched a video wherein Tiger talked about his mentality during a match.

“He would step up to the ball, look at the ball, look at where he’s going to hit it, look at the ball again and just hit it.” If the routine didn’t work, Tiger would just go back and restart the whole process. This served the message of ‘one can overthink it and overdo it.

Shaun took this as an inspiration and started adopting a similar approach. He would go out to warm up for 30mins and come back to get ready for the “real thing”. While many others would still be practicing and tiring themselves out, Shaun would get enough warm-up to keep his body functioning at an optimum level.

The world served as a witness to the greatness that White achieved in his glorious career owing a lot to this simple approach.

Read More: ‘He’s Been Through It All’- Shaun White Praises Michael Phelps for Being a Mental Health Inspiration

Tony Hawk’s influence on White’s life

Tony Hawk served as the primary inspiration for Shaun White. The two first met by sheer luck in a skating park when Shaun was just nine. The Olympic gold medalist has shown great admiration for the legendary skateboarder whenever he has had the chance.

Tony’s lifestyle and the balance between his work and personal life had a heavy influence on White. The way he would divide his time between fans and family without any change in his personality inspired Shaun. It didn’t matter to Tony if he had a success or a failure, he would always remain the same guy, and that’s what Shaun White always wanted to be like.

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