Representing as the first Irish athlete to compete in freestyle skiing, Brendan Newby is headed for Pyeongchang.
Born in Ireland but raised in Utah, Brendan Newby, also known as ‘Bubba’ is competing in Freestyle for the half-pipe. In an interview he did with the Irish Examiner he said,“Half-pipe is absolutely terrifying, I hated it growing up because it’s so scary. As I got older I started liking it better and now I actually like being scared!”
Half-pipe skiing is quite dangerous. As Brendan describes it to Off The Ball, “Imagine a skate ramp made out of snow and you go downhill and you go up the walls and do tricks, flips and spins, forwards, backwards, spinning both directions and you get five or six tricks and whoever does the best overall impression gets the highest score.”
One of Brendan’s best moves is a “Double Cork 900.” A few years ago, Brenden made a promo video displaying many of the amazing tricks that he can do.
Brendan said in the Irish Examinar interview, “It’s weird in half-pipe, half-pipe has only been an event since 2014 and growing up I was always ‘I’m a skier, I’m a half-pipe skier’ — that’s not going to lead to the Olympics because it’s not an event and ever since it became an event, I was pretty fired-up to try it and the reason I switched to skiing for Ireland is because growing up in Park City (Utah), you’ve got Winter Olympians and Olympians everywhere. You’ve got role-models to see on the hill and Ireland doesn’t really have that. Newby loves what he does. He gets a lot of adrenaline out of it, but he does it more than just because it is fun. He does it for the sport and for getting better.
He trains in Utah but goes to New Hampshire to work on refurbishing cars to help pay for his sport.
When Brendan isn’t competing in the Olympics, he teaches skiing at a resort in Park City, Utah, and spends time with his beloved dog, Koda.