Plumbing. Coaching. How USA snowboarder made it to Winter Olympics

• Maddy Schaffrick, 31, has returned to professional snowboarding after a decade-long hiatus that included coaching and plumbing.
• She is now teammates with several athletes she previously coached, including Chloe Kim and Maddie Mastro.
• Schaffrick overcame numerous injuries and a period of burnout to make the U.S. Ski and Snowboard team.
• Her teammates and coaches praise her positive energy and inspiring comeback story.

LIVIGNO, Italy – Maddy Schaffrick asked to pause the interview. Not for any selfish reason. Quite the opposite, actually.

She was trying something. The 31-year-old wanted to be present and watch teammate Chase Josey execute his run in the men’s halfpipe finals of the 2026 Aspen Grand Prix in January. Maybe it was the former coach in her, too, that was keen on keeping a watchful eye on Josey as he flipped and turned around the U-ditch.  

“Let’s go! Yeah dude!” Schaffrick yelled, eventually hugging Josey at the bottom of the run once he was done. “So sick! Oh yeah!”

Schaffrick turned around.   

“Where were we?”

Great question. It’s one Schaffrick has asked herself over the past decade or so, but in the present tense. Where am I? And the answer could have been anywhere from the operating table – countless knee surgeries – to a plumbing job – the career she temporarily turned to after snowboarding didn’t love her back, and she grew to hate it – to the top of a halfpipe, where she fell back in love with the sport as a coach. She was part of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard staff for the 2022 Winter Games in China.

And four years later, Schaffrick is on that very team, alongside two riders she coached – Chloe Kim and Maddie Mastro – and the up-and-coming Bea Kim.

“I feel like Maddy is the vibes on our team,” Chloe Kim said. “She always has the biggest smile on her face, such good energy, so positive, and I think that’s so special to have. So, I’m really grateful that she’s here with us because she always brightens our day.”

Kim and Schaffrick were teammates when Kim first arrived on the pro team. For her, it’s even more exciting to have Schaffrick by her side.

“And now we’re here,” Kim said from a dais ahead of the women’s halfpipe qualification (Wednesday Feb. 11, 4:30 a.m. ET). 

“It’s been really fun to compete with Maddy and have her as a teammate,” Mastro said. “I feel like it’s built our relationship to a fun, new friendship level, which has been great. And I look forward to building it more.”

Mastro added: “You’ve been fun to hang out with.”

“Back at you,” Schaffrick shot back.

‘A totally new person’

Schaffrick, 31, competed in her first World Cup more than 15 years ago. For somebody who has been in the snowboarding world for so long, there is an element of freshness in everything she’s done.

“In some ways, I’m in the same place,” said Mastro, who has battled deep depression and even had suicidal thoughts. “But I feel like a totally new person. This does feel new. And I’m approaching things so much differently than I used to.”

Bea Kim, a member of a legitimately different generation than Schaffrick, is often left speechless by her teammate and former coach.  

“I’m blown away … not only just (to) come back, but to be able to put down runs to be on the U.S. team, to make the Olympic team, to make finals, to be on podiums has – I’m very inspired by just watching her do that and I think it just shows how capable women are of everything that they’re doing,” Kim told USA TODAY Sports. “Age is just a number.

“Not that she’s old or anything like that.”

At times, Schaffrick wishes the coaching part of herself influenced her riding more.

“Honestly, it’s sometimes hard because I’ll watch my videos or get real analytical with my own riding,” she said, “and it just makes me frustrated because it’s so much easier said than done. And I’m like ‘Why don’t I just ride through the lip? Why am I going early? Gah!’ 

“So I’ve had to kind of learn to turn off the coach side and be compassionate with myself and have some fun. But also, yeah, click in when I need to. It’s funny. That coach side hasn’t helped at all.”

Schaffrick would not describe herself as coachable in her youth.

“For real,” she said. “I was the worst.”

U.S. Snowboard director Rick Bower was her pro coach from ages 16 to 20, the peak burnout and disappointing years of Schaffrick’s life, “during my glory days of being a little (expletive).”

“In many ways, making this team is even harder than the Olympics themselves,” Bower said in a statement announcing the team. “The depth of our field is incredible and selection truly came down to the wire. These athletes pushed each other all season and every spot was earned.”

Being present for family – and self

At that Aspen Grand Prix, where she took second to essentially lock up her spot in Italy, Schaffrick had many of her cousins in attendance. As an only child, her cousins are like her siblings. They hadn’t seen her compete in nearly a decade and a half.

She spoke with her sports psychologist about the pressure that came with that. They talked about wanting to do well in front of them.

“What you can lean into is wanting to show them what you do well,” the therapist said.

“It was about me really leaning into ‘OK, what do I feel like I do well?’” Schaffrick said.

That would be going big. Looking smooth. Trying to add style.

“When I am leaning into that aspect of my snowboarding, it’s so much fun. I have a lot of fun. Opposed to just forcing things,” she said.

The contingent brought the energy for her to unlock that.

Schaffrick dislocated her shoulder during her second finals run at the Copper Mountain Grand Prix in December. The next event was in Aspen and the first day of practice consisted of her “faking it until I made it,” she said.  

“That instability or pain, awareness of my brace restricting me, that really held me back,” Schaffrick admitted in Italy. “When I dropped into the rest of my body and felt that confidence, it didn’t hold me back.”

“I feel like what’s helped me here is going to help me there,” she said in Aspen. “It’s just about being present.”

And what a gift that is for Schaffrick. 

Additional reporting for this story took place in Aspen, Colorado.