Growing up in New England, skiing and snowboarding are two winter activities that I grew up with. We used to travel to Rangeley, Maine every December with my whole family (grandparents, too!) and spend a full week enjoying the beauty and wonder of Saddleback Mountain. With my 2 older brothers and younger sister… we would be gone skiing and snowboarding for HOURS each day. It was the BEST vacation ever!

I never, ever was THAT good… but I’ll tell you what, it’s amazingly fun!

I love following New England athletes… especially when they get to a true elite level status like American Snowboarder Seth Wescott. I’ll tell you what, snowboarding is so hard to perfect, so I literally bow down to Seth because he’s just phenomenal at it! It’s truly amazing!

Seth is a two-time Olympic champion in the snowboard cross and he will be looking to go for #3 at the Sochi Games!

I recently had the chance to interview Seth, who will be partnering with Vicks during the Sochi Games, and ask him some questions about competing and being a New England boy! 🙂

• How do you train year round?
If I’m healthy, other than lots of time spent snowboarding and working out in the gym, I do other activities and other sports that I love to do. I’m big on cross training. I love to whitewater kayak, SUP, mountain bike, being outside in nature is the most beneficial for me.

• Why was it important for you to partner with Vicks?
The feeling of family that exists at P&G is what drew me to the partnership. My parents were college professors, and when I came to them and said that I wanted to drop out of college and snowboard, they supported me- they knew this was a path I had to follow. They were always so supportive of me and I will forever be thankful to them for that, so to have the help of P&G standing behind my family is huge, to have someone come to you specifically to help get to your Olympic dream, it has been a life altering experience for him.

• As a fellow New Englander, how did you love growing up and learning to snowboard?
I grew up in a very small town. The biggest town I’ve ever lived in was 4,000. Now I live in a town of 700, but until I was eight I lived in a town of 300-400 people. I lived on China lake in Maine, and my parents encouraged me to be active every day and go outside. My parents were totally comfortable with me being outside and being adventurous. I learned from them and my experience snowboarding in Maine that it’s ok to risk a typical path in life to go after your dreams. This gave me a sense of freedom. In rural Maine snowboarding wasn’t around much, so to see it gain traction in the 80s and instantly fall in love with it and have access to it, and have people that supported my path was incredible. I grew up snowboarding with people that were nationally and internationally known in the sport, so to have role models around me was amazing- I couldn’t have grown up in a better place and it helped me form my dreams.

Thanks to much, Seth!

And truly, how amazing is P&G!!??

I can’t wait for the Sochi Games!!!!

Check out what other P&G Thank You Mom athletes are doing with the campaign as well: RaisingAnOlympianFilms.com