Amy Purdyhas a seriously impressive resume.
The sport made its Paralympics debut in the 2014 Sochi Games.
On top of that, Purdy is an accomplished athlete herself.
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Like we said, her resume is extensive.
Yet these accomplishments, in particular the athletic ones, didnt come easily.
These mountaintop sessions included time spent testing different equipment, practicing different carving drills, and finessing her techniques.
Purdy at a recent Girls on the Run event
All of those things transfer over to how we compete in our sport.
Sometimes its hard to call it training when youre just out there free riding.
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Her main priorities: building total-body strength and improving her balance, two skills critical to the sport.
Purdy says she used to jump into high-intensity exercise classes and give it everything she had.
But obviously I ended up with a severe injury because of that.
Now, she spends less time in the gym and more time listening to her body.
I dont have to totally deplete myself to get a good workout in, says Purdy.
She also limits her time on the slopes.
Our legs can take quite a beating from snowboarding six hours a day.
Yet, surprisingly, that didnt hinder her performance on the slopes.
In fact, in Pyeongchang, I rode my best, she says.
For Paralympic snowboarding, its still quite a small sport so were not used to a lot of spectators.
Were not used to cameras in our face.
The pressure can suddenly get really intense.
To ground herself during these moments, Purdy employs a technique that she recently learned from a sports psychologist.
This visualization helps Purdy mentally remove herself from a high-stress situation.
From there, shes able to calmly tackle the task at hand.
She walked away with a silver medal in the snowboard cross, and a bronze in the banked slalom.
Beyond that, Purdy wants to empower today’s youth through athletics.
