5 questions for Sask. snowboarder Mark McMorris
Champion snowboarder talks about the importance of sports before fundraising gala
Mark McMorris is giving back to the community.
McMorris, along with his brother Craig, are behind the McMorris and McMorris Gala, a concert-based event being held Tuesday night at Regina's Conexus Arts Centre.
The event supports Jumpstart, a charity that helps needy children in Saskatchewan get involved in sports.
Before the event takes place tonight, CBC sat down and talked with McMorris about his career, why he thinks it's important for kids to get into sports and travelling around the world.
Tell us about tonight's gala.
It's going to be an absolute blast. We have a pretty solid lineup of music. Come dance the night away, get some money raised for these kids who don't necessarily to have the backing to play the sports they want.
As a kid who had an opportunity to grow up playing every sport under the sun, I feel like it made me the person I am, so if everyone can have the financial backing to play the sports they want, they can learn the right life lessons and achieve what they want.
We know you as a snowboarder, but when you say you played every game under the sun, how active were you as a kid?
Very active. I was playing hockey all the time. Lacrosse, football, basketball, baseball. You name it, I was playing it. Obviously, it got down to a point where I had to make the choice between hockey and snowboarding, and snowboarding was more appealing to me.
We know how successful you've been as a snowboarder, but for kids who are reading this, tell them what kinds of opportunities snowboarding has created for you.
Snowboarding has done more for me than I could ever imagine.
I've been around the world a bunch of times. It took me to the Olympics. It took me to X Games, medals, it has put me in some crazy situations where I literally make my living off snowboarding, and have for five or six years. It doesn't really sink in until you think about it.
It's crazy that snowboarding has given me this unbelievable life and fame.
What is one of the cooler things you've done lately? I know that you have a movie coming out called In Motion that features you snowboarding in the back country.
I think when I took that movie on a movie premiere, I went from Vancouver and I did Toronto, and I did Montreal and New York, Park City, Newport Beach, Denver, Beijing. And to go there and have fans everywhere is just insane. You don't think 600 people would show up when you tweet it out the day before. And sure enough, they're all there, and they're really appreciative of what you do.
That is so motivating to me to have fans that are so appreciative of the film. That just makes me want to work harder and do better things.
What's in the movie? What do you do?
It's based on one year, post-Olympics. competing, filming in the back country, searching a little bit for the soul of snowboarding, and going to some real terrain in Northern B.C. near Alaska to try and score the best snow we could.
But also, tell the story of my competitions, and what I really do in a full season.