Hyperextended Snowboarder – Louie Vito Juggles Snowboarding and DWTS

For many athletes, competing in the Olympics is a dream come true.  They have trained hard all their lives with a single-minded focus on reaching this elite level to compete with the best in the world on the international stage. Certainly, in this fall season leading up to the Vancouver Olympic Games this February, skiers, skaters, hockey players, and bobsledders are resolute in honing their skills, peaking their conditioning, and dialing-in strategies. For them, it’s all or nothing.

But there is always an exception to every rule. Enter Louie Vito, a world-class snowboard half-piper who is preparing for the U.S. Olympic Team qualifiers in his own multi-tasking style.  While fellow boarders and skiers are hitting the slopes, training at high performance centers, and following strict diets, the gregarious 21-year old hears a different drummer’s beat.

During the next few months, the fun-loving Vito will be attempting to juggle his snowboard training with dancing practices. His contract with this fall’s Dancing With The Stars television show calls for him to be available through November—contingent on him progressing week after week with his partner, Chelsie Hightower of  “So You Think You Can Dance” fame.

And he could very well follow in the footsteps of a fellow Winter Olympic predecessor, short track speedskater, Apolo Anton Ohno.  He landed atop this dance podium in 2007—soon after his three-medal performance at the Turin 2006 Olympics, and well before his current, focused preparations for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games.

Vito has come a long way from his Midwest roots where he was raised in Bellefontaine, Ohio. After moving to Vermont to attend the unique Stratton Mountain School that caters to boarders, his snowboarding talents have skyrocketed. He has steadily improved in the halfpipe—excelling in X-Games events and shredding his way to U.S. Grand Prix Halfpipe titles in 2008 and 2009. 

To further hone his skills for this Olympic season, he arranged to squeeze in some training and competition in New Zealand last month with bad boy buddy, Danny Kass—a two-time Olympic silver medalist.  But due to his contract with DWTS, which required him to begin practicing in late August, he had to skip the prestigious World Cup 2009 Halfpipe opener in Cardrona, New Zealand against many of the world’s best. 

Instead, while trekking through the South Island in a tricked-out party van in early August, they carved out some new tricks in snowboard parks and in the back country.  However, these snowboarding plans were sidetracked when they got arrested for pot possession, a most definite unwelcome distraction that fortunately was under-reported by the American press. 

Going Overboard ?

Even for this energetic multi-tasker, this unique combination of dancing and boarding goals is most definitely a stretch. The mastering of salsa and rumba routines, for example, is a huge challenge for him.  “She is teaching me not to do the wrong steps and trip over her feet,” he said at a press conference hosted by the U.S. Olympic Committee this month.

Recently, he’s been practicing six hours a day and this diversion is helpful for cross-training (a regimen typically reserved for the off-season).  “It allows me to focus on something else,” he said.

But time spent on the hardwood floor is time not spent on training and conditioning on the slopes, where many of his competitors can likely be found.  In justifying these circumstances he said, “I still go to the gym every once in a while when I get the time.”

Now, while in Los Angeles, he lives the life of a rock star hitting posh restaurants, public appearances, press conferences… as paparazzi trail him.

At this point his life seems like a never-ending halfpipe contest where he careens from the dancing side to the snowboarding side – all the while trying to keep his balance and impress those judging him.