Homeschooling Heroes: Shaun White

by Christina Yeager

​Shaun White is an American snowboarder and skateboarder with an on-field name “Flying Tomato.” He has won three Olympic gold medals, several Winter and Summer X games awards. In 2018, Shaun White became the first snowboarder to win three Olympic Gold Medals.  

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Homeschooling allowed Shaun White to pursue Olympic gold.

Shaun was born in 1986 San Diego, California. He started skateboarding after being inspired by his older brother. Shaun developed his interest in snowboarding too at the age of six and ended up performing on top in the 2006 and 2010 Winter Games. Unfortunately, he got a fourth place in the halfpipe championship in 2014.

Homeschooling 
At the age of six, Shaun developed his passion for snowboarding and had sponsorship in place at the age of seven. To peruse his dream to be athletic, he started practicing 10 hours a day. For this, White had to go for an independent school program in Southern California.

Shaun White focused on his snowboarding practice and championships in the winters and homeschooled during the off-season.

Shaun’s parents always supported him in every decision he made. They helped him peruse his career, catch up on school during the off-season, and take part in several snowboarding championships. Even now, Shaun’s parents are always traveling with him worldwide.

Accomplishments
Shaun White has a huge list of athletic achievements – obviously winning three Olympic medals isn’t a child play. Some of his athletic achievements:

• He was the first of his age to win a medal in both Winter X and Summer Games.
• Shaun White is the first ever snowboarder to land efficiently on the double corks at the Red Bull superpipe.
• He also succeeded to land a Cab 7 Melon Grab in skateboarding.
• He has a record of winning consecutive medals in the Winter X Games.
• He is also the first ever skateboarder to win 4 consecutive gold medals in the Winter X Superpipe.   
• Shaun White scored 97.75 on his last run at the Olympics 2018 – which is the highest score in men’s halfpipe.

Media 
Though he had always been busy in his athletic life, here are some media appearances of Shaun White:

• Shaun gave first ever interview was published in TransWorld SNOWboarding Magazine in 2003.
• White was also starred as a snowboarding teacher in the famous E! Reality Show “The Girl Next Door”.
• The film “Don’t Look Down” also depicts his journey from start to be an Olympic star.
• He also appeared in the “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” as a guest on March 2, 2010. He explained how his parents are proud of his success and his mother got his first Olympic medal dry cleaned.   

Currently
What is Shaun doing now? Shaun is still on his way to winning more gold medals at Olympics and other skateboarding or snowboarding campiness. He’s had multiple sponsors and partners throughout his career i.e. Target, HP, Mountain Dew, and T-Mobile.

Shaun White shows no signs of slowing down any time soon!  
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