Passion and dedication propelled Lucas to the pinnacle of snowboarding at the age of 22.
Hailing from Telluride, Colorado, a well-known mountain town community, it makes perfect sense that Lucas Foster can recall being on skis as a toddler and a snowboard by age 8. Little did he know at the time, but he would go on to compete in some of the world’s top competitions, including the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Lucas described himself as passionate when it came to his hobbies growing up—a dreamer who was totally obsessed. He left no slope in Telluride unridden. Eventually, that passion would drive him to get creative when it came to training. Once his interest and skill began to blossom for halfpipe, an apparatus not available to him in Telluride, he traveled to other mountain resorts to train. In highschool, he even made the switch to online schooling in pursuit of his passion. Leaving traditional school behind allowed him to travel and train even more. It’s wild (and impressive) to think that an Olympic halfpipe snowboarder didn’t even have access to a halfpipe in his formative training years.
His passion for another sport, skateboarding, is still a big part of his life today. As an adolescent who didn’t always feel like he fit in among his peers or in group sports, skateboarding (along with snowboarding) became a crucial part of building and maintaining his self-esteem. So much so that he now mentors kids in town and is a favorite coach among the children at the local skate camp.
Lucas learned at a young age that this trajectory towards becoming a professional athlete would require more than just passion for the sport. He would also need to take care of his mind and body. With the help of pro snowboarder turned holistic health practitioner, Jason Kannon, Lucas learned about the connection between his body and mind and how that affected his snowboarding. He credits Kannon’s holistic health training for helping him get to where he is today and the two still work together regularly.
"Nutrition is everything. Treating your body like a temple is the best thing you can do if you want to get the most out of it. When your body feels great your mind ultimately feels great, and that's everything when it comes to action sports."
Keep up with Lucas over on Instagram as he enters into the 2022-23 season with the US Snowboard Team.