HELLO EVERYBODY, MY NAME IS LIA-MARA BÖSCH.

I’m a snowboarder from Switzerland. I live on a farm called Elfenhof, in Alikon, a village in the canton of Aargau. I grew up there with four sisters and one brother.

What triggered your passion for snowboarding?

At the age of 17 I decided to go to the sports school in Engelberg with ambitions of becoming a professional snowboarder. I made this decision because I knew that it was my last chance to become a full-time athlete. I wanted to know how good I could become compared to other snowboarders from all over the world. I favour a life rich of intense emotions, happiness and sadness, success and defeat. This is the life I am living now.

What is it about snowboarding that you love so much?

I love the style and creativity of snowboarding. I love the beauty and aesthetics. I love the freedom and danger of the sport and last but not least, I really love to get better at what I do.

What’s your secret for being such a young and successful rider?

I think I’m successful at snowboarding because I am skilled at controlling my body and my fear. This makes me learn new tricks very fast. I also think that believing in myself carried me to where I am now. But the absolute secret of my snowboarding success is the support of my parents and of the people surrounding me. Love you guys!

You got injured a lot before this year. What happened and what did you learn?

Yeah, I had a lot of concussions last year. So I wasn’t able to join competitions and learn new tricks over big kickers for seven months in the 2013/14 season. That was a hard time for me but I learned very essential things during the time I was injured. I had to learn to be patient with myself and to trust my self-healing. I had to learn to work on the basics before working on hard tricks. I learned to reach my goal through many small steps and not just with one big step. I think the time I was injured was the time when I realized the real meaning of snowboarding. A time for maturing. I probably needed to get injured in order to learn all these things.

Now you are becoming a pro rider who has fans and is getting famous. How does it feel?

Really good, having and getting fans is a very nice and positive feeling. It makes me feel proud of myself and self-reliant.

Do you have other interests? Passions? Hobbies?
My hobby is skateboarding. This sport is also a passion but it isn’t a problem for me to leave my skateboard at home during the winter and focus only on snowboarding. I spend all my weekends with my boyfriend and my family. Being surrounded by people I love is what matters most to me, aside from snowboarding.

Does this other passion hinder or help you improve your snowboarding skills?

Skateboarding helps me to improve snowboarding, because it is also a boardsport. But having people around you who believe in you and love you is much more important, because they will support you even when you are injured, when you are defeated, and when you stop your career as a snowboarder. This helps you improve and excel in everything you do.

Message to your fans?

Thanks for reading this interview and thanks for your interest in snowboarding. You are helping to make everything possible in this sport. See you on the snow!

Reverse Magazine/Nicole Antognini