February 17, 2026 • 37 mins
Olympian Boone Niederhofer joins Ben Higgins in Italy for an inside look at the Olympic journey—from walking on at Texas A&M to racing for Team USA in bobsled. Boone opens up about the pressure of team selection, balancing family life and engineering work, and the deep motivations driving him beyond medals. Hear stories of sacrifice, faith, and the pursuit of excellence, plus candid moments about parenting, doubt, and gratitude in the Olympic Village. Dive into the mindset and heart behind one of Team USA’s newest Olympians, and learn how Boone’s roots and beliefs shape his approach to competition and life.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Bobsledding Origins and Entry
00:01:03 Olympic Setting and Opening Ceremonies
00:02:22 Leading Team USA in Ceremonies
00:04:13 Bobsled Team Selection Process
00:06:57 Dealing With Selection Uncertainty
00:08:29 Walking On at Texas A&M
00:10:46 Balancing Football and Engineering
00:12:30 From Engineering to Bobsledding
00:14:44 Boone’s Faith Journey
00:16:32 Overcoming Setbacks and Growth
00:18:08 Family Support in Olympics
00:19:01 Faith in Olympic Environment
00:21:25 Daily Life in Olympic Village
00:22:29 Keeping Faith Rhythms
00:24:15 Motivation, Sacrifice, and Family
00:30:34 Lessons Learned About Self
00:34:41 Thanking God on the Podium
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And I also think it would be fun to do
this other thing professionally, which is Bob's ledding. How does
this even come about?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Everybody has their random How did you get into Bob
said story? Most every Bob Setter is sub form of
transfer athlete.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
I'm sure there is an excitement and a surrealness and
a graduate. You're an Olympia. I mean, was there ever
a doubt in your mind if you'd be chosen or not.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
There's got to be a time here in a few
weeks where my sporting career could potentially be over.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Welcome to if you can hear me, a space where
culture meets the soul. I'm Ben Higgins. You may know
me from The Bachelor, and you may know some of
my guests from culture and headlines, but this podcast is
about going beyond the surface into something deeper. Today's guest
is Boon Niederhoffer, an Olympian with deep Texas roots whose
journey explores what it means to pursue excellence, endure pressure,
(00:56):
and discover who you are beyond performance. I invite you
to lean in and enjoy this conversation.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Hey, everybody, it's been Higgins here. I am honored to
be speaking with somebody who is not only well accomplished,
but in the heart of the battle. Right now, Boone,
how you doing.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
I'm doing well, doing great here in the here in Courtina,
having a blast.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
That's wild. Okay, I'm going to just like geek out
on you for a second before we actually dive into
some of the things that I know are going to
be helpful, beneficial and what the listeners really want to
listen to. But you are in Italy currently for the Olympics.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yes, right now. You've been there for how to opening sermony.
We've been here about a week. We had opening ceremonies
here in Cortina last night, which was pretty awesome. And
then we'll have our format bops that he've been the
twenty first and twenty seconds, So we got about a
couple of weeks to prepare for that.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
And yeah, let's start with the opening ceremonies. You've obviously
been there a week. There's a lot of build up.
This is your first Olympics, correct, Yes? Was it everything
you expected? Did it disappoint what?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
What?
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Tell me everything about the opening ceremonies?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
You know, it was just a really special experience. The
driver I will be racing with for the Olympics. His
name is Frankie del Duca. He was chosen by tm
USA Athletes to be the flag bear for for the
athletes here in Quartina, which was just an incredible honor
(02:42):
and just very indicative of the type of person Frankie is,
how hard working and the way he treats people. So
our four man crew kind of got to be there
at the front of the pack, leading the charge, in
leading the TMOSA athletes into the opening ceremonies, which was
a pretty, uh, you know, just unforgettable experience and just
(03:07):
a great way to celebrate are not only team accomplishments,
but kind of individual accomplishments as well leading up to
the games.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
And you know, when I.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Was chosen to the team, uh, my wife was there
and we were We've honestly just been very reflective over
the past couple of weeks since the team was chosen,
and so that you know, it's been fun to kind
of soak in these you know, special moments leading up
(03:39):
to the games. And then you know, now that we've
kind of gotten opening ceremonies behind us, we can kind
of get locked in, dialed in and get ready to race.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
The I'm sure there is an excitement and a surrealness
and a graduate. You're an Olympian. I mean we there
was a thousand dreams I had as a kid, all
of which of sports. Being an Olympian felt so far fetched.
But you are an Olympian, which is an incredible accomplishment.
(04:09):
It's also not where your athletic journey begins. But before
we dive into that, I'm curious, I don't actually even
know how does when it comes to Bob setting specifically,
how does the team get chosen? Is it is? I mean,
you compete throughout the year, you've been in World Cups,
(04:30):
but how do they choose who's actually going to show
up to Italy?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Yeah, so it's it's a little bit complicated for forman,
Bob said, because it's a it's a team sport, but
we are somewhat evaluated individually, and so it's really complicated
to try and you know, find the best guys to
be on a team. And even on top of that,
it's not always the three best individuals or sorry, well
(04:57):
so kind of step takes step back. So USA will
qualify a certain number of teams for the games based
on how we do on the World Cup or or
lower circuits. You accumulate points throughout a season and then
(05:17):
basically at the end of the season, whoever has the
most points kind of gets chosen. Only three countries can
qualify three sleds, and then I think seven countries qualify
two sleds, and then other countries that are in the
top forty to fifty in the world kind of get
chosen until they kind of fill the quota spots. So
(05:40):
it's not always super clear who's qualifying and whatnot. You know,
there's been times where someone who's even ranked, you know,
in the top ten of the world did not qualify
for the Olympics because of the way that they do
the quotas. But anyway, so USA qualified two USA Men's
team qualified two teams here in Cortina, and then they
(06:04):
choose the push athletes based on preseason testing. We'll call
it or we call it Push Championships. At the beginning
of the year, well, we'll have an individual push and
then we'll go into combination pushes to kind of see
how well the guys do in combos, and then leading
up to the season, we'll kind of practice with guys
(06:28):
who we think we're going to be racing with. And
then obviously the race results are probably the biggest criteria point.
And then at the end of the season, we have
a selection committee that will choose the athletes that are
racing with drivers. So the drivers will qualify based on
(06:48):
their points accumulated through the season, and push athletes get
chosen based on their performance during the season.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
This is I mean, that is complex, but there a
little bit of I mean, was there ever a doubt
in your mind if you'd be chosen or not?
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Yeah, I mean you never really know if you're going
to be chosen to the team until your name's called.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
You know.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
I I was not our top ranked athlete this year,
so it was I'd never felt super comfortable. I definitely
was in a good spot heading into the team selection.
I I felt like I probably was going to be
chosen to the team, but you know, I, at least me,
(07:33):
I I just kind of never really allowed myself to
get excited until until the team was announced.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
So yeah, So, yeah, is the family out there with you?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Not currently, but they you know, we we left home
at the end of July to kind of start the BOP,
so journaly, we moved up to Lake Placid for kind
of our preseason training for a couple of months. Then
we did some preseason sliding over in Park City, Utah
for a couple of weeks, and then basically right after
(08:05):
that we went to Europe at the beginning of November,
and then we were in Europe from November I believe,
fourth through and then the Chloe and the babies went
home on January twentieth, so about two and a half
months here in Europe with everybody.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
It was a it was a pretty awesome adventure.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Yeah, I mean, this is incredible. I want to dive
into you though. So we've gotten to the point now
you're in Italy, you're an Olympian, you're prepping obviously for
those two days that are coming up here in about
two weeks. I still have a thousand questions I could
ask you, and I will at some point, but I
want to start with you personally, because that's what this
whole show is about. You have, as I mentioned and
(08:52):
kind of snuck in before, this is not the start
of your athletic journey. You have a comp a ton
in your time. You were a walk on at Texas
A and m right. Yes, I was Texas A and M.
Texas is where you grew up and kind of where
you call home now. So you started your collegiate career
(09:15):
in football a wide receiver, right, yes, correct, So I
mean tell me a little bit about obviously you're a
walk on now you're an Olympian. Why were you not
coming out of college highly recruited with scholarships? Kind of
walk me through how you chose to say, Hey, I'm
gonna go to Texas A and M and walk on.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Yeah. So my one scholarship offer out of high school
was to Abilene Christian University, which is where my dad
and my brother both played football. You know, I frankly
kind of felt like I was a little bit under
recruited coming out of high school. Me and my dad
just you know, and you know, if I would have
(09:57):
gone to ACU, that would have been an awesome experience,
but I just kind of I've always had a dream
of playing Division one football, and on top of that,
I knew I wanted to do engineering, and ASU didn't
really have a great engineering program at the time, and
so me and my dad we just started sending my
film out to basically every Division one school that we
(10:17):
could find. Anybody that had an email on their website.
We sent it to and the recruiter at A and
M responded and thankfully I had already gotten accepted to
A and M as a student, so that made it
real easy for them to say, yeah, sure, come walk on.
But yeah, that basically the desire to wanted to play
(10:40):
division football just kind of is what led me to
A and M.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
And I mean, you went to A and M, you
ended up earning a scholarship in football, but at the
same time you were pursuing an engineering degree. You received
this engineering degree, and you still were as an engineer
on top of training for the Olympics.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Correct, Yes, you know, yeah that getting an engineering degree
while playing football was not easy. It definitely took a
lot of time management, which you know, obviously as a
dumb coll student, I wasn't only playing football and studying,
but I definitely I definitely worked hard, and you know that,
(11:28):
I do feel like that season of my life has
kind of prepared me for this season in my life
where you know, I don't have a whole lot of
free time, and you know, training has kind of been
my my hobby, for lack of a better term, it's
kind of what I do outside of work and being
a dad for fun, which you know, I think going
(11:51):
into a workout and not feeling like, oh I need
you know, I need to do this, going into it,
it's like, oh, like this is my fun time I
get to go work out right now has kind of
have even changed the way that I attack my workouts
and my mentality what I'm training.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
You're one of the type of people that I admire
the most. I'm a dad as well. I work. I
work out, but I do it because I just need
it for my mental health. But at some point in
time you were so driven Boon that you said, I'm
a dad, I'm a husband, I'm a former college athlete,
(12:28):
I'm an engineer, and I also think it would be
fun to do this other thing professionally, which is Bob's ledding.
How does this even come about? You're in Texas.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Yeah, you know, everybody has their random how did you
get into Bob set story? Most every bop setter is
some form of transfer athlete. Most either played football or
ran track in college. Most BOP setters transferring from track
and field, and then most guys just either got reached
(13:04):
out to by one of the Bobs of recruiters or
knew somebody who did.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Bob said. I had a teammate at A and M.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
His name was Sam Miller, also from San Antonio, also
a walk on, and we had lockers right next to
each other. It is a good buddy of mine.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
He was joined.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
He joined the Bob sid team a couple of years
before me, and right out of school, I went to
go work for an oil and gas company and that
company had got got bought out after about a year
and a half of me working there, and Sam and
I were just catching up on the phone one day
and I told about my job and he was like, dude,
if you're not working right out, just come try out.
(13:47):
And I was like, well, I hadn't really thought about it.
And then and then kind of just dove all in
into training, put the job search on hold, and competed
a full time for three years last quad.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Oh boon. You've got so much going on and so
much coming up. Obviously, through all of this I was
kind of doing some background and research on you and
learn so much about you, and you are such an
interesting person to kind of dig into because you have
accomplished so much in your life and you're sitting right
(14:25):
now in the Olympic village as you prepare to accomplish
one of the greatest feats of any human, which is
to compete in the Olympics. And through this all your
faith has been not only something you've been open about,
but it's been a driving force behind all of it.
I always, I guess I feel weird when I say
(14:46):
open about it, because once you have an interaction with
the divine, you can't help but be open about it,
I think. But you have spoken publicly about it. Can
you walk our listeners through myself through your faith journey?
Speaker 4 (15:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
So I grew up in a Christian home. Both my
parents are very strong believers. My dad was actually the
youth mister at the church we went to, So he
was my youth mister all through my childhood through high school,
and so I was always in and around church. You know,
(15:24):
from a young age, I loved going to church. I
loved all the people at church. I love my friends
at church. I was at church every Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday,
and so it just was just an integral part of
my childhood. And I loved Jesus. From a young age.
(15:44):
I was somewhat of a shy kid growing up, and
so I never really took the leap to get baptized
because I didn't want to stand in front of people,
which actually, when I was in freshman high school, I
think it actually kind of that kind of allowed me
to make that choice, you know, when I was a
little bit older, which was kind of cool. So I
(16:08):
you know, accepted Jesus from a young age, but got baptized,
made that a public statement when I was a freshman
in high school. And so I always had a strong
faith base. Was not perfect with my faith through college,
you know, never never always made the right decision. But
(16:32):
one thing that kind of really helped me kind of
get back on track right out of college. So I
had I tore my a cl my senior year at
A and M, which I you know, I wanted to
go through the pro day but didn't get that opportunity,
(16:52):
which you know allowed me to go work in Houston
for a little bit. But prior to doing that, I
got to be a counselor at Cannonicut Camps, which honestly
just like really kind of got me ready for going
into my working career. You know, when you are unplugged
(17:12):
from the internet, and really all you're doing all day
is trying to pour into high school kids. I think
it really just kind of changes your mentality on life.
And you know, not that I was ever not a
Christian in college, but I definitely was not perfect in
my faith, and so that kind of and then, you know,
(17:36):
I don't think anybody ever is perfect in their faith,
but it definitely, you know, got me back on that,
just the desire to want to pursue Jesus, and so
you know that really then really a year later, I
(17:56):
met who what is now my wife, and I don't
think she would have liked me very much had she
met me about a year prior.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Yeah, I mean, and now you have a family. How
many kids too? Right?
Speaker 2 (18:08):
We have a three year old girl named Caris and
we have a one year old boy named August.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Are they going to come join you?
Speaker 2 (18:16):
They will, yeah, And they were here the whole World
Cup too, or two. And when the four man week,
they'll come back for the week of the four man
race with my parents and my wife's parents and my
siblings are going to get to come. I'll have a
few aunts and uncles and some friends there. So we'll
have a pretty good cheer section and.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
They get to enjoy Italy the best. Yes, you know,
you spoke about obviously the transition out of college and
propelling your faith forward. You now sit in Italy at
the Olympics. Is faith kind of give a sneak peek.
How much of a conversation is faith happening amongst the
(18:57):
Olympians that are there right now?
Speaker 2 (19:01):
You know, I would say not very much. There's definitely
a handful of people that I know that are strong
believers on my team and some other people that I've
met in sport. But you know, it's a it's definitely
a secular environment.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
And so.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
You know, one one cool thing that our team when
we are in like Placid training will we try to
have a weekly Bible study. So you know, there's definitely
an environment where, uh, there's there's a good environment for
Christians to kind of get together and talk about Jesus
at times, but it's not you know, it can sometimes
(19:43):
be a tough environment too to be a Christian because
you can somewhat feel isolated as someone in the minority does.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Is there resources available to the Olympians? I mean, are
you guys, is there any availability to gather outside of
maybe you setting up a Bible study while you're over there.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Uh, not really. I would say it's more individual driven.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
And and your team can gather, can hang out. I mean,
you'll have, I'm guessing, a lot to do. You're in
the midst You're not like stopping training for two weeks
just because you're over there. Yeah, you're you're training probably
all the time right now, you're talking to me for
a little bit in the midst of probably a break,
which I'm thankful for. But in your downtime, what does
(20:39):
life look like as as you hang out in the village?
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Yeah, you know this is that these last couple of
weeks are really the first time that we've had, you know,
actual free time. During the World Cup season, the weeks
are very busy, just kind of. For example, we do
official training, so usually we try travel on Monday. We'll
do official training on Tuesday.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
We do.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Physical training on Wednesday and sled work getting ready for
official training on Thursday. Friday is the day that we
usually stand our runners getting ready for races on Saturday
and races on Sunday, and then we travel to the
next stop again Sunday afternoon and Monday, So it's a
there's not a whole lot of downtime in the World
(21:26):
Cup where week and it happens really really fast.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Yeah, and now that you're you know there, you're kind
of camped out, and so like walk us through what
a normal day looks like, you know, with two weeks
remaining until the time he pushed pushed the sled in competition.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Yeah, just kind of for example, today, woke up this
morning when he got breakfast here at the athlete village,
we went to go watch a curling event, and then
went to go watch a lose event, and uh then
(22:05):
eight some more and then came back to the village
and uh, now we're kind of chilling.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Usually we uh, you know, we're still keeping up our weight.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Training, sprint training, things like that, but we have not
been able to get on the bop side track. And
then you know, for me individually, uh, you know, I
usually try to do a devotional in the morning and
even and in the evening. Right now, I'm reading a
book called Rest in War by Ben Stewart, which has
(22:33):
been a great book, and you know, kind of learning
how to just basically keep a faith rhythm in the
midst of chaos in life. And yeah, me and my wife,
(22:58):
we you know, obviously our believers ourselves and are trying
to instill that into our children as well.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Yes, are you getting time to FaceTime with them in
the midst of all this?
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Also, Yeah, the time change makes it a little bit difficult,
you know, especially when you know family is working during
the day. Usually we'll FaceTime in the morning and then
find a time in the afternoon, so it's it's uh,
(23:33):
it was really fun having the family here, and then
now for the last couple of weeks being separated for
them has been tough at times.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
I'm sure. I'm sure, I think most people could agree.
Being separated from the family even when you're doing something
as important and spectacular as you're doing, it's still difficult.
But just a few more questions for you, more personal,
if you don't mind. Yeah, you know, outside of a
(24:04):
gold medal, which is why, you know, one of the
big reasons why you're there, what do you hope you
get out of this experience of competing in the Olympics.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Yeah, you know, I just well, I think one reason
I've even taken this journey, I honestly just feel like
the Lord has kind of instilled in me a desire
for competition. You know, you kind of mentioned this, but
all I've ever wanted to be my whole life as
an athlete, and I do think the Lord has kind
(24:42):
of put that in me. And you know, even when
I got the itch to want to do Bob Side
again after after not making the Games in twenty two
and then you know, wife and I we felt like
we needed to go get a real job for a
little bit, so we moved to Midland. But that I
do think that desire to want to compete never really
(25:05):
went away. And you know, even during the time when
I wasn't actually competing on the Bob Said team, I
you know, stayed in shape because the best way to
get in shape is to stay in shape, and so
I wanted to at least leave the door open. And
you know, I also during that time did not want
(25:26):
to put our family in a in a bad place,
whether it's financially or even just putting too much stress
on Chloe by if you know, I didn't want to
pursue Bob Said so much that I would want to
quit my job and not make any money and force
Chloe to work and take care of the babies and
(25:49):
do everything while I'm away. So, you know, we had
we had to be a little bit open handed with
with that dream a little bit, and we were just
kind of like, you know, just kind of kept praying.
You know, Lord, this is something that we want to do.
But if if it's not in your plan, you know,
we're We're okay with that. You know, life is still great.
(26:11):
We love where we're at, We love our home in Midland,
we love our the community that we built in Midland,
and you know, honestly raising babies in Midland has been
awesome too. You know, life, life has been great. This
has just kind of been a dream. And the fact
that the Lord, you know, the Lord kind of just
kept opening doors, you know. I went so the the
(26:35):
h my first job when we moved to Midland was uh,
you know, it's a fantastic job.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
And then what we kind of were like, you know what,
let's let's just see if we can make this happen.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
I went and asked my employer if they would allow
me to compete on the Bob Seed team while working
and basically got a hard no. And and so I
started job searching and just was kind of upfront with
what I wanted to do. You know, the first basically
I didn't want to waste people's time, So that was
(27:10):
kind of one of the first things I brought up
in the interview, was like, hey, you know, this is
what I want to do. Would you be would you
consider this? And the the first company that said yes
was the job that I accepted because I didn't didn't
know how many other opportunities out there would exist, and
and that ended up being one of the best best
(27:32):
decisions we ever made. Yeah, I feel like the Lord.
You know, even even when we moved to Midland, Chloe
we that was never like something we dreamed of doing.
We always we always wanted to be near family. When
we moved to Midland, we were living near Chloe's parents,
(27:54):
which was which was amazing. And then even just knowing
he was pregnant when we moved, it was like, you know,
do we do we want to move to Midland and
move away from family when we're about to have a baby.
But you know, just through prayer, we just felt really
good about the job of Midland and so we dove
in and that kind of you know, just the Lord
(28:17):
just kind of kept putting things in place for this
even to happen. And so, you know, I what I
want to get this, I just I just hope that
I am using the gifts and abilities that God has
given me to bring glory to Him. And you know what,
I do know I'm not perfect all the time, but
(28:39):
I do try to live in a way that people
can see that I am a Christian. You know, I
try to have a positive attitude all the you know,
whenever I can. I try to see the positives and
things and just generally try to live with joy. And
(29:00):
you know what, and I hope that however the Lord
has used my journey has brought people to Jesus. I
don't I don't always know whether that's happening or not,
and you know, I won't know until we get to heaven.
But but that's that I hope is what I get
(29:23):
out of this, what.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
I'm imagining to uh. More and more people are going
to hear your story as the weeks continue here, all
across the United States, all across the world, really and
be captivated, I'm sure by that little something different that
you exhibit, that you live by, that you show while
you are also wearing the red, white and Blue. Final
(29:47):
question for you, this has been a wild journey. I mean,
as I said, you're one of those types of people
that I look at and I owe goodness. He's got
it all. He's an engineer, he's a college ath he's
a professional athlete, his husband, he's a father. But I'm
assuming it's not just that easy that I can see
(30:09):
the outcomes, but I can't necessarily see the things in between. Again,
now that you sit where you're sitting without knowing the
outcome of the events, hoping for the best of outcomes,
what have you learned about yourself personally kind of as
you've had time now to take a step back and
reflect in some moments of quiet outside of the World
(30:30):
Cup chaos.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Yeah, you know one, I just know I would not
be able to get through this without having a relationship
with Jesus.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
And you know one my mom.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Has kind of said this, but she's she'll sometimes say like, man,
I don't know how people get through life without without Jesus,
you know, just having a hope and something greater, you know,
Because there's going to be time here in a few
weeks where my sporting career could potentially be over and
a lot of people, you'll kind of go through a
(31:11):
they kind of have to mourn their athletic career and
kind of go through, you know, a transition period. And
you know one thing, you know, kind of like I
said earlier, life life was good without Bob said, and
it still is good with Bob said. So I I
(31:32):
know I I have a lot of good, great things
to look forward to even if I don't get to
continue Bob setting past the Olympics. I'm going to get
to be with my family a lot more often. I'm
going to get to be in our home a lot
more often, and and just live a more cyclical life,
(31:57):
one where we can have a little bit more consistency.
Speaker 4 (32:01):
You know, we are.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
One of the greatest things about this whole thing is
that I know that my babies will get to live
through this, and they've been a huge motivating factor for me,
you know, not just competing for myself, but like, man,
I want I want my family to experience this.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
I don't want just me to do it.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
One I guess one verse that has really kind of
been with me, and this is kind of we we
kind of were we were in a little a little
bit of a phase where we tried to get our
daughter to memorize one verse a month, and she this
(32:43):
was one that she memorized. But it's Isaiah twenty six
three and four. It's you keep him in perfect peace,
whose mind has stayed on you because he trusts in you,
trust in the Lord forever, for he is the everlasting Rock.
And that's just that's a verse that I have just
really kept with me. Which is funny because I I
(33:05):
will say it in the I'll say it kind of
in my head. How my daughter says it. She kind
of says it in a song like way, which is
fun But I will whenever. I Ye know, things aren't
always going smooth, but I know that if I keep
(33:26):
my mind on him that.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
I will have peace. And so.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
I kind of I feel like I kind of started
rambling there and forgot the question.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
That's it, What have you learned about yourself?
Speaker 4 (33:44):
I I just know that I would not be able
to get through this without Jesus.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Yeah, I mean, I think that's the greatest answer, and
in one I mean, it's I just got back from
the Super Bowl boom and I did some interviews out
there and people asked because of the Face show, Hey,
it seems like a thing now where everybody when they
get off of a out of a game, they think
(34:09):
the Lord, they think Jesus, and what exactly they're thinking
them for? And I was like, huh, it's a good question.
That actually is a great question. What exactly they can't
be thinking them for the win because both teams I'm
assuming had people that you know, are you know, fighting
and competing in the Lord's name, but they're thinking them
for the gifts and they're thinking for the opportunity. I'm assuming, Boom,
(34:35):
you're in a better position to answer this question than
I am. If if you're standing up there in the
podium at the end and they put a mic in
your face and you say thanks to the Lord above,
what will you be meaning by saying that?
Speaker 2 (34:53):
I mean I will be, but you know, I'll probably
be thinking about my family a lot, Thankful for my wife,
thankful for my daughter, thankful for my son, thankful my parents,
thankful for my my brother and his family, and my
sister and her family and my little sister. And I'll
(35:17):
be just extremely reflective of the journey that even got
me to that point. And you know, it's it's it's
been pretty cool the last couple of weeks, just people
from all different seasons of my life have reached out
to me, and you know it it's and it's just
(35:39):
all it's all just grace, it's all just the Lord
has truly, you know, just paved away.
Speaker 4 (35:51):
Not I don't really know how else to say it.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
And you know, even if it didn't happen, I would
be thankful for my life up until this point, you know,
and that that truly is like a dream of mine
to have a camera or have a microphone put in
my face and say, you know, I'd really just like
to take my Lord, save Jesus Christ. So if that happens,
that'll be really that'll be really awesome.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Yeah, I mean it inspired me as a young kid.
I remember David Robert Robinson pleaded for the San Antonio's furst.
Speaker 4 (36:25):
I think he actually went to my church growing up.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Oh we'll see look at this in Antonio. I'll never
forget the day I watched him as a little kid
say I want to thank Jesus, and as a little
kid following Jesus going Wow, there's an adult that I
admire that I look up to that's loving the same
thing that's desiring the same thing that's pursuing the same thing.
(36:48):
It inspired me and I'll never forget it. Boon, thank
you for the time. I know this is a busy
couple of weeks. I know there's a lot going on
in your life, but your story is one that not
only will be shared, it should be shared. And I'm
so excited. I'm so excited to see you compete, to
watch you compete, but also to know that at the
(37:09):
back end of everything, I have a little bit of
a glimpse, and so do our listeners at your not
only will your mind will be thinking as you're flying
down the hill, but also to know what you're driving forces.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (37:23):
Yeah, thanks Ben, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Hey friends, thanks for listening or watching. Would you take
a second, follow, subscribe, and drop a comment. It really
helps
And I also think it would be fun to do
this other thing professionally, which is Bob's ledding. How does
this even come about?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Everybody has their random How did you get into Bob
said story? Most every Bob Setter is sub form of
transfer athlete.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
I'm sure there is an excitement and a surrealness and
a graduate. You're an Olympia. I mean, was there ever
a doubt in your mind if you'd be chosen or not.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
There's got to be a time here in a few
weeks where my sporting career could potentially be over.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Welcome to if you can hear me, a space where
culture meets the soul. I'm Ben Higgins. You may know
me from The Bachelor, and you may know some of
my guests from culture and headlines, but this podcast is
about going beyond the surface into something deeper. Today's guest
is Boon Niederhoffer, an Olympian with deep Texas roots whose
journey explores what it means to pursue excellence, endure pressure,
(00:56):
and discover who you are beyond performance. I invite you
to lean in and enjoy this conversation.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Hey, everybody, it's been Higgins here. I am honored to
be speaking with somebody who is not only well accomplished,
but in the heart of the battle. Right now, Boone,
how you doing.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
I'm doing well, doing great here in the here in Courtina,
having a blast.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
That's wild. Okay, I'm going to just like geek out
on you for a second before we actually dive into
some of the things that I know are going to
be helpful, beneficial and what the listeners really want to
listen to. But you are in Italy currently for the Olympics.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yes, right now. You've been there for how to opening sermony.
We've been here about a week. We had opening ceremonies
here in Cortina last night, which was pretty awesome. And
then we'll have our format bops that he've been the
twenty first and twenty seconds, So we got about a
couple of weeks to prepare for that.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
And yeah, let's start with the opening ceremonies. You've obviously
been there a week. There's a lot of build up.
This is your first Olympics, correct, Yes? Was it everything
you expected? Did it disappoint what?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
What?
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Tell me everything about the opening ceremonies?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
You know, it was just a really special experience. The
driver I will be racing with for the Olympics. His
name is Frankie del Duca. He was chosen by tm
USA Athletes to be the flag bear for for the
athletes here in Quartina, which was just an incredible honor
(02:42):
and just very indicative of the type of person Frankie is,
how hard working and the way he treats people. So
our four man crew kind of got to be there
at the front of the pack, leading the charge, in
leading the TMOSA athletes into the opening ceremonies, which was
a pretty, uh, you know, just unforgettable experience and just
(03:07):
a great way to celebrate are not only team accomplishments,
but kind of individual accomplishments as well leading up to
the games.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
And you know, when I.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Was chosen to the team, uh, my wife was there
and we were We've honestly just been very reflective over
the past couple of weeks since the team was chosen,
and so that you know, it's been fun to kind
of soak in these you know, special moments leading up
(03:39):
to the games. And then you know, now that we've
kind of gotten opening ceremonies behind us, we can kind
of get locked in, dialed in and get ready to race.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
The I'm sure there is an excitement and a surrealness
and a graduate. You're an Olympian. I mean we there
was a thousand dreams I had as a kid, all
of which of sports. Being an Olympian felt so far fetched.
But you are an Olympian, which is an incredible accomplishment.
(04:09):
It's also not where your athletic journey begins. But before
we dive into that, I'm curious, I don't actually even
know how does when it comes to Bob setting specifically,
how does the team get chosen? Is it is? I mean,
you compete throughout the year, you've been in World Cups,
(04:30):
but how do they choose who's actually going to show
up to Italy?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Yeah, so it's it's a little bit complicated for forman,
Bob said, because it's a it's a team sport, but
we are somewhat evaluated individually, and so it's really complicated
to try and you know, find the best guys to
be on a team. And even on top of that,
it's not always the three best individuals or sorry, well
(04:57):
so kind of step takes step back. So USA will
qualify a certain number of teams for the games based
on how we do on the World Cup or or
lower circuits. You accumulate points throughout a season and then
(05:17):
basically at the end of the season, whoever has the
most points kind of gets chosen. Only three countries can
qualify three sleds, and then I think seven countries qualify
two sleds, and then other countries that are in the
top forty to fifty in the world kind of get
chosen until they kind of fill the quota spots. So
(05:40):
it's not always super clear who's qualifying and whatnot. You know,
there's been times where someone who's even ranked, you know,
in the top ten of the world did not qualify
for the Olympics because of the way that they do
the quotas. But anyway, so USA qualified two USA Men's
team qualified two teams here in Cortina, and then they
(06:04):
choose the push athletes based on preseason testing. We'll call
it or we call it Push Championships. At the beginning
of the year, well, we'll have an individual push and
then we'll go into combination pushes to kind of see
how well the guys do in combos, and then leading
up to the season, we'll kind of practice with guys
(06:28):
who we think we're going to be racing with. And
then obviously the race results are probably the biggest criteria point.
And then at the end of the season, we have
a selection committee that will choose the athletes that are
racing with drivers. So the drivers will qualify based on
(06:48):
their points accumulated through the season, and push athletes get
chosen based on their performance during the season.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
This is I mean, that is complex, but there a
little bit of I mean, was there ever a doubt
in your mind if you'd be chosen or not?
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Yeah, I mean you never really know if you're going
to be chosen to the team until your name's called.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
You know.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
I I was not our top ranked athlete this year,
so it was I'd never felt super comfortable. I definitely
was in a good spot heading into the team selection.
I I felt like I probably was going to be
chosen to the team, but you know, I, at least me,
(07:33):
I I just kind of never really allowed myself to
get excited until until the team was announced.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
So yeah, So, yeah, is the family out there with you?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Not currently, but they you know, we we left home
at the end of July to kind of start the BOP,
so journaly, we moved up to Lake Placid for kind
of our preseason training for a couple of months. Then
we did some preseason sliding over in Park City, Utah
for a couple of weeks, and then basically right after
(08:05):
that we went to Europe at the beginning of November,
and then we were in Europe from November I believe,
fourth through and then the Chloe and the babies went
home on January twentieth, so about two and a half
months here in Europe with everybody.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
It was a it was a pretty awesome adventure.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Yeah, I mean, this is incredible. I want to dive
into you though. So we've gotten to the point now
you're in Italy, you're an Olympian, you're prepping obviously for
those two days that are coming up here in about
two weeks. I still have a thousand questions I could
ask you, and I will at some point, but I
want to start with you personally, because that's what this
whole show is about. You have, as I mentioned and
(08:52):
kind of snuck in before, this is not the start
of your athletic journey. You have a comp a ton
in your time. You were a walk on at Texas
A and m right. Yes, I was Texas A and M.
Texas is where you grew up and kind of where
you call home now. So you started your collegiate career
(09:15):
in football a wide receiver, right, yes, correct, So I
mean tell me a little bit about obviously you're a
walk on now you're an Olympian. Why were you not
coming out of college highly recruited with scholarships? Kind of
walk me through how you chose to say, Hey, I'm
gonna go to Texas A and M and walk on.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Yeah. So my one scholarship offer out of high school
was to Abilene Christian University, which is where my dad
and my brother both played football. You know, I frankly
kind of felt like I was a little bit under
recruited coming out of high school. Me and my dad
just you know, and you know, if I would have
(09:57):
gone to ACU, that would have been an awesome experience,
but I just kind of I've always had a dream
of playing Division one football, and on top of that,
I knew I wanted to do engineering, and ASU didn't
really have a great engineering program at the time, and
so me and my dad we just started sending my
film out to basically every Division one school that we
(10:17):
could find. Anybody that had an email on their website.
We sent it to and the recruiter at A and
M responded and thankfully I had already gotten accepted to
A and M as a student, so that made it
real easy for them to say, yeah, sure, come walk on.
But yeah, that basically the desire to wanted to play
(10:40):
division football just kind of is what led me to
A and M.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
And I mean, you went to A and M, you
ended up earning a scholarship in football, but at the
same time you were pursuing an engineering degree. You received
this engineering degree, and you still were as an engineer
on top of training for the Olympics.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Correct, Yes, you know, yeah that getting an engineering degree
while playing football was not easy. It definitely took a
lot of time management, which you know, obviously as a
dumb coll student, I wasn't only playing football and studying,
but I definitely I definitely worked hard, and you know that,
(11:28):
I do feel like that season of my life has
kind of prepared me for this season in my life
where you know, I don't have a whole lot of
free time, and you know, training has kind of been
my my hobby, for lack of a better term, it's
kind of what I do outside of work and being
a dad for fun, which you know, I think going
(11:51):
into a workout and not feeling like, oh I need
you know, I need to do this, going into it,
it's like, oh, like this is my fun time I
get to go work out right now has kind of
have even changed the way that I attack my workouts
and my mentality what I'm training.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
You're one of the type of people that I admire
the most. I'm a dad as well. I work. I
work out, but I do it because I just need
it for my mental health. But at some point in
time you were so driven Boon that you said, I'm
a dad, I'm a husband, I'm a former college athlete,
(12:28):
I'm an engineer, and I also think it would be
fun to do this other thing professionally, which is Bob's ledding.
How does this even come about? You're in Texas.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Yeah, you know, everybody has their random how did you
get into Bob set story? Most every bop setter is
some form of transfer athlete. Most either played football or
ran track in college. Most BOP setters transferring from track
and field, and then most guys just either got reached
(13:04):
out to by one of the Bobs of recruiters or
knew somebody who did.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Bob said. I had a teammate at A and M.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
His name was Sam Miller, also from San Antonio, also
a walk on, and we had lockers right next to
each other. It is a good buddy of mine.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
He was joined.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
He joined the Bob sid team a couple of years
before me, and right out of school, I went to
go work for an oil and gas company and that
company had got got bought out after about a year
and a half of me working there, and Sam and
I were just catching up on the phone one day
and I told about my job and he was like, dude,
if you're not working right out, just come try out.
(13:47):
And I was like, well, I hadn't really thought about it.
And then and then kind of just dove all in
into training, put the job search on hold, and competed
a full time for three years last quad.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Oh boon. You've got so much going on and so
much coming up. Obviously, through all of this I was
kind of doing some background and research on you and
learn so much about you, and you are such an
interesting person to kind of dig into because you have
accomplished so much in your life and you're sitting right
(14:25):
now in the Olympic village as you prepare to accomplish
one of the greatest feats of any human, which is
to compete in the Olympics. And through this all your
faith has been not only something you've been open about,
but it's been a driving force behind all of it.
I always, I guess I feel weird when I say
(14:46):
open about it, because once you have an interaction with
the divine, you can't help but be open about it,
I think. But you have spoken publicly about it. Can
you walk our listeners through myself through your faith journey?
Speaker 4 (15:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
So I grew up in a Christian home. Both my
parents are very strong believers. My dad was actually the
youth mister at the church we went to, So he
was my youth mister all through my childhood through high school,
and so I was always in and around church. You know,
(15:24):
from a young age, I loved going to church. I
loved all the people at church. I love my friends
at church. I was at church every Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday,
and so it just was just an integral part of
my childhood. And I loved Jesus. From a young age.
(15:44):
I was somewhat of a shy kid growing up, and
so I never really took the leap to get baptized
because I didn't want to stand in front of people,
which actually, when I was in freshman high school, I
think it actually kind of that kind of allowed me
to make that choice, you know, when I was a
little bit older, which was kind of cool. So I
(16:08):
you know, accepted Jesus from a young age, but got baptized,
made that a public statement when I was a freshman
in high school. And so I always had a strong
faith base. Was not perfect with my faith through college,
you know, never never always made the right decision. But
(16:32):
one thing that kind of really helped me kind of
get back on track right out of college. So I
had I tore my a cl my senior year at
A and M, which I you know, I wanted to
go through the pro day but didn't get that opportunity,
(16:52):
which you know allowed me to go work in Houston
for a little bit. But prior to doing that, I
got to be a counselor at Cannonicut Camps, which honestly
just like really kind of got me ready for going
into my working career. You know, when you are unplugged
(17:12):
from the internet, and really all you're doing all day
is trying to pour into high school kids. I think
it really just kind of changes your mentality on life.
And you know, not that I was ever not a
Christian in college, but I definitely was not perfect in
my faith, and so that kind of and then, you know,
(17:36):
I don't think anybody ever is perfect in their faith,
but it definitely, you know, got me back on that,
just the desire to want to pursue Jesus, and so
you know that really then really a year later, I
(17:56):
met who what is now my wife, and I don't
think she would have liked me very much had she
met me about a year prior.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Yeah, I mean, and now you have a family. How
many kids too? Right?
Speaker 2 (18:08):
We have a three year old girl named Caris and
we have a one year old boy named August.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Are they going to come join you?
Speaker 2 (18:16):
They will, yeah, And they were here the whole World
Cup too, or two. And when the four man week,
they'll come back for the week of the four man
race with my parents and my wife's parents and my
siblings are going to get to come. I'll have a
few aunts and uncles and some friends there. So we'll
have a pretty good cheer section and.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
They get to enjoy Italy the best. Yes, you know,
you spoke about obviously the transition out of college and
propelling your faith forward. You now sit in Italy at
the Olympics. Is faith kind of give a sneak peek.
How much of a conversation is faith happening amongst the
(18:57):
Olympians that are there right now?
Speaker 2 (19:01):
You know, I would say not very much. There's definitely
a handful of people that I know that are strong
believers on my team and some other people that I've
met in sport. But you know, it's a it's definitely
a secular environment.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
And so.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
You know, one one cool thing that our team when
we are in like Placid training will we try to
have a weekly Bible study. So you know, there's definitely
an environment where, uh, there's there's a good environment for
Christians to kind of get together and talk about Jesus
at times, but it's not you know, it can sometimes
(19:43):
be a tough environment too to be a Christian because
you can somewhat feel isolated as someone in the minority does.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Is there resources available to the Olympians? I mean, are
you guys, is there any availability to gather outside of
maybe you setting up a Bible study while you're over there.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Uh, not really. I would say it's more individual driven.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
And and your team can gather, can hang out. I mean,
you'll have, I'm guessing, a lot to do. You're in
the midst You're not like stopping training for two weeks
just because you're over there. Yeah, you're you're training probably
all the time right now, you're talking to me for
a little bit in the midst of probably a break,
which I'm thankful for. But in your downtime, what does
(20:39):
life look like as as you hang out in the village?
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Yeah, you know this is that these last couple of
weeks are really the first time that we've had, you know,
actual free time. During the World Cup season, the weeks
are very busy, just kind of. For example, we do
official training, so usually we try travel on Monday. We'll
do official training on Tuesday.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
We do.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Physical training on Wednesday and sled work getting ready for
official training on Thursday. Friday is the day that we
usually stand our runners getting ready for races on Saturday
and races on Sunday, and then we travel to the
next stop again Sunday afternoon and Monday, So it's a
there's not a whole lot of downtime in the World
(21:26):
Cup where week and it happens really really fast.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Yeah, and now that you're you know there, you're kind
of camped out, and so like walk us through what
a normal day looks like, you know, with two weeks
remaining until the time he pushed pushed the sled in competition.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Yeah, just kind of for example, today, woke up this
morning when he got breakfast here at the athlete village,
we went to go watch a curling event, and then
went to go watch a lose event, and uh then
(22:05):
eight some more and then came back to the village
and uh, now we're kind of chilling.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Usually we uh, you know, we're still keeping up our weight.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Training, sprint training, things like that, but we have not
been able to get on the bop side track. And
then you know, for me individually, uh, you know, I
usually try to do a devotional in the morning and
even and in the evening. Right now, I'm reading a
book called Rest in War by Ben Stewart, which has
(22:33):
been a great book, and you know, kind of learning
how to just basically keep a faith rhythm in the
midst of chaos in life. And yeah, me and my wife,
(22:58):
we you know, obviously our believers ourselves and are trying
to instill that into our children as well.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Yes, are you getting time to FaceTime with them in
the midst of all this?
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Also, Yeah, the time change makes it a little bit difficult,
you know, especially when you know family is working during
the day. Usually we'll FaceTime in the morning and then
find a time in the afternoon, so it's it's uh,
(23:33):
it was really fun having the family here, and then
now for the last couple of weeks being separated for
them has been tough at times.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
I'm sure. I'm sure, I think most people could agree.
Being separated from the family even when you're doing something
as important and spectacular as you're doing, it's still difficult.
But just a few more questions for you, more personal,
if you don't mind. Yeah, you know, outside of a
(24:04):
gold medal, which is why, you know, one of the
big reasons why you're there, what do you hope you
get out of this experience of competing in the Olympics.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Yeah, you know, I just well, I think one reason
I've even taken this journey, I honestly just feel like
the Lord has kind of instilled in me a desire
for competition. You know, you kind of mentioned this, but
all I've ever wanted to be my whole life as
an athlete, and I do think the Lord has kind
(24:42):
of put that in me. And you know, even when
I got the itch to want to do Bob Side
again after after not making the Games in twenty two
and then you know, wife and I we felt like
we needed to go get a real job for a
little bit, so we moved to Midland. But that I
do think that desire to want to compete never really
(25:05):
went away. And you know, even during the time when
I wasn't actually competing on the Bob Said team, I
you know, stayed in shape because the best way to
get in shape is to stay in shape, and so
I wanted to at least leave the door open. And
you know, I also during that time did not want
(25:26):
to put our family in a in a bad place,
whether it's financially or even just putting too much stress
on Chloe by if you know, I didn't want to
pursue Bob Said so much that I would want to
quit my job and not make any money and force
Chloe to work and take care of the babies and
(25:49):
do everything while I'm away. So, you know, we had
we had to be a little bit open handed with
with that dream a little bit, and we were just
kind of like, you know, just kind of kept praying.
You know, Lord, this is something that we want to do.
But if if it's not in your plan, you know,
we're We're okay with that. You know, life is still great.
(26:11):
We love where we're at, We love our home in Midland,
we love our the community that we built in Midland,
and you know, honestly raising babies in Midland has been
awesome too. You know, life, life has been great. This
has just kind of been a dream. And the fact
that the Lord, you know, the Lord kind of just
kept opening doors, you know. I went so the the
(26:35):
h my first job when we moved to Midland was uh,
you know, it's a fantastic job.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
And then what we kind of were like, you know what,
let's let's just see if we can make this happen.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
I went and asked my employer if they would allow
me to compete on the Bob Seed team while working
and basically got a hard no. And and so I
started job searching and just was kind of upfront with
what I wanted to do. You know, the first basically
I didn't want to waste people's time, So that was
(27:10):
kind of one of the first things I brought up
in the interview, was like, hey, you know, this is
what I want to do. Would you be would you
consider this? And the the first company that said yes
was the job that I accepted because I didn't didn't
know how many other opportunities out there would exist, and
and that ended up being one of the best best
(27:32):
decisions we ever made. Yeah, I feel like the Lord.
You know, even even when we moved to Midland, Chloe
we that was never like something we dreamed of doing.
We always we always wanted to be near family. When
we moved to Midland, we were living near Chloe's parents,
(27:54):
which was which was amazing. And then even just knowing
he was pregnant when we moved, it was like, you know,
do we do we want to move to Midland and
move away from family when we're about to have a baby.
But you know, just through prayer, we just felt really
good about the job of Midland and so we dove
in and that kind of you know, just the Lord
(28:17):
just kind of kept putting things in place for this
even to happen. And so, you know, I what I
want to get this, I just I just hope that
I am using the gifts and abilities that God has
given me to bring glory to Him. And you know what,
I do know I'm not perfect all the time, but
(28:39):
I do try to live in a way that people
can see that I am a Christian. You know, I
try to have a positive attitude all the you know,
whenever I can. I try to see the positives and
things and just generally try to live with joy. And
(29:00):
you know what, and I hope that however the Lord
has used my journey has brought people to Jesus. I
don't I don't always know whether that's happening or not,
and you know, I won't know until we get to heaven.
But but that's that I hope is what I get
(29:23):
out of this, what.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
I'm imagining to uh. More and more people are going
to hear your story as the weeks continue here, all
across the United States, all across the world, really and
be captivated, I'm sure by that little something different that
you exhibit, that you live by, that you show while
you are also wearing the red, white and Blue. Final
(29:47):
question for you, this has been a wild journey. I mean,
as I said, you're one of those types of people
that I look at and I owe goodness. He's got
it all. He's an engineer, he's a college ath he's
a professional athlete, his husband, he's a father. But I'm
assuming it's not just that easy that I can see
(30:09):
the outcomes, but I can't necessarily see the things in between. Again,
now that you sit where you're sitting without knowing the
outcome of the events, hoping for the best of outcomes,
what have you learned about yourself personally kind of as
you've had time now to take a step back and
reflect in some moments of quiet outside of the World
(30:30):
Cup chaos.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Yeah, you know one, I just know I would not
be able to get through this without having a relationship
with Jesus.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
And you know one my mom.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Has kind of said this, but she's she'll sometimes say like, man,
I don't know how people get through life without without Jesus,
you know, just having a hope and something greater, you know,
Because there's going to be time here in a few
weeks where my sporting career could potentially be over and
a lot of people, you'll kind of go through a
(31:11):
they kind of have to mourn their athletic career and
kind of go through, you know, a transition period. And
you know one thing, you know, kind of like I
said earlier, life life was good without Bob said, and
it still is good with Bob said. So I I
(31:32):
know I I have a lot of good, great things
to look forward to even if I don't get to
continue Bob setting past the Olympics. I'm going to get
to be with my family a lot more often. I'm
going to get to be in our home a lot
more often, and and just live a more cyclical life,
(31:57):
one where we can have a little bit more consistency.
Speaker 4 (32:01):
You know, we are.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
One of the greatest things about this whole thing is
that I know that my babies will get to live
through this, and they've been a huge motivating factor for me,
you know, not just competing for myself, but like, man,
I want I want my family to experience this.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
I don't want just me to do it.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
One I guess one verse that has really kind of
been with me, and this is kind of we we
kind of were we were in a little a little
bit of a phase where we tried to get our
daughter to memorize one verse a month, and she this
(32:43):
was one that she memorized. But it's Isaiah twenty six
three and four. It's you keep him in perfect peace,
whose mind has stayed on you because he trusts in you,
trust in the Lord forever, for he is the everlasting Rock.
And that's just that's a verse that I have just
really kept with me. Which is funny because I I
(33:05):
will say it in the I'll say it kind of
in my head. How my daughter says it. She kind
of says it in a song like way, which is
fun But I will whenever. I Ye know, things aren't
always going smooth, but I know that if I keep
(33:26):
my mind on him that.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
I will have peace. And so.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
I kind of I feel like I kind of started
rambling there and forgot the question.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
That's it, What have you learned about yourself?
Speaker 4 (33:44):
I I just know that I would not be able
to get through this without Jesus.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Yeah, I mean, I think that's the greatest answer, and
in one I mean, it's I just got back from
the Super Bowl boom and I did some interviews out
there and people asked because of the Face show, Hey,
it seems like a thing now where everybody when they
get off of a out of a game, they think
(34:09):
the Lord, they think Jesus, and what exactly they're thinking
them for? And I was like, huh, it's a good question.
That actually is a great question. What exactly they can't
be thinking them for the win because both teams I'm
assuming had people that you know, are you know, fighting
and competing in the Lord's name, but they're thinking them
for the gifts and they're thinking for the opportunity. I'm assuming, Boom,
(34:35):
you're in a better position to answer this question than
I am. If if you're standing up there in the
podium at the end and they put a mic in
your face and you say thanks to the Lord above,
what will you be meaning by saying that?
Speaker 2 (34:53):
I mean I will be, but you know, I'll probably
be thinking about my family a lot, Thankful for my wife,
thankful for my daughter, thankful for my son, thankful my parents,
thankful for my my brother and his family, and my
sister and her family and my little sister. And I'll
(35:17):
be just extremely reflective of the journey that even got
me to that point. And you know, it's it's it's
been pretty cool the last couple of weeks, just people
from all different seasons of my life have reached out
to me, and you know it it's and it's just
(35:39):
all it's all just grace, it's all just the Lord
has truly, you know, just paved away.
Speaker 4 (35:51):
Not I don't really know how else to say it.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
And you know, even if it didn't happen, I would
be thankful for my life up until this point, you know,
and that that truly is like a dream of mine
to have a camera or have a microphone put in
my face and say, you know, I'd really just like
to take my Lord, save Jesus Christ. So if that happens,
that'll be really that'll be really awesome.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Yeah, I mean it inspired me as a young kid.
I remember David Robert Robinson pleaded for the San Antonio's furst.
Speaker 4 (36:25):
I think he actually went to my church growing up.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
Oh we'll see look at this in Antonio. I'll never
forget the day I watched him as a little kid
say I want to thank Jesus, and as a little
kid following Jesus going Wow, there's an adult that I
admire that I look up to that's loving the same
thing that's desiring the same thing that's pursuing the same thing.
(36:48):
It inspired me and I'll never forget it. Boon, thank
you for the time. I know this is a busy
couple of weeks. I know there's a lot going on
in your life, but your story is one that not
only will be shared, it should be shared. And I'm
so excited. I'm so excited to see you compete, to
watch you compete, but also to know that at the
(37:09):
back end of everything, I have a little bit of
a glimpse, and so do our listeners at your not
only will your mind will be thinking as you're flying
down the hill, but also to know what you're driving forces.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (37:23):
Yeah, thanks Ben, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Hey friends, thanks for listening or watching. Would you take
a second, follow, subscribe, and drop a comment. It really
helps
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