0:02

We all know our capabilities and we all know

0:04

that we can stand on top of the podium.

0:06

It's just a matter of fact who can really

0:09

put it down when it matters. Hi

0:12

guys, this is Cedric and I'm

0:14

back with another episode of Mindset

0:16

Win to keep you

0:18

going through the long winter days. And

0:21

if you are located in a

0:24

hotter climate, well, lucky

0:26

you because I'm very, very jealous.

0:29

I hope you're all enjoying the festive

0:31

spirit, but it's a hectic season

0:33

so it's really great to have a bit

0:35

of space to sit down with you all.

0:39

Take a breath and listen to

0:41

an episode that's perfect for the

0:44

snowy setting. I

0:46

am bringing you a full interview

0:49

with Markus Cleveland, a pro snowboarder

0:51

from Norway who's no stranger to

0:53

icy conditions. We've heard

0:56

from him before talking about dealing

0:58

with pressure and I

1:00

feel like that's an experience that we can

1:02

all relate to and learn from. So

1:05

I'm super excited to hear even

1:07

more from him today. If

1:10

any of you have ever faced an injury, you

1:12

know how hard it can be to get back

1:14

on your feet and rebuild

1:16

your confidence. It can

1:18

be so difficult learning to trust your body again,

1:22

especially when you are under

1:24

pressure to do well and

1:26

perform. And here, Markus

1:28

gets real with us about how challenging

1:31

this can be. My

1:38

name is Markus Cleveland. I am from

1:41

Dumbos, Norway. I'm 23 years

1:43

old and I snowboard. Right

1:46

now, the level of snowboarding is insane. It's

1:49

through the roof and every

1:51

trick that we're doing is pretty crazy. So

1:54

right now we have an airbag that

1:56

we usually practice on. And

1:58

it helps a lot because then you can... try out more

2:01

difficult kind of tricks and more

2:03

spins and everything. But

2:05

I'm kind of scared for the future of

2:07

snowboarding if we keep on spinning because like

2:10

we don't really know when to stop and

2:12

the jumps are kind of getting bigger and it's

2:15

getting even more scarier by like every

2:17

single year that's passing by. I kind

2:20

of want to try and go a different

2:23

direction in snowboarding and try to be

2:25

a little bit more creative instead

2:28

of just spin. Riding

2:30

contests is super fun and having

2:32

the adrenaline and everything kind of just

2:34

keeps me going because that's what

2:37

I feel like snowboarding is to me. Getting the

2:39

adrenaline, landing new tricks, the feeling

2:41

of being with friends. Just

2:43

like having a really good time is all that

2:45

matters and everything else is just a bonus I

2:47

feel like. When

2:50

I'm under pressure I feel like I always do

2:52

better because then I really

2:54

know that I need to land and I

2:57

feel like that's a really good thing in this sport.

3:00

I remember like the first couple of contests that

3:02

I did I was so nervous couldn't really handle

3:04

anything and always like

3:07

ended up last because

3:09

I was so nervous. But I feel like

3:11

the more that you do things the more you get

3:13

used to it and if you

3:15

like get one podium or do well at

3:17

one contest you want to do well

3:19

at like basically every single contest. And

3:22

once you get that feeling that's when it

3:24

kind of starts to fall into pieces and

3:27

to have that thing and

3:31

kind of a young age I feel like that really helped

3:33

me turning into the snowboarders

3:35

that I am today. I've

3:37

always loved snowboarding and that's the only thing

3:39

that I've basically done my whole life. So

3:42

yeah I don't really know where I

3:44

would be without snowboarding. The

3:47

goals for me is just like ride a

3:50

lot of snowboard be confident yeah just be

3:52

a good person I guess. I

3:54

feel like I always have small goals in

3:56

life and I mean you can

3:59

always think big. You need

4:01

to dream. That's a

4:03

really good thing to do. But it

4:05

is super difficult and you can't do

4:07

well all the time. So it's

4:09

like, yeah, you gotta have small goals. And

4:13

if you make your main goal, that's like, that's

4:15

a really good thing. And it really gives

4:18

you a good mindset and a good feeling in

4:20

your body. And I feel like if

4:23

you do that, it

4:25

will be easier the next time to kind of maintain

4:28

it. If you try a trick for more

4:31

than 10 times, you'll end up starting to

4:33

lose focus and do

4:35

everything different. So

4:37

then you need to go back to another trick

4:39

and then wait for another

4:41

opportunity to try the trick again.

4:44

But if it's a contest where you do not

4:47

well and you're bummed, I give

4:50

myself like half an

4:52

hour hour to be mad. And then after

4:54

that hour, I'm like, okay, I need it.

4:56

Stop being mad and get back on

4:58

the board. You

5:01

gotta be harsh on yourself sometimes. And

5:03

yeah, but only for a decent

5:06

amount of time. After

5:10

the injury, it

5:12

was a long road, that's for sure. I lay

5:14

down on my knees, because I sat down on

5:16

my knees and I was like, okay, this is,

5:19

something's not right. And then I start to feel like

5:21

if my knee was dislocated. So I kind of just

5:23

like tried to feel my

5:25

right side of my knee, is the kneecap here?

5:27

Or is it like, I couldn't feel my kneecap.

5:30

And then I just

5:32

realized, okay, it's not here. It's all

5:34

gone. And then all

5:36

the people started to come down to

5:38

me and yeah, I

5:41

got moved to the hospital and yeah,

5:43

had surgery. So

5:46

it was, yeah, it was terrible.

5:48

It was not a good feeling.

5:51

Having just like small goals through the day really

5:54

helped me. And

5:56

then once I tried to like, or saw that I can really

5:59

get to those points. You wanted to

6:01

think bigger and yeah,

6:04

main goal was for sure to get back to snowboarding,

6:06

but there was a lot of things that I need

6:08

to go through first. So did a

6:11

lot of physio, a lot of walking

6:13

in like the pool and stuff just to get

6:15

my rhythm back. It was a

6:17

lot of things, but as

6:19

I said, the feeling of getting back to snowboarding the

6:22

first time was yeah, something

6:24

else. And I

6:26

mean, it hurt. It really hurt.

6:29

It wasn't a good feeling. So

6:32

I had another surgery after that just

6:35

to remove some scar tissue and everything.

6:37

And then after the second surgery, it

6:39

was pretty much

6:41

all uphill from there. So

6:44

I knew how much that I could

6:47

trust my knee and I knew the limits

6:49

of it. And

6:52

if it started to hurt, I was like, okay, I'm not going

6:54

to push it at all. So I

6:56

feel like I was really patient in a

6:58

good way because I went to X Games

7:00

the year after and I had an invite

7:02

for a big air and slope

7:04

style and knuckle hook. I

7:07

did knuckle hook, but I did not feel ready at

7:09

all for the slope style and the big air. So

7:12

I skipped that and I basically

7:14

skipped the whole season until March and then

7:16

it was X Games Norway. And

7:18

that was the first kind of big

7:21

contest back because then I kind of felt a little bit

7:23

more ready, but I was still not 100%. So

7:27

I feel like I was kind of riding it like 75%

7:29

in that contest, but it was still a

7:32

good feeling of being back in the contest

7:34

mode. And then I

7:36

kind of just used the summer, used half

7:40

of the next winter to kind

7:42

of get back into it. And that was

7:44

really a good move, I

7:47

feel like, because then my knee was really,

7:49

okay, it's ready to go. And

7:51

then the next season after that was kind of like

7:53

the best season that I've ever had. Getting

7:56

the feeling back of standing on a podium and

7:59

really... feeling that you have the

8:01

tricks to be on top of the podium

8:03

again really yeah it's the

8:05

best feeling in the world. I

8:08

feel like I'm always motivated to

8:10

get back to snowboarding and to

8:12

do well I mean there's always

8:14

new chances we have a lot

8:16

of contests during this the winter

8:18

and yeah there's always opportunities same

8:21

with tricks there's always opportunities to land the

8:24

tricks I just feel like if you really

8:26

start to dig yourself down it doesn't

8:28

really work out so you gotta try and be

8:30

happy try and be positive all the single time

8:32

and just live a good life. X

8:36

Games is always like one of the craziest

8:38

competitions with tricks and stuff because

8:40

like everybody wants to win

8:43

and everybody has the tricks to be on

8:45

top of the podium and X Games is

8:47

really the place where everybody's

8:49

trying to throw down so yeah

8:52

I don't know I didn't really think of

8:54

the quad quirk when I went into the

8:56

competition it just kind of happened in the

8:58

contest I guess but it's always

9:00

super scary to try a new trick I've

9:03

tried it like once before the X Games

9:06

yeah it's a adrenaline pump for sure when

9:08

you drop in and you know that you're

9:10

gonna try and do one of the biggest

9:12

tricks that you can but

9:15

it's always a nice feeling to land one that's

9:17

that's for sure. Olympics

9:19

is every single four year and

9:23

it's not every year you don't really get the

9:25

opportunity as often as the other contest

9:27

so you definitely want to do

9:29

well even though it's basically

9:31

the same contest as everything

9:33

else but it's just like

9:35

going into the Olympics is a different

9:38

vibe and a different mindset because

9:40

everybody's kind of like thinking okay

9:43

you're gonna do well if

9:45

you do well in like a contest before the Olympics

9:48

everybody kind of has a feeling of you doing

9:50

well and I don't know I

9:52

don't really feel the pressure at the Olympics it's

9:54

more putting the pressure on myself to do well

9:58

but yeah I've never really gotten the perfect

10:01

vibe in the Olympics because the first

10:03

year was Pyeongchang. It was a fun

10:05

course, a pretty fun big air, but

10:07

I just didn't really get the confidence

10:09

that I needed to ride and

10:12

I feel that was the same in China

10:14

last year. It was cold and

10:16

my body doesn't really function really well in the

10:18

cold and yeah it was

10:20

just difficult to find the

10:22

right rhythm in the snowboarding. But

10:27

yeah the next Olympics it's going to be in

10:29

Italy and hopefully

10:32

we make it there. We

10:34

all know our our capabilities

10:37

and we all know that we can stand on

10:39

top of the podium. It's just

10:41

a matter of fact who can really put it

10:43

down when it matters and some

10:45

people can be really lucky with

10:47

the wind or lucky with the lightning or

10:51

every factor kind of plays in. But

10:53

I don't really think of it as often

10:55

or as much. I

10:57

just want to try and be in my

10:59

own mindset, be focused

11:02

and yeah just

11:04

drop in and try and do the best that I can

11:06

do. I don't

11:08

have any rituals, I don't really

11:10

do anything. I just

11:12

wake up making myself a decent

11:15

breakfast if I'm hungry. Yeah

11:18

it all depends on the day but yeah

11:20

I don't really have any any

11:22

special things that I do before dropping in. As

11:24

I said I kind of just take it as

11:27

it comes. Just listen to music I guess that's

11:29

the only thing. The one thing

11:31

that's really helped me in competitions

11:34

training basically everything

11:36

with snowboarding has to be that

11:38

I always listen to music. It kind

11:40

of calms my nerves and gets

11:43

me on the right mindset I

11:45

feel like. So music it's always

11:47

been there helping me with basically

11:49

everything and then just trying to

11:51

keep as calm as possible. I

11:54

feel like that's the go-to for me. If

11:56

it's a bad day you put on music and then it's a

11:59

good day. And that's what I feel like music really

12:02

helps me with. This is kind

12:04

of a funny thing, because if we have practice

12:07

and I have a really good practice, that

12:09

usually means that I don't do well. And

12:12

if I have a really bad practice, that

12:15

usually means that, okay, I'm kind of mad

12:18

and I'm super focused. That's

12:20

usually when I do the best. Because

12:22

like when I have a really good practice, I

12:25

kind of feel like things is kind

12:27

of easy. And I feel like,

12:29

okay, I can do this. And that kind

12:31

of messes up. I

12:33

almost need to like have a

12:36

bad practice just to be focused. I

12:39

kind of feel that I'm

12:41

really the more relaxed type of person

12:43

when it comes to contests and new

12:45

tricks and everything. I'm

12:47

just always standing up top, just looking

12:49

at everybody else and trying

12:51

to think of what trick

12:53

that I should do or what should

12:56

I do to get through this

12:58

qualification. I'm not really

13:00

too stressed about anything. That's more

13:02

the nerves coming in when I'm

13:05

about to drop. You

13:08

hear the music really well when you're standing

13:10

up top ready to drop in. And then

13:12

once you drop in, the music just goes

13:14

silent. Everything is gone. Then you're just like

13:17

in your own zone and

13:19

kind of on autopilot. And

13:21

then once you land again on

13:23

the last jump or the jump that you want

13:26

to hit, it's like, boom, there

13:28

again. The

13:30

main goal for the season is not

13:32

to get injured. That's like the number

13:34

one priority every single season. Don't get

13:36

injured. But build up

13:39

the confidence to feel really confident

13:41

on the board and try to

13:43

ride a lot of contests. We

13:45

have the world champs coming up. We have

13:47

X Games, World

13:49

Cups, Yeah,

13:51

you want to do well at all the contests,

13:54

but at the same time,

13:56

snowboarding isn't a crazy, like

13:58

the level is insane. It's hard. to do well,

14:01

but you just gotta keep pushing and try

14:03

to be happy and do your best. For

14:06

sure, success is also winning. The

14:09

sport that we do, everybody wants to win.

14:12

Everybody's aiming for it, but you

14:15

can't really look at it that

14:17

way either. I mean, you gotta have

14:19

fun. You gotta push yourself

14:22

in a way that you don't really lose

14:24

the interest in it. And

14:26

to kind of balance everything with the

14:28

success of being able to snowboard and

14:30

being able to travel, being able to

14:32

meet new people, and

14:35

explore things, I feel like that's a success in

14:38

itself. I feel like

14:40

everybody in the contest scene is kind of

14:42

on the same level. I

14:44

mean, we're all a big group of friends.

14:47

Of course, everybody wants to beat each other,

14:49

but at the same time, you wanna see

14:51

other people do well. There's

14:56

not a rivalry in our

14:58

sport at all, as is in Formula

15:00

One or different kind

15:02

of sports. So I feel

15:04

like snowboarding is definitely one of

15:07

the more relaxed, friendly

15:09

sports. I

15:12

would hate it to be a super

15:14

bad rivalry. I would lose interest

15:16

if it was like that, I think. The

15:19

atmosphere is everything, and

15:22

yeah, all the love that we give each other

15:24

and everything is just, yeah, it's a good vibe.

15:28

As long as I'm happy with snowboarding, I feel like

15:30

that's my success. This

15:33

was an interview that really resonated

15:36

for me, so thank you so

15:38

much, Marcus, for sharing those insights.

15:41

I know how easy it can be

15:43

to get caught up in trying to

15:46

reach your goals, but it's so important

15:48

to check in with yourself and make

15:50

sure you're having fun along the

15:52

way. Is that something

15:55

you find easy to do? I'd

15:57

love to hear your tips and tricks for making...

16:00

a challenge even more enjoyable.

16:03

And if you related to what Marcus

16:05

had to share you can go back

16:07

and listen to this episode from season

16:09

1 where you can hear

16:11

more about how he deals with pressure and

16:13

how music has helped him along the way.

16:17

That's the end of this season

16:19

of Mindset Win. I

16:21

really hope you enjoyed listening to

16:24

these conversations with elite athletes. If

16:27

there is anything that's really made an

16:29

impact on your life, however small, please

16:31

let us know. And

16:33

tell us which athletes you'd love

16:35

to have on the podcast. Email

16:37

podcast at redbull.com or leave a

16:39

comment. We really want to hear

16:41

from you. Thanks for listening.