Road to Gold: Louie Vito

mike lewis

• September 21 2009
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Louie Vito has been everywhere this summer, both in the press and physically. From learning new tricks including double corks in the pipe at Hood, to setting them down in New Zealand, he has showed his mettle on a board. And now he’s looking to show that style on a whole new stage as he takes on ballroom dancing on ABC’s Dancing With The Stars. We caught up with Vito last week to find out what we can expect for the show’s September 21 premiere, and for the rest of the season as this U.S. Snowboarding team favorite travels the road to Vancouver.

I was checking out your Dancing With The Stars blog and digging the outfit. Have you talked with 686 about making a sleeveless option?

I should talk with Mike [West] about that (laughing). That’s funny because the clothes are so different than anything I would ever wear or have ever worn in my life. The sleeveless get up is totally funny and I laugh every time I look at myself in it. But then I guess if you were a Latin dancer, this is what you wear, and I kind of make this thing look good (laughing). But if someone was coming into snowboarding, a Latin dancer say, they would think the clothes were super big and funny.

How do you think you’re coming along on the dancing?

It’s coming. It’s definitely weird, in snowboarding you’re always hunched over and there’s no one telling you to do something a certain way. That’s what’s great about snowboarding. You can put your own creativity in it, your own style. With dancing, it’s like “no, your shoulders have to be back, this is the right posture, these are the right steps.” You can’t really put your own flair into the posture because that’s the way the frame is supposed to be. You’re the frame, the girl’s the picture kind of thing.

It’s one set style.

Yeah, exactly, it’s way more formal than snowboarding is.

That’s gotta be kind of different to get used to.

In snowboarding you can do whatever you want, but in this you have someone telling you “that’s completely wrong. Relax.” There are so many little things that you don’t even think about. Having your shoulders down, rolled back, your head up - it sounds easy in your head, but as soon as you start moving, I’m hunched over because that’s how I stay balanced. You’re not going to do a frontboard on a rail and be leaning back with your shoulders back. You’re going to be hunched over, looking underneath your arm. It’s the complete opposite from everything I’m used to or have ever done.

Stoked to see how the learning curve is coming along.

Yeah, I’m interested to see too. They film every practice and put together a package that will be on the show. It will be exactly one month since I arrived, met my partner, and got introduced to this the day I flew in from New Zealand on August 21st . It’s going to be interesting to see the progression, because I was definitely wondering how I was going to do this when I first got here.

Do you think this will have a positive impact for your sponsors?

I talked to all them before I decided to do this show and made sure everyone was cool with it and we were all on the same page. I’m not trying to be anything on this show. I’m trying to be myself and act like I normally act. I think that’s the best way to do it. As long as I’m myself – people are gonna hate, but let them.

There’s definitely that. What would you say to those people?

You’re going to have hate no matter what. I’ve had people hate on me because I do contests, you have people hate because who you ride for. I’m not trying to please anyone. I do what I do because that’s what I want to do. That’s what snowboarding is about. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. You gotta have some balls to wear some of the stuff that I’m wearing. I’ve gotten pretty comfortable with myself and am stepping out of my comfort zone and my element to submerge myself in the dance world and try to find a balance between the two.

It seems like you’ve been getting mobbed. What’s it like going from being snow-famous to famous-famous?

It’s really funny. In the mainstream my partner is more famous than I am. I’m not doing it to become some Hollywood superstar. I’m doing it because I weighed the pros and cons and it seemed like a fun, good opportunity. I’m bringing people that don’t know anything about snowboarding in and theyr’e going to learn about it. With the Olympics coming up and me being a snowboarder it’s going to spark some interest – I’m sure some people are going to hate on that: “we don’t want them in our industry.” But in this kind of economy, anybody who wants to snowboard, who’s to say that they can’t. They’re only going to help the riders and the companies and the industry by buying the product.

What does the Olympics mean to snowboarding and to you?

I think the Olympics are good for snowboarding. Whether people like it or not, snowboarding is growing really fast and it’s getting more and more towards the mainstream. It’s just inevitable; it’s going to happen. I think the Olympics are good because it shows people who might not have any idea about snowboarding what we are all about. There are always going to be negatives to things, but overall I think the Olympics are good and it’s helping the industry grow. People that are watching the Olympics are going to go out and buy snowboards and buy from the companies that are supporting the riders, so in the long run its helping us.

With the economy and everything, the more people that start snowboarding the better. It definitely isn’t a sport where you can just save up a little bit of money and just go out and get going. It’s a pretty expensive sport.

The Olympics isn’t run by snowboarders as much as it should be, but it’s not like it’s portraying snowboarding in a bad light. There might be things about it that you don’t like, but for the public, at least they are seeing the halfpipe action, the best halfpipe riders are doing the contest,  and the public is seeing the best riding really.

Seeing the caliber of riding that was going down in New Zealand, it seems like going into an Olympic year really gets people out of their comfort zone and puts the level of progression on turbo.

Yeah it’s crazy, halfpipe will be barely progressing and then the year before going into the Olympics it just skyrockets. I mean the last Olympics, leading up there were a few people doing back to back 1080’s, and then by the year before or the year of, if you didn’t have back to back tens you weren’t going to be doing too hot. This year, you are really seeing the different versions of double corks. Everyone is going bigger, the pipes are bigger…the caliber of riding just skyrockets.

What’s your take on the current contest schedule and qualification – do you think it’s a solid system?

Yeah, it’s one of the best. I’d much rather do the Grand Prix. Some countries qualify through the World Cups, which aren’t my favorite thing. Our pool of riders is so deep, someone who doesn’t qualify one day could win the contest potentially the next day. We cycle a lot of people through. If you are going to qualify through World Cups,  then there’s only going to be like the five or six people that can do every single World Cup because you only have so many start spots. The Grand Prix gives everyone a chance . I mean you can’t pick just four people and say, “alright these are the four that are going to qualify.” You can’t do that. There are so many people who have the ability to qualify, so that’s what the Grand Prix allows. I’d rather have it where only people who are eligible for the Olympics could do the Grand Prix. Europeans can do the first three. I’d rather have it be like a true qualifiers. Bang out the contest and get it done rather than make it a huge qualifying day, finals day and that kind of thing.

Especially with how tightly packed your schedule is, it would probably make things a little easier on you?

I mean it’s just going to be pretty hectic. I love contests but too man of them could definitely make you a little stressed out and ready to free ride.

On that note, and as far as training with the team and the contest schedule, has it changed what snowboarding means to you and how you think of it?

No, not at all I love contests. I love the pressure of having to do it right then and there. And there is such a good huge crew of my homies that do contests that when you go to an event you are still hanging out and riding. I mean you are always going to have your serious people. But all the crew that I hang out with, we are all about having fun even if we are at a contest. If you keep going to contest, contest, contest, I mean you want to be able to go to learn new tricks, but it’s nice when you get a little bit of a break and can go practice everything. I love pressure but sometimes it’s nice to get a break from it.

What do you think makes the U.S. program so successful?

I think it’s just that we have so many good mountains and resorts over here. Years ago it would be just a few resorts throwing down, but recently it’s just been so many different mountains: Colorado, Mammoth, Park City, all these mountains are putting up sick halfpipes and keeping them well maintained.   I think that’s what other countries kind of lack. We have such good park builders. You can wake up and go ride on any day of the week and normally the park’s pretty sick.

How much pressure do your sponsors put on you around the Games and do you have different incentive clauses around them?

I’ve always had competition incentives, whether it’s TV or results. The Olympics are a goal of mine, they would obviously love to have me make the team, but they understand that at the end of the day, it’s just a contest. Most of the companies I ride for, it’s because I have a good relationship with them. I like the product, I like the people, and we understand each other. It’s nice to have that feeling where if worse comes to worse, they’re still going to be backing me.

Dancing With The Stars debuts  tonight on ABC at 8/7 central, and Louie could use some help from fans: the votingline for Louie and Chelsea is 1-800-86634-06. Tune in and cast your vote, and be sure to check out his blog on People Magazine’s site.