Fox 9’s Courtney Godfrey joins Team USA as a para-snowboarder

EMILY: A familiar face on your TV screen is chasing her dreams. Fox 9 reporter Courtney Godfrey has been named to Team USA Paris snowboard team. It's an amazing accomplishment that she has been working toward for years, has meant taking breaks from reporting to pursue. Courtney joins me now to talk about her snowboarding success. So first of all, congratulations.

COURTNEY GODFREY: Well, thank you so much, Emily. I really appreciate your kind words.

EMILY: So for those unfamiliar with your story, you lost the bottom half of your leg after a boating accident seven years ago, right?

COURTNEY GODFREY: Yes, it'll be seven years this month. I was on Christmas Lake out in the Western suburbs in Minnesota, doing what all Minnesotans do in the summer, enjoying the lake when-- my husband was driving the boat, he made a quick turn-- freak accident.

I fell out. My foot hit the inboard propeller, and that was when I became an amputee. They delivered the news at HCMC, where I received incredible care. And from that point forward, I've just been navigating this life in the limb-loss community.

EMILY: This is such a big and small question at the same time, but how did your life change?

COURTNEY GODFREY: Yeah, every question is a big and small question in this world. There's so much going on. In the hospital it was my-- I had two top concerns, and one is funny and one is very serious. And my top two concerns were that I would wear high heels again. That was very important to me personally. I loved shoes. And the other-- judge away, but that was important to me.

And then the other concern was that I would snowboard again. I grew up in northern California. My husband grew up a ski racer in Minnesota. So that was our pastime. That was our number one hobby, was skiing and snowboarding. And so my number one concern was, would I snowboard again?

And four months after my amputation, I got back on my snowboard. It wasn't pretty. It obviously wasn't as easy as it was with two feet. But from there, things just took off. And I know we're going to get there, but I got hooked up with the right people and went on this crazy path from TV reporter to professional snowboarder.

EMILY: Yeah, well, that is absolutely where we're headed. So let's see. You had to take a leave of absence from reporting on air in 2021 to pursue your passion. Why take that step to start competitive racing?

COURTNEY GODFREY: Well, and I think this goes back to the question you just asked, where does your life go after losing a limb? And I think that life doesn't always go as you planned it. In fact, it often doesn't go as you planned it.

EMILY: Mm-hmm.

COURTNEY GODFREY: But in those moments where things suddenly change course, you have a decision to make. You can wallow and you can feel sorry for yourself. You can do nothing to change it. Or you can actively seek a way out, seek a way to turn this obstacle or roadblock, if you want to call it, into something even better than what you had imagined.

And for me, I wanted to do something positive with this extreme trauma that I had experienced. And so through my advocacy, I am a TV reporter, I report the news. I have been reporting the news for the last eight, nine years in Minneapolis on Fox 9. Because of that, my accident was very public. And what happened to me was very much in the public eye, and everyone was watching me to see what I did with it.

And I knew that I wanted to inspire others and help others. And so I, through my advocacy and through helping others, I got hooked up with some women who were on the US para-snowboard team.

They invited me to come train with them in Utah. And their coach saw me snowboard. And this was back in 2021 before the Paralympics in China. And he said, look, we've got a lot of work to do. I need to change the way you ride, because I had never been professionally taught.

EMILY: Yeah.

COURTNEY GODFREY: I just grew up snowboarding at 10. I'd never been professionally taught. But he said, I think you've got a shot at making the team. And I went to my bosses at Fox 9 and said, hey, I want to do this. And it was, there was no question. They said, go ahead, do it.

And here I am now, a couple of years later, another kid later, a lot of news reporting later, and I'm now on Team USA.

EMILY: That is fantastic. So what does that mean to make Team USA?

COURTNEY GODFREY: Well, I'm still a little bit in shock.

[LAUGHTER]

So it means that I get to wear the red, white, and blue. I get to represent my country, which besides being a mom and birthing my two children, it'll be the greatest honor of my life to wear that uniform. So I started racing in 2021, once that coach said, hey, I think you have a shot.

I showed up with no racing experience. I had never seen a race course before. Most people who snowboard would not go into boardercross. It's absolutely insane. You race alongside three other women through a course that has berms, and turns, and hills, and jumps.

EMILY: Oh my gosh.

COURTNEY GODFREY: And you see who can come out first. Yes, it's really-- you have to be a little crazy to do it. And I had never seen a course before. I just knew I loved to snowboard. And when I showed up for that first race, it was in the Netherlands in 2021, I got second-to-last.

And it was crushing because I had left the only career I'd only ever known. I'd left my child at home, my husband. I had people in Minnesota. I had a coworker who said, you're crazy. You're crazy for leaving your family to do this.

EMILY: Oh, that's supportive.

COURTNEY GODFREY: So I had a lot of doubt. [LAUGHS] Well, that's what we face as women--

EMILY: Yeah.

COURTNEY GODFREY: --unfortunately. But I kept pushing, and I kept showing up, and I worked hard, and I worked my way onto the World Cup circuit. So now I compete as a world cup snowboarder against the best pair of snowboarders in the world. And unfortunately, even after getting my first podium in Canada right before the games, I did not make the cut for the team in China, and I decided to take the next winter off, have another baby.

And then last winter I showed up to a couple things just to stay active with my World Cup points. But I really wasn't training. I hadn't been on snow since having that baby. And so it was a little bit of a shock to get the call when they said, you made Team USA. But I think they saw potential in me that first year.

And so now I am in full-on training mode. I'm doing-- we're obviously not on snow yet. Unfortunately, in America, we don't have the blessing that our European counterparts do to have glaciers year-round to train on. But I'm in the gym every day and mentally and physically preparing myself for this winter when I finally get to race officially on the US Team.

EMILY: Yes, what are your next events?

COURTNEY GODFREY: So all of our competitions are in Europe. There's a couple in Canada. But so all winter I will be training in Utah. I train with a wonderful club team in Utah. And I'll be training in Utah and then we'll be over in Europe a lot competing. So we're just hopping around Europe most of January and February, and then we've got world championships in March in Canada.

And this year is really key for preparing for next winter, which will be the Paralympics in Italy. So the goal obviously is to perform well this winter, which I know, being a mom, having a job, taking all that time off for those things, is-- puts me at a disadvantage. But I'm really pushing it and fully committing this winter so that next winter I can perform well and hopefully make the team to represent my country on the biggest stage in the world and go to the Paralympics.

EMILY: Well, talk about being a mom. You have the best little cheering squad just urging you on. What do you hope that your kids learn from you?

COURTNEY GODFREY: Well, I think-- and this is something I talk about with all women, aside from losing my leg and being an amputee, something I think all women can relate to is struggling to balance it all. Modern society empowers us to pursue the highest level career, but our culture still expects us to be present, organized, creative, loving, a Pinteresty mom, all at the same time.

EMILY: Oh, gosh.

[LAUGHTER]

Pinterest.

COURTNEY GODFREY: Sounds like I can probably relate to some moms listening right now, right?

EMILY: Mm-hmm.

COURTNEY GODFREY: Because it is a pressure that we feel where you just feel like I can't do it all. And I hit this point where I said, I can't do it all. And that's why I took a step back from reporting. I'm only on the air a couple of days a week now. And Fox 9 has been incredibly supportive with that. But I'm able to be present with my kids more.

And like you mentioned, yes, my kids get to see me race. My kids get to see me chasing this dream. And they weren't alive when I lost my leg. I had both my kids after I lost my leg, by the grace of God.

And they get to see that not only is mommy different and she still persists, but she's out there and she's chasing this wild dream. And she isn't just mommy, she's Courtney, the snowboard racer. And they get to see me go through hard things, and they get to see me accomplish some ups and some downs. And I show them how to get through that.

And I just think that for all the naysayers-- there was a co-worker at work who, when I left the first time, said, you're crazy. You should be home with your kids, which unfortunately, some people feel that way, that I shouldn't leave my kids in the US while I'm traveling in Europe, but--

EMILY: Well, Courtney, we will be cheering you on.

COURTNEY GODFREY: Well, thank you. But yeah, so I think that hopefully it's a lesson for my kids and for other amputees around the country that you can do it.

EMILY: Courtney Godfrey is a reporter at Fox 9 and a member of the Team USA para-snowboarding team. Thank you, Courtney.

COURTNEY GODFREY: Thank you.