The Olympic Dream!
YEAR 2!!
What a year it’s been... Memorable to say the least. Before COVID-19 changed normalcy, our rookie Bobsled team had the opportunity to compete overseas and get some European track experience in Austria, Switzerland, and Germany. These tracks are on the World Cup Tour every single year, so it was invaluable experience in the development of our bobsled careers. Fellow Texas Aggie and former 12th Man, Sam Moeller, as the pilot (driver), picked me as his push athlete and we were successful at each track we went to. We posted top 10 push times everywhere we went, in fields of over 40 sleds. We were unable to bring our own equipment to Europe from America, due to the cost of shipping multiple 300-400 kg sleds, but we definitely made the most of the situation. We were in Europe for 19 days; we spent 12 of those days training, 4 of them traveling, and 3 of them recovering for races or exploring the city we were in. Needless to say, we made the most of our time! When we got back to America, we started preparing for National Championships, which are races that feature exclusively American sleds. However, this race was canceled due to COVID-19.
This meant that our off-season started in mid-March, instead of mid-April. On top of that, we were forced into an off-season where we didn’t have access to the Olympic Training Center (which provides housing, food, and workout facilities for Team USA athletes), or even gyms back in our home towns. This reality was detrimental to many, many athletes, which is one reason the 2020 Summer Olympics was postponed. For months, I was forced into a situation where I had to make my own garage weight room, and recreate situations and body angles needed for bobsled training. I had to get creative. This included lifting while wearing a backpack full of rocks and dumbbells, combining different types of resistance training (sandbags, plus rubber bands, plus buckets full of weights), and even using the geography around me, like the hills of San Antonio, for sprint training. As restrictions were eased, thankfully, I have great friends who allowed me to train in their garage gyms that had squat racks and other necessary equipment. However, if you’re from South Texas, you know that you can only go so long lifting weights and training in a garage through the months of May and June. The heat of a South Texas summer can sure take it’s toll. For 2 and a half months, my training was completely modified to a new normal; it wasn’t until early July that I was finally able to get back into a gym that had everything I needed to train properly.
Now I am getting ready to go back to Lake Placid for Team Trials. This is an exciting opportunity to make the National Team, which means I would get to compete on the World Cup Tour this year (assuming that we have a normal season). Training has been going great over the past 2 months and I feel as fast and strong as ever. I’m ready for whatever this season will throw at me, and I’m thankful to God for this opportunity and that I’ve been able to stay healthy.
I’m also extremely thankful for the donations that I have received over the past year. We raised over $6,700 in my rookie season, which paid for about 80% of my travel, lodging, and Bobsled equipment expenses! WOW, was it sure helpful!! I am especially grateful now looking back, considering all of the things COVID-19 has effected. I have 2 more Bobsled seasons before the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, and I will need as much help as I can get to make it there; nutritionally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and financially. I have invested all of my resources into this goal and I am excited for the future! I also know that no matter the outcome, I have truly enjoyed this daily process, and will be able to say that I gave all of my effort into reaching this goal. At the end of the day, whatever the outcome is, it will not change my mindset nor how I feel about my decisions. The process is more important than the product. Whatever the outcome, I know I am becoming a better man, future father, future husband, and future friend to everyone around me through this process, and that is priceless.
I will gladly appreciate any and all financial, verbal, or social support. A donation, a prayer, a “Go Team USA!”, or even a quick sharing of this link are great ways to support my dream! Many bobsled athletes, and other Olympic sport athletes, are entirely self-funded. All funds will go directly to bobsled equipment, airfare, lodging, meals, team fees, and everything else I will need during upcoming bobsled seasons.
Thanks and Gig ‘Em!
Boone Niederhofer
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Howdy!
My name is Boone Niederhofer. I’ve always had a passion for sports--or more specifically, the competition that comes with playing sports. That competitive drive led me down a path characterized by highs and lows, the joy of victory and the sting of defeat. That path also instilled in me an unwavering desire to seek out and overcome new challenges--like becoming a bobsledder from South Texas.
I grew up in San Antonio, TX, graduated from Texas A&M University, and currently reside in Houston, TX. All places that are incredibly hot and humid--not conducive weather for bobsled.
Being a Texan my whole life, my dream was to be a football player, and I was fortunate enough to live out that dream. After feeling overlooked in the recruiting process as a high school senior, I decided to bet on myself and walk on at Texas A&M. I quickly discovered that life as a walk on is, to put it lightly, not very glamorous. For 2 seasons I got to be a blocking dummy/punching bag on the offensive scout team for some of the biggest and strongest defensive players in the SEC (think Myles Garrett), got to wake up early for 5:30 AM workouts 5 times a week, and got to attend all classes required for my petroleum engineering degree. The running joke on the scout team was that we were, “paying to get our [butts] beat everyday!” This process tended to be a grind at times, but I would always remind myself, “this is something I GET to do”, not something I “have” to do. Maintaining a positive attitude and strong work ethic with whatever my hands were given enabled me to be excited about getting to walk into the football facilities everyday. I got to be with some of my closest friends for 10-14 hours a day, got to earn an engineering degree from a top 10 engineering school, and even got to receive a full athletic scholarship after my sophomore year. I learned that there is great value in having a positive attitude and strong work ethic. I finished my career at Texas A&M with 35-ish catches for 300-something yards and 1 touchdown. 
At the end of my career at Texas A&M, it looked like I might get a chance to play football at the next level. This was a life-long dream of mine. Unfortunately, that dream ended before it ever managed to get off the ground. In the 4th quarter of my last regular season game as an Aggie against LSU, I tore my ACL. I had been planning on training for “pro day” the following spring and was gearing up to take my shot at the NFL, but unfortunately, my knee would not allow me that opportunity. My chance came and went, I rehabbed my knee, graduated from A&M, and eventually landed a job in Houston, Texas. Throughout this journey, however, I never lost my desire for competition.
After working in Houston for about a year and a half, a company buyout left me without a job. That was when a buddy of mine who had been competing in bobsled for the last two seasons, fellow Texas Aggie, Sam Moeller, convinced me to try something new. And I mean REALLY new. He got me in touch with one of the bobsled coaches who told me about an upcoming bobsled combine (which consists of a 45 meter sprint, broad jump, and an underhand shotput throw), and an opportunity to compete in The Next Olympic Hopeful. 
(For more info about the show: https://www.teamusa.org/Scouting-Camp-The-Next-Olympic-Hopeful/About https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44Hqg-OQmAs due to agreements with the USOC, I cannot share any results from the show. However, the show airs December 29th on NBC).
With limited time and training, I wasn’t able to put together the performance I knew I was capable of in the combine. Thankfully, I still was able to receive an invitation to the bobsled rookie camp. Falling back on what I learned as a walk on, keeping a positive attitude and strong work ethic, I knew it was time to get back to work. So I hit training. Hard.
Rookie camp was an amazing experience. After being introduced to the Olympic Training Center and seeing how much time, effort, and passion these people invested into their sports, I was able to envision myself in their shoes. I was fired up. With a little bit more time to train, my performance at rookie camp improved, which resulted in an invitation to compete in the National Push Championships against both rookies and veterans the following month.
When I headed back to Lake Placid for the push championships, I had about 2 months of training under my belt. I knew there was still room for improvement, but I was eager to see what my new combine scores would be and where I would finish in the competition. I was able to improve my sprint time by almost half a second (5.51 to 5.07 seconds), my broad jump by almost a third of a meter (2.80m to 3.12m), my throw by almost 1.5 meters (14.7m to 16.1m), and finished in the top 9 in the push competition.
This earned me an invitation to live in Lake Placid at the training center for 6 weeks before the upcoming bobsled season. This time was vital for my development as a bobsled athlete. I have had the opportunity to learn from, and train with, current Team USA members, while learning not only how to push the sled fast on ice, but also how to drive the sled down the track. As a pilot, I have now completed 12 trips from the top of the Lake Placid track, one of the most difficult tracks in the world, and feel very excited for the future. This season, I will be traveling to compete in the North American Cup (in Park City, UT in December and Lake Placid, NY in January), European Cup (in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland in January and February), with the goal of making the National Team and competing in the World Cup in the future.
That leads us to now. What is next? After a series of doors closing and opening through this process, I have a new dream: to be an Olympian for the United States of America. In pursuit of this dream, not unlike my journey as a walk on at Texas A&M, I must once again invest my time, hard work, and finances into a priceless opportunity. Only this time, it is to compete for the greatest country in the world at the Olympic level. I will gladly appreciate any and all financial, verbal, or social support. A donation, a prayer, a “Go Team USA!”, or even a quick sharing of this link are great ways to support my dream! Many bobsled athletes, and other Olympic sport athletes, are entirely self-funded. All funds will go directly to bobsled equipment, airfare, lodging, meals, team fees, and everything else I will need during upcoming bobsled seasons.
Thanks and Gig ‘Em!
Boone Niederhofer
For Sponsorships, please email me using the "contact" button below.
Follow me on instagram (@boone_saw)
And for more updates on my journey follow my blog! → https://boonesn.wixsite.com/niederhofer
