Leon Vockensperger has packed a lot of snowboarding into his 22 years. He’s been on the one to watch list since he was a young boy but in the past few seasons he has really started to make people take notice. Last week in Chur, he earned his first spot in the Beijing Olympics, something he is of course excited about but is, in his words, just another day snowboarding. He isn’t afraid to stand out, with a nail polish sponsor, a love of quirky edits and some Instagram posts that attract hateful comments, Leon does his thing and brushes the haters aside as he steps up the ranks of professional snowboarding. Here is his Pleasure Interview.
Interview by Tom Kingsnorth

You recently got on Red Bull, why is that such a big deal and what does that mean for you?
Yeah, I just got recently on Red Bull, that's true. I still catch myself forgetting about it, because I'm not used to it just yet but already it’s made such a big difference to me. It’s already really boosted my confidence and before that, I had a really hard time believing in myself. My dad always tells me that it doesn't matter what happens in my snowboarding life with results or sponsor deals or whatever, if you look in the mirror, you gotta like what you see and be the same person when things like sponsors and all the results aren't there anymore, that’s what I am focusing on and I think I'm pretty good at doing that so far. I'm not putting too much value on one single sponsorship, of course it helps me to keep following my dreams and keep pushing, but at the same time it's just another sponsor and it doesn't really change anything. It changes a lot but it doesn't change anything, if that makes any sense.

You have really developed as a rider the past few seasons, what has been your secret to push your level?
Well, I was never this naturally talented snowboarder. I had to work hard for it. My coach now is the same coach I had when I was 13 and back then he told me that I was too old and not good enough to make the team. I mean, that hit me really hard and I was devastated but now I am so thankful he told me that because it fired me up and just made me want to prove everybody wrong. I was just like, “Fuck all you guys, I'm gonna show you.” But it goes to show that if you really work for it that it can happen. There are many snowboarders out there that are naturally talented and don’t have to work so hard to learn tricks, they can attempt something and land it first try. Personally, I had to take so many bails and slowly it got better over time. Now I don’t have to try tricks for so long before I land them.
Having to work hard gave me a really good work ethic and I think having to work so hard is one of my strengths. If it all came so easy, I probably wouldn’t work so hard. Now, I love to put work in, my sweat, blood and tears go into snowboarding. At the gym I work hard, it’s not snowboarding but it makes me ride better and helps me to snowboard longer and get injured less. Make sacrifices and set priorities.

How did you find these times during the pandemic, were you motivated to snowboard a lot or did you just feel like hanging around at home?
I think I always try to see that there are two sides to the coin. Of course, it's a crisis, but at the same time, the crisis can be a chance to strive and see things like that as a chance to work on myself and train in that time and luckily, we could ride still. I was frothing to go board, especially after my injury. I was trying to get back on board and feel-good riding again. There were some times, especially in the summer, where I was like, “Shit, I wish I had gone to the beach and surfed more”, but I feel now, it was the best time to prep myself before the Olympics. I don't want to look back in the future and think and wish I could have done more and have regrets. I'm still frothing to snowboard and feel like it just gets more and more fun. Plus, I have time to surf in the future too.

There are a lot of good snowboarders right now, who do you look up to and why?
This is a hard question and I was just speaking with Danny Kass about this in Saas-Fee a few weeks ago. We both concluded that you can't really have one favourite rider because there are many riders that you like specific things about them. For example, one guy might have great style, another has an amazing work ethic and the next has this awesome trick that you love. I like a mixture of riders, but one, and it’s almost cliché to say, is Mark [McMorris], because he has been putting in the work and he’s been grinding for many years; I really look at it up to that. Then there's Marcus [Kleveland], who always comes up with the most fucked up shit, like crazy tricks, insane new rotations that you didn't think would be possible on a snowboard. Then there's Rene [Rinnekangas], who puts many things together on the contest side; he's killing it in competitions while filming street parts and just embodying having fun while boarding, which I really, really like. Those guys, for now, are my three boarders. Of course, there are legends and all that stuff, but right now, at the time we're in, those are my top three.

It seems that Saas-Fee was productive for you, but many people complain that camps like that mean that becoming a pro snowboarder is getting tougher if you don’t have the finances to attend private camps. What are your thoughts about it?
I can 100% agree with that because I've been in that situation myself. I've been struggling with that for the last couple of years because we didn't get too much budget in the past. We have good support from the German Federation, but snowboarding in Germany is not as financially sound as skiing and big sports like that. They get all the money and we are more of the outsiders, almost like the outlaws. In the past, we didn’t get the financial support we needed, that I really depended on. Originally, I relied on my parents to support me to send me to sessions like that, but in my first years, I just didn't go there because it was too expensive and we couldn’t afford it. We spoke about it a lot, even now we still speak about if it makes financial sense to go to those kinds of camps. You can’t go to everything, because it costs a lot. That being said, if there are kids out there who are willing to put in the work and ready to grind for it, there are definitely ways to make it as a pro. You can do so much stuff even on the small jumps in Hintertux before you go to those huge jumps at Prime Park. First, riders need to work on all their fundamentals and build up a good riding base, so when you eventually go to the Prime Park sessions or Saas-Fee, everything becomes easier and less risky as you did all the basic work before.

After Chur you’ve qualified for the Olympics. Do you see the Olympics as just another contest or are you more stoked on them than others?
I mean, I tried to see it as just another contest, but I feel the whole media thing and the build-up leading to the Olympics make it a huge deal. Everybody's trying to put so much pressure on you to make it there. I still try to see it as just another contest, but don't get me wrong, I'm frothing to go to the Olympics, because I've never been there and it's such a big deal, but when you're there, you still just do your run, same as anywhere else. You shouldn't think, “Oh, it's the Olympics, now I gotta do my Olympic run.” You know, I'm just snowboarding and I'm just doing my thing the same as usual. I'm looking forward to go there, and I'm really hyped to see how all the after-parties will be.

Chur was a sick event; many people hate on the FIS, but what do you think of it? Is it time to give the FIS a break now?
I think that in general there are a lot of good things and of course a lot of things that can be improved. A good example is that the WSL (World Surf League) has easily accessible live streams and has all the rights to show contests, whereas FIS contests are sometimes really hard to find. At the same time, I'm just happy that we have an organisation that gives us a stage where we can present our sport and present snowboarding. Chur, for example, was one of the best Big Airs ever done, I think. I spoke with Anna [Gasser] when we were looking down from the top and saw all of these people in the crowd and she said the only thing she would compare this to was Air+Style back in the days when it was peaking. That made me really happy to hear because it shows that snowboarding is going in a good direction again. I feel the old hats hating on FIS are like freeskiers hating snowboarders and snowboarders hating freeskiers; it's so old-school, it's so 2005 and we should keep that shit in the past and let's just make it as sick as possible in the future.

Snowboard Germany seem to have a good bunch of people behind it, how does having a federation like that behind you help you as a rider?
It helps a lot, I feel like just from talking to a lot of other riders and homies who are on the same path as I am, 90% of them are just complaining about their federation and team, and I'm like, "Oh shit, I don't feel that way about my Federation at all." Of course, there are things where I'm like, "Brah, what the fuck are you guys doing?" But I gotta say, I got to give it to Snowboard Germany; they're doing a great job. Also, you just got to know the people on-site with us, but you should know the people from the office because they're just as hyped to have our back and help us out as much as possible. I feel like what separates us from all these other federations is that we are run by people who care about snowboarding and are not just kooks. I think we are on a good way, we have a lot of stuff to work on for sure, but I think it's going to be a sick program for all the kids coming up in Germany. We're kind of the guinea pigs who have to pave the way, which is not always easy, but I'm just super stoked to see what is going to come in the future and see what we also help to create in the future.

Aside from snowboarding, what do you like to do in your spare time?
I like to surf, as mentioned before, I love surfing, and it's really up there with snowboarding for me. It warms my heart when I do it; it's a good balance between snowboarding that uses a lot of lower body and core and then you have surfing, which is more focused on the upper body. So it's a great balance between winter sports and summer. I love the travelling that comes with surfing. I'm also new to film photography; I wouldn’t say I am a photographer yet, but I'm just trying to catch good moments and love to edit. I like to create shit; it doesn't matter if it's photos, videos, or music. I started to DJ as a summer project and I wanted to teach myself how to DJ. I am still learning that but it went good too.

Where would you like to see yourself in 5 year’s time?
Phew, I’ll be 27 then. An Olympic podium would be fire. I see myself on a beach because I think I would have earned myself a long surf trip, maybe with a girlfriend, although I’d have to find one by then. I would have liked to have done a sick movie project too. When I think about it, I want to be a sick snowboarder in every aspect of it. I want to progress in all areas of snowboarding in that time.

You can follow Leon on his Instagram here.
Front page photo by Red Bull