SJ: You’ve had a few injuries; the worst was probably blowing your knee out. How did that happen and how’d you deal with it?
KD: I was trying to milk it with Curtes [Jeff Curtes, photographer]. We were stuck in Norway and jumping off this stupid little roof into a small landing and there were some trees. I ran into a tree and tore my meniscus and messed up my ACL. It wasn’t too glorious; just trying to get a little shirt hangtag shot. [Laughs.] But I think it was the best thing that ever happened to me as far as my career goes, even though at the time it was the worst thing because I had to take a step back. But it showed me how much I loved snowboarding after doing it for so many years in a row and never taking a break. And then also being able to have time to get in shape and view snowboarding as a job but also as something that I love and have respect for and how fortunate I am.
SJ: After that, you hired Shaun Karp, an NHL trainer, to help you come back, and at a higher fitness level.
KD: I didn’t want to be one of those guys that keeps getting re-injured cause they didn’t do the rehab work. And I was lazy and never worked out and ate like crap so I knew I needed someone to kick it in gear for me. It was him and another guy, and they kind of laid it out for me: “If you want to snowboard and do what you love to do, it’s not that hard to do these things on the side and have fun.” I’d never trained up until that point. I don’t even think I did the stock high-school kid thing where you bench press to try and make your chest bigger. [Laughs.] I think all the great snowboarders are either naturally strong or they work out. Terje … he’s diesel. Even people you would never think of, like Danny Kass for example, who is a tight, strong kid. If you don’t have it naturally, I think you have to work on it. …
—from Scooter Leonard’s interview with Keir Dillon