Tara Dakides Interview

Tara Dakides is a boarding babe who loves riding rails, making music and getting big air on late night television. Dakides suffered a concussion and needed several stitches to the back of her head, after she fell 25 feet while attempting a 360 on her snowboard on The Late Show with David Letterman. The wipeout happened less than two weeks after Dakides won a silver medal in snowboarding at the 2004 Winter X Games. She's already won five gold medals at the X Games and is always pushing the limits of women's snowboarding. Her sense of humor, babealicious features and riding style have made her the world's most popular snowboarding goddess. Tara Dakides talked to Kidzworld before the Winter X Games and gave us the goods on her worst wipeouts, how to get sponsored and how to be cool.
KW: What made you first jump on a snowboard?

Tara: I started out skiing, but when I was 13 I started getting into skateboarding and then I got into snowboarding. Skating and snowboarding were kind of similar sports so I just went with it.

Tara's Tumbles

KW: What's the worst injury or wipeout you've ever had snowboarding?
Tara: I've had so many of them. One of the worst was just recently. I was riding a handrail during a practice for a competition. I caught my board on the rail and fell underneath it and hit one of the supporting posts with my leg. I broke by leg, tore my ACL (that's a ligament in the knee,) got a concussion along with 15 stitches in my head, sprained my ankle and did some nerve damage in my toes. That was probably the worst. I was in the hospital for about 14 days. It did a lot of screaming that day. It really hurt.

KW: What would you be doing if you weren't a pro snowboarder?

Tara: I'd probably be surfing a lot more. I'd also like to do something with music. I like to write a lot of songs. Those are two of my favorite things - surfing and songs.

Tara's Tunes

KW: When you're boarding, what sort of tunes do you listen to?
Tara: On my way up to the mountain, I listen to just about anything. I love Fleetwood Mac - Stevie Nicks is one of my favorite artists. I like Eminem, his music kind of gets me going in the morning. When I'm just cruising around, I listen to DJ Crush, DJ Pete, a lot of old tunes, like Willie Nelson and CCR. I'm all over the board when it comes to music.

To read more of Kidzworld's interview with Tara Dakides, click here.

Related Stories:

Craig Kelly Biography

World Snowboarding Halfpipe

Shaun White Biography