Kody Williams, this one has been a constant name in the snowboard world for over a decade – with varying context. The short? Kody Williams has ridden park, street, filmed, competed globally, lived in Ontario, California, and now Whistler. Kody Williams also is officially back on snow after a life-changing Traumatic Brain Injury in 2016. But we’re not going to try and tell you Kody’s story, we’re going to let Kody do the talking.
KODY WILLIAMS, BY KODY WILLIAMS
My name is Kody Williams.
I was born and raised in London, Ontario Canada. I started snowboarding when I was about seven years old in our townhouse community. My home hill was located about ten minutes away from home where I started learning to snowboard on a plastic board – not knowing any different or having money for a real snowboard or lift tickets to ride the local hill, “Boler Mountain.” As time went on my mom bought my brother Bryson and I, our own real snowboards and she would always make sure I got one day on the hill every weekend instead of just riding my little setups in the back yard with Bryson. The first time my mom took me to Boler I knew I was hooked and so did she.
Money may have been tight but mom always found away. My way of helping was to hike the mountain daily to avoid paying for lift tickets because in my mind, I figured I didn’t need a lift ticket. That didn’t end up lasting too long as “Boler” caught me and the police ended up getting involved because I was trespassing – young and dumb.
I eventually ended up getting a season pass at Boler and started competing and traveling to bigger, more challenging mountains around Ontario. Competing was fun but also expensive. I ended up getting into street riding with an all-girls crew. As I grew my love for the sport did as well. Grade eleven, I already basically made the decision that I was going to spend lots of time in California and ride at Big Bear Mountain because Bear was where most of the board videos I watched came from.
After five seasons in Big Bear, I decided to ride Whistler, BC, Canada and made it my new home in 2016.
December 2016 was not only a crazy time for me due to a Traumatic Brain Injury but also for my family, girlfriend Dom & friends. The story quickly broke loose in the snowboard community. I fell pretty bad in the streets of Vancouver while filming with the Dope Industries homies.
*We stole the mic for a second*
Naturally, humble Kody skipped his incredible triumphs in recovery and skipped right to the thanks yous, but we’ve interjected here to make note of the fact that Kody had to-relearning everything he once knew from walking and talking – let alone snowboarding. We’re humbled by his resilience, dedication, determination, and positive deminer. We couldn’t be more excited to celebrate his return to snowboarding with Burton Snowboards backing his reunion with the sport he loves so much.
*Mic toss back to Kody*
One last thing I would like to say is a genuine and heartfelt thank you and love you to the global snowboarding community for supporting not only me but my entire family during my traumatic brain injury which will be 4 years on December 19, 2020. Also, I would like to give thanks to VGH, GF Strong, High 5s, my amazing circle of friends, and my brother from another mother, Brett Wilkinson for starting my Go Fund Me. Evan Stum who wouldn’t leave the hospital the whole time I was comatose. Dave Denier for your incredible generosity of accommodating my family and closest friends in your home. There are so many people I could call out specifically but hopefully, you know who you are! So thank you and I love you guys and girls.
Last but not least thank you to my girlfriend Dominique who has been with me through some of my scariest moments because of my post-injury effects like seizures and now being diagnosed epileptic. Every day I recognize my blessings even though sometimes I get stuck in injury fog. Grateful that Burton has had my back over the years and bringing me back into their family.
