Shilo Sanders Says Snowboarding Helps His Football Game

I don't pretend to know a lot about football. I've only ever watched games that the New England Patriots are playing in and I ask a lot of questions. I watched the Tom Brady roast on Netflix and had no questions. But when an interview came into my feed in which Shilo Sanders, son of football legend Deion Sanders and University of Colorado player, said that snowboarding has helped him cross train for football, I had to stop and check it out.

Multi-sport pro athletes aren't uncommon, but often they gravitate toward sports similar to their main gig in terms of mainstream sports/action sports (see: Shaun White, Michael Jordan, Jim Thorpe, Brock Crouch, Judd Henkes)—or they fall in love with golf, which is par for the course (ahem) for many snowboarders. (Eero Neimela followed up his snowboarding career by becoming an actual golf pro.)

Of course, Deion Sanders is one of the most famous mainstream multi-sport athletes as the only person to play in the Superbowl and the World Series. So it makes sense that Shilo would have some pretty high-end athletic talent to pick up another pastime. And he's chosen snowboarding. Since moving to Colorado to play for the University of Colorado, he has spend time in Summit County upping his boarding skills. He's attended X Games, he's friends with Zeb Powell, and is a Burton Culture Shifters alum.

In addition to appearances in Planet Zebulon episodes, Shilo has made his love of snowboarding known on his Instagram. It's all pretty cool. Now recently, in a statement that would make any John Hughes movie character excitedly throw their fist in the air, Shilo shared that he thinks going snowboarding has helped improve his football game.

"Believe it or not, I think snowboarding has actually made me faster," Sanders said in an interview with University of Colorado . "In the spring, I was doing conditioning, finishing first and stuff. But I feel like you balance out your toes and it gets those calves right.”

Shilo plays defense at Colorado as a safety. He's likely preparing for the season already, which starts at the end of August. But then, it's only a few more months until he gets back on his board.