for teenagers during those years. I went to college, played in a band and then had a career in public relations, communications and event planning when I started working for Mat in January 2001. Mat likes to do things his way. Is it easy for you to go with the flow and do it his way all of the time?
April: Mat does like to do things his way, but the way he does things is the reason he is The Condor! He's also not opposed to listening to and trying other ideas. I've learned a lot working with Mat because he has such a creative mind and has solutions to every problem that may arise. His saying, "Adversity brings opportunity," is a great way to define him and what it's like working with him. There is always a solution!
The HSA does a lot of events internationally. First of all this gets you to interesting places, but things can get interesting when they don’t have everything set up as they told you in the e-mail. Do you have an example for that? April: Ha! That happens more than I would like to remember. I can't mention where, but the worst one, we had an event where - even though they had promised they had these items: they didn't have a time clock, the air horn had to be pumped up by a bicycle pump for every run, they had no scoring system and the power went out frequently. I am sure it was a funny site to see because I was pumping the horn, running the scoring and playing charades to communicate with the riders! However, I did not think it was funny to put the riders in a situation like that. We had the event again several years after that and it got much better each year!
What places have you been to because of BMX events? April: I traveled a lot before working for Mat, but these are the places I have traveled because of BMX: Barcelona, Spain; Dubai, UAE; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Icheon, South Korea; Tokyo, Japan; Rio de Janiero, Brazil; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Zurich, Switzerland. I was in a band for about 5 years after college and we traveled to just about every state in the US, as well as, England, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Czech Republic and Italy. My band "Feel Spectres" has three songs on the soundtrack to Mark Losey's "Pro Town: Greenville" documentary.
What’s the best part of going to events far away from home?
April: I love to see new places - especially from the point-of-view of the people who live there, rather than just as a tourist. The beauty of BMX is the camaraderie, the friendliness and just all around sense of humor. It doesn't matter what part of the world you are in - you meet a BMXer, you are going to have a good day. Never a dull moment (except when you're stuck at registration when no one shows up for hours!)
What sucks being far away from home?
April: I am married, so I miss my husband and my dog Max. Sometimes, I can be a homebody - I think it's from all the traveling! So, just being home is nice.
The events you work at usually have invited riders. How do you start the process of which riders to invite for a comp? April: It depends on the competition. For X Games, we have a lengthy process where we send ballots to approximately 100 people in the industry for nominations. We calculate the results and those results are reviewed and discussed by a committee of 8 to 9 people. Other events do not have the official structured process but we usually assemble a small group of people who have been involved with BMX for a long time to get their opinion, which is usually based on the riders recent activities in competitions, demos or video parts.
What is it like to work an event for/with ESPN? April: We work directly with the people in X Games office in Los Angeles that is basically about 5-6 people and they have worked for ESPN for years, so it's pretty dialed. We are only involved in the BMX portion of the event. It is a massive production so sometimes frustrating moments arise, but overall, they are easy to work with.
Does working for (live) TV always add a bit of extra stress?
April: It does add more stress - especially to the riders, the TV department and the judges.
Would you like to see the CFB comps make a comeback?
April: I would de
finitely like to see the CFB or something like the CFB comeback. After the World Trade Center attack on 9/11, sponsorship fell dramatically. Companies were wary of trying something they didn't understand. Target jumped in and carried the CFB so we could continue it, but we eventually went from 3 events per year to 1 per year and the last two years of its existence, it cost more to have than the sponsorship we could obtain. Most every pro I know now, I met as an amateur at the CFB! So many great memories! What’s in store for 2011?
April: Oh, boy - you never know what to expect when you work for Mat Hoffman! I envision organized chaos!
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.