You learn a lot about someone from watching childhood videos.
“Nice job, Bree!”
You could hear Ken Schaaf’s voice loud and clear. Ken is Bree’s proud father. He was behind the camera taking video of Bree after she made a nice move in her soccer game. Bree couldn’t have been older than ten.
“Bravo!”
Not sure who yelled "Bravo" after one of Bree’s piano recitals in the living room. Bree took a bow. We hear applause in the video.
How many times do you think Bree Schaaf’s heard those words –"Nice job, Bree" - in her lifetime from her mom and dad?
I say bravo to the parents who made sure Bree knew their love for their daughter didn’t depend on any medals, any outcome. That what they have always wanted for her was "To be happy doing what she’s doing,” says Ken Schaaf.
“It’s about the journey,” says Bree’s mother Terri.
The road to the Olympics, the dream, began in Bree’s Bremerton living room as she watched the summer Games.
“The something-80 Olympics doing her triple whoopee-doos and thinking to myself, 'Ah, that’s amazing!'"
That’s what people are saying now about Bree Schaaf, an Olympic hopeful in the bobsled.
Amazing!
Her race a few weeks ago was her best race, teaming up with Ingrid Marcum, placing fourth in the World Cup in the bobsled. And the bobsled wasn’t even Bree’s sport until a couple of years ago. Bree had made her mark face down as a world class Skeleton driver.
“I think the first time I saw a skeleton go by, I started to cry,” says Bree’s mom, Terri Schaaf.
Bree assured her mom not to worry because as she put it, “It’s safer than the bobsled”. Okay. Well, now what? Bree has already competed at Whistler in the bobsled on the fastest, toughest track in the world.
“We were going over 90 miles an hour on the track,” says Bree. While she was sliding down she thought, “This is FAAAST!”
But when you’re world class, fast isn’t good enough. You want faster.
“My philosophy is trying to live in the present moment. In Bobsled, you don’t have a choice," says Bree.
Bree knows life is made of choices. In fact, those words greet you when you visit the Schaaf’s home in Bremerton. It’s the sign by the doorbell.
Bree has made her choice, no matter what happens, if she makes the Olympics or not, that it really is about the journey. That’s not say she doesn’t expect to be competing for the gold at Whistler in February.
“Yeah, I’ll see you there,” she says with a laugh.
It’s a deal.
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