Interviewed for Family Entourage
Family Entourage: Congratulations on your Olympic debut with Team USA! As you head to Paris, what are you most looking forward to?
Ruby Lilley: I’m so excited. I am looking forward to skating of course. It is so unique and so much fun. I am also looking excited for the Opening Ceremonies, our uniforms and to be in Paris for the first time.
FE: You shared that your mom is going with you too. Is she excited too?
RL: My mom is stoked! My parents have been such an important part of my journey going to the Olympics and competing in contests and where I am at in my skateboarding. I am forever grateful for them and all of their support and all the time and energy they have put into me. They really see my passion and hard work that I put in for skateboarding. I’m just really grateful that they back me. They have such good advice. My mom has been through everything with me from crying at contests because I did bad to crying tears of joy and being there for the moment that I qualified for Paris 2024. It meant so much to me to see her crying. I’m so grateful to share this moment with her in Paris.
FE: Your journey for skateboarding started when you followed your older brothers to the park. What role has your family played in supporting your skateboarding journey to the Olympics?
RL: I have seven siblings – three brothers and four sisters. We have a big family. I’ve always been inspired by what my brothers did. I looked up to them a lot. Whatever they did, I always wanted to do. If my brothers did it, I thought, ‘It’s gotta be cool.’ So when they started skateboarding or fencing, I would always be the first to jump in and try it. I actually got into ballroom dancing because of my older brother. I used to compete with him in contests. That’s such a good memory I will have forever. We won a few contests. I am so grateful for my brothers’ inspiration
FE: I love that you were originally a dancer with a passion for ballet and ballroom. Do you ever find yourself incorporating your dance background into skateboarding?
R: I originally started ballet and ballroom dancing before I started skateboarding. I was about 10 or 11 I was dancing competitively in both of them. I feel like it really helped me with my skateboarding. Skateboarding is such a way of art and so is ballet and ballroom dancing. I feel like having that background really helped me with my skating and how I feel on the board and the tricks and movements. I feel like its also helped me with style as well – executing tricks perfectly. In ballet and ballroom dancing, it’s all about how you execute things with style and how you make others feel when you are dancing as well. I have actually not ballroom danced or done ballet in a long time. It can be hard with such a tight training schedule but after the Olympics, I want to get back to dancing. Maybe Olympic 2028 I will compete in dancing and skateboarding.
FE: Your journey to the Olympics was quite the endeavor. Share with us about the process on how you went from qualifying to making the Olympic team. What went through your mind before the competition and then when you clinched the spot?
RL: The beginning of the qualifying started in 2023 and there was 75 girl skateboarders in the first round. There were 8-10 girls from the USA invited. And then you had to qualify into Phase 2. The top 44 made it with 6 from each country. And then that gets cut in half. The top 22 make it to Paris and the top 3 for each country. It was super stressful. All the USA girls were so tight in the standings. It came down to each trick. You were going to go to Paris depending on which trick you did. We were half a point ahead of each other or half a point behind. It was so stressful and so close. It could be anyone’s game. The girl that is behind you in 4th place could beat you and you are out and she is in the Olympics. You really had to stay calm. I tried to meditate. I did Tai Chi with my PT. I’ve journaled a lot and just done a lot of things to stay focused and stay in the moment and think about how grateful I am to have this opportunity to travel the world. Just focusing on those moments helped me to perform really good. This just shows how competitive and stressful it is. I don’t usually get emotional but after one of my warmups before the semi-finals, there was a rain delay. We sat in a tent. There was lightning and thunder and we were huddled under a USA tent. Our practice got delayed for three hours. This is the day that we are supposed to find out if we get to go to the Olympics. I had a terrible practice. I went behind the bathrooms with my mom and I was crying. I had a meltdown and I said, ‘I don’t think I can do this.’ All the doubt and negativity started coming in. It never helps anything but you have to release it. I said, ‘I don’t think I can do this. I just want to have fun.’ My mom is the absolute best. She always gives the right advice at the right moment. I don’t know how she does it! She said, ‘I respect you no matter what decision you make.’ I think after I cried I had to release. I let all of my emotions out and I could finally skate so good. I nailed all of my runs and made it to the finals and qualified for Paris. I cried so hard.
