Meet Mike Trapp, Olympic snowboarder and Cape Cod mechanic
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — When Frank Makrin first met Mike Trapp, he thought Trapp kind of looked like a surfer. It was 2011 and Trapp, a parallel giant slalom snowboarder for Team USA, had applied to be a service mechanic at the dealership where Makrin worked.
“He was really nice, great personality,’’ said Makrin, the service manager at Prime Service Center of Hyannis, in a telephone interview. Makrin hired Trapp, and it took just a week for Trapp’s new boss to be impressed by his skill in the garage and his work ethic.
“His mechanical skills are incredible,’’ Makrin said.
Trapp, who spends six months of the year working at Prime and the other six months on the road as a professional snowboarder, finishes three- to four-hour jobs in an hour and a half or two.
“Believe me, there are times I spot-check things, and it’s spot on,’’ Makrin said. He shows up for his 8 a.m. shift at 6 a.m., usually staying until about 7 o’clock at night.
“He loves what he does,’’ said Kelly Trapp, Mike’s wife, in a telephone interview.
He completes certification trainings even when on the road for competitions, replying to Makrin’s staff-wide e-mails about it quickly and promptly taking care of business.
“It takes my mind away from snowboarding for a little while,’’ Trapp, 29, said over coffee near the Olympic Stadium here, about a 40-minute drive from where he will make his Olympic debut this week at Phoenix Snow Park.
Trapp’s love of fixing cars was born out of a dislike of the classroom. He realized during his junior year of high school that the classroom was not for him, that it was not how he wanted to learn about life, that he did not want to go to college. One day during his junior year, as he thumbed through the catalog of classes to pick for his senior year, he thought, “Oh, I need to get out of here. This isn’t working for me.’’
So he hatched a plan to earn the last few credits he needed for early graduation, one of which was an internship, and pitched it to his parents, who went for it after some initial hesitation. Trapp’s father, Robert, who is a used car salesman on Cape Cod, suggested his son do his internship at a dealership.
“Do you want to do sales, service, parts — like, what do you want to do?’’ Trapp recalled his father saying. “I was like, ‘Well, I haven’t really thought that far. But I guess I’ll try fixing ’em.’ Yeah, I never looked back.’’
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Now, seven years after hiring him, Makrin considers Trapp a part of his family. They go fishing on Makrin’s boat and tool around on jet skis during the summer when they are not working.
“If it’s got an engine, he’s on it,’’ Makrin said, “but he’s probably tuning it to make it go 30 miles per hour faster.’’
“I’ll try, I’ll try,’’ Trapp said. “I’ll definitely try. I really enjoy the problem-solving of it. It’s fun. It’s different every time.’’
While his job at Prime has provided a different arena to exercise his brain and taught him the value of a dollar, his sport is where he learned his work ethic. Trapp has spent years trying to carve out his place in the parallel giant slalom snowboarding world, placing 16th at last year’s world championships. The native of Marstons Mills, Mass., began at Waterville Valley Academy in the sixth grade, and was practicing all five snowboarding disciplines before his coaches strongly suggested he pick either freestyle or racing.
He was inclined to try to stick with all five. “I wanted to, but no,’’ he said.
So he picked racing, both snowboardcross and slalom. Then in 2009, he was presented with another choice: snowboardcross or slalom? Snowboardcross injuries can be especially brutal, and Trapp saw those races as more of a fun thing to do. Plus, keeping up a schedule for both was getting hectic. So he picked slalom.
Happy with the choice still?
“Oh, yeah, absolutely,’’ said Trapp, who has traveled half the year for snowboarding since he was in sixth grade.
Kelly Trapp was sitting on her living room couch when Mike called to share the news of his Olympic berth, a goal he has always had his eye on and one that will serve as a bookend of his professional career. He FaceTimed her from Bulgaria with the news, which both excited and surprised the couple that married last June, because Trapp’s place was not solidified until late last month. Usually, Kelly will visit Mike on the road twice a season, once in Colorado and once in Europe. But this season, the pair held out and saved their money with the hopes that he would make the trip to PyeongChang.
“It’s the best. I’ve been watching him do this for six years now and he’s come close and it didn’t work out last time, but I can’t think of anyone more deserving of it,’’ Kelly said. “He just works really, really hard. He’s put his whole heart into this. It’s awesome. I’ve proud to have been able to witness this journey.’’
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Makrin hounded Trapp for two weeks leading up to his selection because Makrin was so eager to hear about his mechanic’s Olympic hopes.
“Oh my god, honestly, I felt like my little brother just made a huge accomplishment,’’ said Makrin, who plans to host a watch party with friends and family for Trapp’s competition. “I’m so proud of him.’’
For Trapp, who plans to retire from professional snowboarding after this season, the goal was to make the Olympics, making anything that may come here an added bonus.
“I’m going to go out there and do the best that I can and where I end up is where I end up. If that’s last, cool. If it’s first, cool,’’ he said. “Of course, I want to leave with [a medal], but that’s not the end all, be all.’’
