Massachusetts

Saugus, Mass. Native Jonathan Cheever a Plumber and Team USA Snowboarder

Saugus, Mass. native Jonathan Cheever is chasing his snowboarding dreams, but he's also involved in the family business.

Cheever is a natural when it comes to snowboarding.

“I’ve been doing this my whole life," he says. "I’m more comfortable sliding sideways on a piece of plastic down the ice than I am walking.”

It's something his parents noticed right away,

"Oh my God. He’d scare us he came down the hill so fast," his mom Doreen Cheever said. "He put that board on and there was no looking back.”

Doreen and her husband Mark Cheever saved up coupons from an Exxon Mobile promotion to get their son his first free snowboarding lesson. They'd do just about anything for their two boys, Derek and Jonathan.

“You know, from a little kid hiking out into…" Mark begins before getting emotional.

By the time Jonathan was a teenager, he was competing at an elite level.

But that wasn't all he was doing. Jonathan also followed in his father's footsteps, joining Mark in the family plumbing business.

Jonathan recalls the moment he asked his parents about competing professionally.

“I’m a licensed plumber, mom. What do you think if I pursue snowboarding? And I expected some push-back, and she said, 'Well, if you have a dream, go for it.'”

His parents have always been there to cheer him on at the bottom of the hill.

"I have knots in my stomach and I get all jumpy," Doreen says.

"Probably not as many as he has at the top, you know?" Mark says. "But you’re screaming, 'C’mon! C’mon!' you know? Because you can see everything that’s happening.”

Jonathan's parents are by his side as he gets ready to represent his country in Pyeongchang.

"And once an Olympian, always an Olympian,” Doreen says of the accomplishment to represent Team USA at the Winter Games.

But Jonathan wants just a little bit more.

"I hope Olympic gold medalist Jonathan Cheever is attached to me forever."

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