It takes a village to raise an Olympic hopeful. And sometimes, that village has to change ZIP codes.

Brooklyn DePriest is a snowboarder for Team USA, hoping to make his Olympic debut at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games. He competes in slopestyle.

Brooklyn grew up in Northern California in a Sacramento-area suburb called Rocklin. The DePriests spent their winter weekends in Tahoe. Brooklyn's snowboarding talent quickly became apparent as competitions would result in him standing on podiums.

By the time he was 12, his parents were advised that their son had the potential to go pro and maybe even go to the Olympics.

The catch? He'd need to move for more specialized coaching.

The problem? The entire DePriest family loved their home and neighborhood in Rocklin.

"There were probably about 10 families involved in the neighborhood," Brooklyn DePreist said. We would ride to school on our bikes and skateboards every single day. We all played the same sport, so we were on the same sports teams."

Neither of Brooklyn's parents came from a winter sports background.

"The coaches are telling us, like, he has real talent, but we're like, does he? I don't know," Courtney DePriest, Brooklyn's mom, said.

The DePriests made the tough decision to relocate to Vail, Colorado, where both their sons could attend a good school while Brooklyn pursued his Olympic goals.

Seven years later, Brooklyn DePriest is a contender to compete at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

This is one of the most candid conversations I've ever had with an athlete's parents about the sacrifice entire families make to follow Olympic dreams.

On this Dying to Ask: The Road to Milan-Cortina:

How the DePriests made the call to go all-in on Brooklyn's snowboarding future when he was only 12
The pressure young athletes feel to perform when their parents sacrifice so much
How Olympic hopefuls handle the mental health challenges of injuries
Learn tricks to calm your brain while your body is healing
And did they or didn't they? The DePriests reveal whether they purchased Olympic tickets before knowing whether or not their kid has made the team

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