Kaiden Boucher '19 Recruiting Profile

I was born and grew up in Lubbock, Texas until I was nine years old.  In Lubbock, I joined a swim team and really enjoyed competition.  I loved to push myself physically and see how fast I could be.  I also found that I enjoyed running and I joined the cross country team in my elementary school.  In 2009, our family moved to Utah, where I was exposed to many new experiences.  I learned to enjoy hiking and mountain biking.  Our new home was a two-story house with two flights of stairs, which was so fun! I challenged myself to jump flat-footed up 7 stairs at once.  I tried several times a day until I finally made it.  I have always loved running fast and jumping as high as I could. In 8th grade, I got the chance to try out high jump and long jump.  I was instantly hooked on it! I did everything my coach taught me, but I wanted to know more, so I watched hours of you tube and dissected the form of the jumpers I watched.  I tried to imitate them and it worked! I jumped even farther.  In the 9th grade, I broke the school record (Orion Junior High) with a jump of 20 feet even (and this record still stands today).  In 10th grade, I was introduced to my coach, Andie Jung, who taught me to concentrate on my approach, explosion, power, and how to control my mind in competition. Controlling my mind helps me not get in the way of myself. I have to remain calm and rely on muscle memory and not "over think" when I'm competing.  I have learned that a lot of what happens in your life depends on the choices one makes and how hard you are willing to work. I have tried to maintain all "A"s and get as close to a 4.0 GPA as I can.  I also want to strive to participate in challenging and interesting classes that will prepare me for my college career.  I am currently enrolled in a pre-engineering program called Project Lead the Way at the Innovations High School.

In the summer of my freshman year, I broke my wrist and had to have a bone graft and screws put in it.  This proved to be a major obstacle for me to learn to overcome because I was not able to lift weights or train at the intensity I was used to.  It was the hardest thing for me to have to hold back on training and I dropped 15 pounds over 45 days.  I had to wear a cast for 9 months and spend hours hooked up to a bone growth stimulator.  I never want to have to go through that again, so I am so much more careful and try to take care of my body better now.

I am a positive person who always looks on the bright side of a situation and I hate to dwell on the negative for too long. My motto is, "If you're not having fun, don't do it!" My main goal in life is to be happy and make the most of what I've been given.