OH! Magazine - Australian Version August 2014 (Australian Version) | Page 9

Dream Team’, Steph says that it was and
is their support that inspires her
achievements.
In addition to the challenges Steph
came up against, was a combination of
the heavily male dominated nature of the
sport and Australia’s obvious lack of
lengthy snow seasons. ‘We only get two
months of snow a year to train on then the
rest of the year is spent training and
travelling for the northern seasons and
there was (and still is) very limited funding
available for female snow sports athletes
in Australia,’ she explains. Particularly in
adventure sports, the risk of injury comes
with the territory and Steph admits that
injury is the hardest thing about being an
athlete. ‘You only get one body to perform
in as an athlete and if something goes
wrong with that body it will effect your

www.tonikrasicki.com.au

TONI
KRASICKI

‘Never, never, never give up. You have good days and bad
– focus on the good. Stay passionate and work hard.’
entire season, performance, race day,
mindset - everything.’
A back injury in 2010 not only cut short
her career as a professional athlete but
also kept her off the snowboard for 18
months. Often and with the right mindset,
opportunities arise from adversity, and
Steph used this injury as a fork in her
career path. Swapping high impact and
extreme sports for Pilates and functional
exercise, little did Steph know that this
was the beginning of a new career. ‘My
injury and the need and want to be able to
rehabilitate my own body and help others
with theirs encouraged me to start my
business. I loved how the functional
movement helped and sped up my
recovery and how much better it made
me feel!’
Her passion for fitness and strong
belief in the importance of women’s
health and wellbeing is palpable. She
says ‘You can make such a difference to a
woman’s overall health, body and mind
with simple and enjoyable exercise and
functional movement. I work with/
surround myself with some very inspiring
and empowering women of all ages and

believe it’s a very powerful and
encouraging environment to create
change and improvements in female
health and fitness.’
The
former
dance
teacher/
choreographer says that her background
in musical theatre, dance and drama
armed her with a multitude of transferable
skills. She swears that dance enhanced
her balance – perfect for snowboarding.
Although a regular television presenter,
Steph’s role as an expert commentator for
Channel 10s coverage of the 2014 Sochi
Olympic games was a nice boost to her
growing media portfolio. She says that
the commentating was tough because
she wanted to cheer on many of her
friends who were competing, as well as
scream when Aussies were knocked out.
‘We were live the whole time – so there
was no room for error and I often would
have to turn off my mic so I could jump
up and down and comment off air. Some
of us made a few little mistakes along the
way but we all had a good laugh about it,’
she muses.
Despite the injuries, Steph’s life sounds

pretty sweet: snowboarding in Canada
and empowering people through health
and exercise, with a splash of TV
presenting to break it all up! ‘Natural
ability will only get you so far, and ability
does not necessarily mean you know how
to work hard.’ It’s a mantra that has
obviously worked well thus far!
You can follow Steph Prem on
Instagram @premiumsnowtours and
@premiumperformance
Photographs (including cover image)
by Kit Haselden

‘To me, optimum health
means ridding your body
of inflammation and
stress, making healthy
choices about what you
put into your body, and
feeling full of energy.’
( OH! MAGAZINE ) AUGUST 2014

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