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Interview by Kevin Thatcher
hat's the average day in your life?
Lately it's get up, ice my knee, walk
around and go to sleep [laughs]. But
when I was skating I would get up and take
care of things, call about demos, talk to
people, whatever. Usually I end up skating
either in the middle or the end of the day for
two or three hours.
What kind of contest ramp do you prefer?
Well, I lose speed and can't regain it as
much as I should be able to, so I like exten-
sions. I'd love to see more spines in big ramp
contests, like Irvine. Channels are good once
in awhile, but they're not always great. I'm
not that into escalators. I'd love to see a
corner, or capsule somehow. I think that
would be hot. Corners would be great if they
made kind of like Upland corners that you
could hit and get speed off of. That's how.
our bowl is, you can carve around the whole
thing without ever hitting the flat bottom.
How did you feel when you were an
amateur as compared to now?
Overwhelmed, just from seeing all the
guys I'd read about, and being able to watch
the pro contests. I got to practice with the
pros, and that was weird. I was real intimi-
dated by the Gold Cup series. One of the con-
tests I made the cut, I think it was Marina,
and that was a big surprise to me. I remem-
ber doing a half 360° rock back to frontside
rock, which no one had done then. I was
skating around in the brown bowl and all of
a sudden I saw Elguera try it in the brown.
bowl. That freaked me out. I never thought
I would ever do a trick they would be trying.
What was your first contest win?
It was probably Del Mar, just because that
was the only place I was skating then. I
remember the first win that I had, other than
a skatepark, was at Kona. I had just gotten
sponsored by Stubbies then. To me, that was
my coming out of being classified only as a
pool/park skater. I don't know if anyone knew
the impact it had on me, because I was so
happy that I had done well somewhere other
than Del Mar, my local spot. That was real
important to me.
Did you ever think that you would take it
as far as you've taken it?
No way. I never even thought that I would
be in the top amateur ranks. I didn't under
stand why Stacy would want to talk to me
about sponsorship.
What do you think of comparisons, when
people call a skater like Danny Way "the
next Tony Hawk?"
Well, it's flattering. I don't know if he would
feel the same way. I've seen him skate and
I'm stoked on a lot of the stuff he does. He's
got a lot of tricks that he makes a lot of varia-
tions on. It's hot. I'd like to brainstorm with
72
him on tricks. Everybody bounces tricks off
each other. You're going to be doing tricks
and no matter what people are going to see
them. I used to always feel that the tricks that
I'd do, people would just go, oh, that's neat,
and then never attempt them. Then, living
with Joe and having people come over here
and skate, Joe's learning all kinds of tricks
that I never thought people would be inter-
ested in. I'm stoked. You can't just keep it
all to yourself.
What influence do you think you've had
on skateboarding?
I don't know. It seems like when I used to
do all these tricks, it was considered robotic
and kind of too technical or weird. Now those
same types of tricks are becoming "in."
People are happy to see them. Mark
Rogowski and I talk about them. We're
stoked on these little tricks that are just tech-
nical stuff. Now that's becoming more
appreciated, instead of taking it in stride.
How do you develop your tricks? -
If I do a trick that I've been working on,
practicing, and it always turns out the same,
and I finally make it once or twice, I know it's
not a trick that I'll be doing because every
time I want to do it, it's going to take that
same amount of effort. I'm not going to be
able to just do it. Tricks like an ollie varial.
I used to try that for hours, make a couple
and leave it alone. Right now I'm doing the
same thing with backside ollie kickflips. Last
time I tried them I made one or two out and
fell at the bottom. It gets real serious,
because I hit my shin about ten times doing
it. Those are the kind of tricks that I discard.
I also did frontside Caballerials once, but it's
not something I can just go out and do.
What's it feel like to do a McTwist?
It's fun, but it takes quite a bit of effort
because there's the blind point where you're
totally blind to the wall. As you're coming
around you have to see where you are and
you have to direct everything in the matter
of a millisecond to come back down the right
way. It's like diving off a diving board, com-
pletely blind to the water, and then coming
around and trying to figure out if you're the
right way or not. Once you do it for a while
it's all in your senses. You can feel it if you're
going to land on the bottom, or hang up, or t
not spin enough. When I first learned it I was
at Del Mar, and I would land at the very bot-
tom. I can't believe I didn't break my knees
doing that. I'd usually slide out across the
flat or something. I knew it was a trick that
I'd have to learn.
How about rivalries over the years?
I don't think of putting myself up against
someone all the time. I put myself up against
myself at contests. If I skated the best I could
at that time, then that's it, I did my best. If
you get last place and you did your best, it's
not worth getting upset because you've
achieved a personal goal. I guess I am get-
ting pitted against myself, but not by my own
choice. The judges see you in practice, which
isn't right. They shouldn't be watching you
practice because then they see your best
stuff and when they watch you skate they say,
"Oh, he didn't do what he was doing in prac-
tice, we'll mark him down." Judging is pretty
hard. You're at their mercy and you know it,
so you have to just play it like that.
Do you have any hobbies or interests in
your spare time?
Well, in skating, I love to take videos and
stuff. Last month we were taking videos every
day and watching them after we skated. Chris
Black, Ted and I went and talked to an
elementary class and showed them a video
of us skating. It was kind of a progression,
showing an unsponsored person, then a
sponsored amateur and then a pro. It was
fun. It wasn't extremely professional or
anything, but it was fun. The kids were
stoked. Maybe just because someone came
and took up class time, but they were into
the skating. They asked a lot of questions.
so
I don't go out unless the waves are really
good. I snowboard seasonally. I skim, but
that's seasonal, too. I have a computer, a
Commodore Amiga. I do (Continued on page 108)
I like to surf, but in the winter it's too cold
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