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JUSTIN LYNCH
Proud Minnesotan Justin Lynch has been rocketing through the pro ranks since this
AM
THAT
GOOD?
January, and it looks like he's going to be
around a while. Let's see what Justin has to
say about...
his beginnings and his amateur career
"I've been skating for about three years.
When I first started, I was always made fun of
because I was into other sports and I came to
the ramp with a JC Penney Missile. They were
all making fun of me and calling me a loser
and to get the hell out of there. By the next
year I was ripping. Ridicule makes you good. I
used to play team sports, but the other people
on the team have control over how good you
do. When I played basketball I was the best
player on the team, but no one wanted to give
me the ball because they were all jealous.
That hinders your performance. I got into golf.
but it was too hard. That was a total mind
game sport. I ended up breaking all of my
clubs. I had basically tried every sport, and
then all of a sudden I found skateboarding. It
was the most wonderful feeling. You can do
whatever you want in the air and on the lip
and nobody has anything to say about it. It's a
freedom sport. Now that I'm getting paid for it,
it's rad."
competing with the big guys.
"It feels like, 'What am I doing here?" I
never expected anything from this sport. I just
expected to have fun. Then I was skating with
Chris Miller and beating Cab and all these
guys. I'm going, 'Am I that good?""
his present scene and future dreams.
"I ride mainly vert and mini-ramp at this
place called Twin City Skate Oasis in Min-
nesota. The big ramp is 32 feet wide, indoors,
heated, it's got two spine ramps. It's the
ultimate training facility. When I'm skating. I
focus on doing everything back-to-back. Speed,
grinding as far as I can, going as high as I
can. Doing tricks out of tricks that nobody can
do. Doing a backside ollie into a frontside ollie
higher than the backside ollie to revert. It's not
just the speed that you do tricks at, it's what
you do after that. If you can do an air to takie
to a les twist to a frontside ollie to revert to a
half Cab, then you're stoked. I just want to get
better and better. The only thing that's going
to hold me back from getting better is getting hurt."
kids these days.
"Kids are trying to take the easy way out by
learning reverts and skipping the basic tricks
You're going to have to learn the basics one
time or another. Once those trendy tricks go
out of style, you ain't got shit. You're just a
revert schmeivert. If a kid does an ollie blunt
on a mini-ramp, he thinks he's a king and that
he should be sponsored. You have to wait..
You have to be humble."
why he skates.
"As soon as I saw ramp skating I know it
would rule my life forever. It was the most in-
credible feeling. It's better than sex, drugs or
money. It's an addiction you can never break.
That's why old pros are getting bummed out
because they're getting ripped over by young
guys like us. They're going. 'Man, I wish I had
eighteen-year-old knees. They'd give anything
to be young again. I can understand that
because when I'm in that position, I'm going
to feel the same. I have a lot of respect for the
veterans in the world. I have the most respect
for Tony Alva though, because he busted out
and told everybody to piss off by making that
ten-inch wide board. (Comuad on page 94)
2
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