Cara-
B
Bei
U
RNSIDE
She got her first skateboard at age eleven and went
straight to Big O Skatepark in Orange, California.
It was there that Cara-Beth acquired her desire for
vertical and was tutored by the legendary Duane
Peters. She has skated with the best since the 70s
and appeared in the first issues of Thrasher. At age
twenty-three, she's the only female skater in the
pro ranks. Here Cara-Beth discusses where she's
been and where she's going
44 THRASHER MAGAZINE
INTERVIEW AND PHOTOS BY M.FO
Describe your passion for
skateboarding
It's constantly on my mind
There's just something about
skateboarding that makes me
feel really good. Learning and
progressing drives me. The
thought of skateboarding
turns me on
Is vert your terrain of choice?
Yeah, 1 like big ramps, trying
to do high airs. I like mini-
ramps too. I'm trying to skate
street, I think it helps me
with my vert.
Why do you prefer vert?
From skating at Big O park
when I was younger, learning
to skate vert in a pool. I skat
ed everything, all of the
banks the little pools and the
snake runs, but my favorite
was the big capsule pool. It
was about ten feet. I was tiny
Who influenced you the
most back then?
Duane Peters was the ruler
and definitely my idol. He got
me on Santa Cruz and
pushed me to learn a lot of
tricks. There I was, a little
eleven-year-old with long
stringy hair, hanging around
this punk rocker Master of
Disaster. He was so nice to
me and even though I was a
little kid he treated me with
respect. I can remember him
telling me to do roll-ins in
the vert pool at Big O. "You
better learn that trick or
you're not going to win a
contest." Not in a mean way,
always in a good way I
learned sweepers and layback
roll-outs. I always did them
because of him. Another
influence was Gale Webb,
America's Sports Mom. She
was the team manager of
Powerflex, she put me on the
team. We would do shows at
malls and schools. That was
real exciting for me at that
age. Gale encouraged me to
be the best, always gave me
positive insight and told me I
had a lot of potential.
Has your skating ever been
impeded, considering you
are a woman in a predomi
nantly male activity?
Not really When I started
there was a girls division.
Finally, a lot of the girls got
older and quit. So I ended up
skating with the guys for a
year. Then I got burnt out.
The parks were closing, so it
was really hard to skate any-
where. There were a couple
other places but they were far
away and I didn't have any
transportation. I became
unhappy with skating. 1 got
to where I wanted more of a
social life, with friends at
school. I always put skating
in front. I gave up a lot of
things to do it. Now I wanted
to hang with my school
friends and play soccer and
run track, go out with boys
Then I went to Santa Rosa
Junior College for two years
and played soccer and ran
track. I also did karate for
three and a half years and got
a brown belt. I enjoyed it the
most because, like skate-
boarding, there is a lot of self-
discipline involved and 1
seem to be driven in those
types of sports. In 19871 got
interested in skating again.
A lot of the guys I hung out
with skated all the time.
Then they got a quarter-pipe
and I got interested. I think I
learned rock and rolls on
that. A friend of mine had a
vert ramp. After I rode it. 1
got that feeling of wanting to
skate again, to try to get my
tricks back. When you stop
for that long, you're pretty
sketchy, you gotta skate to
get those tricks back. I just
kept pushing myself. I didn't
have a board either. I knew
Everett (Rosecrans) was team
manager of Vision, so I called
him up and asked him if he
could set me up. He set me
up with a board and every-
thing Then I started doing
shows with Gale Webb again.
How long were you in college?
Five years. Two years at Santa
Rosa, and I got an associates
art degree in general ed. That
took care of the requirements
needed to get into UC Davis.
I transferred to play on the
soccer team. I broadened my
horizons on a lot of different
subjects to graduate with a
hachelor of science degree in
human development, which
is similar to a psychology
degree. I did internships with
emotionally disturbed kids at
preschools and a domestic
violence center
Do you have any intentions
of utilizing that degree?
Not right now. I like to work
with kids because they have a
lot to offer other people. The
people who influenced me
were older, sporty type peo-
ple, like PE teachers. I had
one in school who was a big
influence in my life, telling
me about being good in
sports, and encouraging me
in a positive way
Have you always been
athletic?
Yeah, I was always out run-
ning around, trying to keep
up with my brothers, con-
MITH