CRE
PHOTOS
OESTE
D
LAWRENCE
NOV
MARTINEAU
MATT
BEACH
In 1993, Matt Beach entered his first
pro contest, the Back to the City in SF,
and won it clean. Now, at seventeen
years old, his days as a pro are far from
over, so check him out. -Bill Bennington
Where were you born?
I was born in Port-
land, Oregon, on Sep-
tember 20, 1977, and
lived here all my life.
How did you get into
skateboarding?
I got my first skate-
board when I was nine.
Around Christmastime I
had a little money my
grandma gave me, and
I went to Toys R Us. My
dad pointed out this
section of skateboards
and bicycles, and said,
"Hey, why don't you
get a skateboard? It'll
help you out with your
legs for soccer." So, I
bought this skateboard,
and I rode it around,
and I just really liked it.
I've skateboarded ever
since. I don't really play
soccer anymore. I'm
probably going to play
this spring on my high
school team.
Did you ever enter
contests back then?
I entered my first
contest when I was
eleven in Redding.
California. There
weren't any contests up
where we lived, so I
really wanted to enter
contests but I never got
to because I was too
young. So, the closest
contest was in Redding,
California, and me and
my mom and a friend
drove down to it. There
were three people in
the contest. It was like
2A, 12 and under, and I
got first. I was really
excited because I didn't
think I'd do that good.
Then what happened?
I just kept skate-
boarding. I entered at
couple more contests,
and this new skateshop
opened, and they said
they'd sponsor ma
because I was pretty
good friends with them.
About a year-and-a-half
later, I got on G&S.
This guy Steve Goetz,
put in a good word for
me, and they flowed.
How did Birdhouse
come about?
G&S started going
downhill and Birdhouse.
was being started up by
Matt likes stairs and ledges and
these photos ain't no joke: Fakie
ollie 5-0 (abave left), fot block
switch frontside noseslide
(above), and a speedy heelflip
(sequence) down at Waterfront
Park in Portland, Oregon.
Tony Hawk and Willy
Santos, the old team
manager of G&S, and
they said if I wanted to
ride for them, I could
How has Tony Hawk
treated you since you've
been on the team?
He's a really nice guy.
He'd pretty much do any
thing for us. He's gotten
me set up for demos in
other countries, and he's
taken me on tour.
Has skating taken you a
lot of places?
Yeah. So far I've been
to Japan, England,
France and Germany.
and it's been really fun.
What was your favorite
place that you went to?
My favorite place so far
has been Japan because
the culture is so different,
the food and everything
is really different. The
people are really nice
too. They have great
skate spots.
Did you eat sushi when
you were there?
No, I didn't have sushi.
I don't really like fish that
much. But I had eel, that
was pretty good.
What was the worst
place you ever went to?
The place I liked least
was France just because I
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