"You're a trick robot."
Definitely. I'm outgrowing that a little bit, but
for a while there, that was fun for me, seeing how
many tricks I could do in a row, not caring about
how high or torqued I could get it as long as I
could land it and have my feet set up to do the
next one. That was part of my learning process.
Now it seems like I try to get the trick higher, fur-
ther, longer, better...
"You're just a big nerd."
Yup. I won't argue with that one. I'm a total
nerd. Nerds rule. They're the only ones that know
that they're just geeks and are out to have fun,
not be too cool. I'm definitely not trying to be
someone I'm not.
OK, let's talk about tricks. You've got a pret-
ty hefty bag. What's your approach to
learning tricks?
When I was growing up, it had to do with just
trying things over and over again. Now, it's seeing
something on street and thinking maybe you can
do that on vert. Some stuff is just by accident, like
the lottery flip, nollie 360° flip mute, one of the
most recent tricks I made up. I learned nollie
heelflip mutes, and I was trying nollie heelflip
varial mutes and couldn't get it, but it was rotat-
ing 360°, so I just went with it. I tried it and
grabbed it the next time. With the mummy,
body lien to tail thing, I was just fooling around.
doing bed airs, and I figured I could throw it
behind my back and make it.
What are some tricks you've made up that
you're most happy with?
The most satisfying trick to me is the
frontside air, and Tony Alva made that up back
in the day. Some of the nollie heelflip tricks I
get a lot of satisfaction out of just because not
a whole lot of people do them. When I flip it
just right, it feels cool.
What about the backflip? You did the
damn backflip!
Oh, yeah, I forgot about the backflip. That was
cool. I owe that one to Woodward.
That was some elaborate rampage.
Yeah. I definitely wouldn't have been able to
do that without the help of Woodward. They
have what looks like a ski jump starting ramp,
a big bank ramp that's like 20' high, with a little
transition so you can pump at the bottom.
Then there's 20' of flat before the jump box,
and then instead of the landing, they have this
big pit filled with foam. If you land on your
head, you're going to get hurt, but you can try
it off of that and get enough confidence to land
on your feet. It's great. You can cat spin out of
it and land in the foam.
How long did it take you to learn?
I was at Woodward for three weeks total and
tried it off and on. The hardest part was just get-
ting the grab. The flip's not that hard, but you
have to ollie the board up into your hand. Once
you have it in your hand, it's just a matter of
tucking and pulling it around.
Are you going to be able to take it off some of
the crazy jumps in the contests this summer?
I hope so. The most important thing is the pitch of
the jump and the speed. The one in Vancouver was
perfect for it, but there was a handrail on the other
side, and I'm still not confident enough in it that I
could steer between the handrail and the landing
ramp. I'll try it if the moment arises. It's a lot of fun.
Here: Indy to fakie.
Reel
Sequence: The nollie heelflip varial lien disaster
will never be appreciated by a mass audience.
Do you think more attention would
have been given to the backflip if, say,
Gonz had pulled it?
Yeah. Skateboarding's just getting to the point
where it's progressing so fast, you know, Tony
Hawk just did the loop. People are going to start
thinking. "Now it can be done," and go with it
be doing varial backflips and kickflip backflips.
from there. Next thing you know, people will
You laugh now, but it will happen. Five years
ago, people thought a kickflip 540 would be
Let's talk about contests. Do you like contests?
impossible. Leave it to Tony.
Yeah, competition is fun. I like traveling.
Most contests are out of town, so I get to see
my friends I don't usually see, especially vert
skaters. I like to have good vert sessions with
people I don't get to skate with a lot.
Do you ever get nervous?
Yeah, every time.
You ever barf?
No, but I've seen people who have.
Sometimes I get to the point where I get a little
queasy, but mostly it's in my legs. I'll drop in and
get Jell-O legs. Even if I'm not nervous, it's kind
of a superstition I have, but between the two guys
before my run, I'll drop in and do a frontside rock.
It helps to get my legs working again so I don't
bail a frontside grind on my first wall. Also, it
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KODAK TX 5063
KODAK TX 5063
helps to remind me that skateboarding's just for fun, and the essence of
skateboarding to me is the frontside rock. It's just a roots trick, and I do it for
100% fun. It reminds me when there's cameras and ESPN guys running
around all over the place going, "OK, the defending champion, blah, blah,
blah," that I'm just there to have fun.
Your consistency is definitely better than most. Do you ever suffer
from the McGill syndrome where people get bored because you
skate too perfect?
That's one of the things I might be growing out of as far as my skate-
boarding goes. But there was à reason for it. I used to go to contests with
just enough money to go to the contest and not enough money to pay rent
that month. So, if I could make the cut and get 5th place and win a couple
hundred bucks, I could pay my rent. So, that's just what I'd do, stay on and
get 5th and not do anymore or less to get the money. Now my sponsors take
PEOPLE DON'T
THINK BEFORE
THEY SPEAK
care of me to where that's not really an issue anymore, so I can drop in and try
a crazier run, like the ones you try on your home ramp. This year I've been
leaning more towards taking chances. If you make the finals, you get three
runs, so I drop in and get three chances, and if I don't get it then, oh, well,
maybe next time. I try to get into the finals and then try to better it from there.
What about street contests?
My take on that would be the same as skating anything. People shouldn't
hold it against you for how you choose to skate. If you go to a backyard pool
and instead of carving, there's a kid trying kickflips to fakie, that's weird, but,
whatever floats your boat, you know? If it's what you want to do, then do that.
Especially in a contest, I'd like to see people do it all. We all know that Eric
Koston can do some sick tech lines, but at the same time, he's not afraid to
jump over the box. If he concentrated even more on that, combined with his
tech stuff, he'd be unstoppable. It would be the best of both worlds. I'd like to
be able to do it all. I just excel more at vert-oriented stuff, because that's what
I was into as a kid.
Would you ever get to a point where you'd say, "I won't do a difficult
trick I know I can make, because it's uncool"?
There was definitely a point in skateboarding where I would avoid doing
tricks, because nobody else would be doing them or because they weren't that
popular, but that was a sad point in skateboarding. But skateboarding's pretty
much past that. There was a time in vert skating where no one did stalefishes
anymore, because it was an old trick or something, and it's just a grab. You
just wouldn't do it or else you'd get looked at weird. But we've all grown past
that. Now, if you can do a kickflip Indy on one wall and a frontside boneless
on the other, more power to you. Old, new, it's all good.
You seem to be un-phased by criticism. How do you deal with it?
It took a while. It definitely used to affect me. When I first started kicking in,
I'd read something I didn't like, and instead of getting bummed about it, I
would just get mad and want to skate that much harder. Like if I read how,
"Oh, he's a trainer" or "He doesn't go high enough," it would just make me
want to skate that much more, kind of like a prove-them-wrong type of thing.
People don't think before they speak, so I'd want to make them eat their words.
Now I'm pretty much secure enough in my skating and with myself that I don't
care what people say.
How old are you?
23.
How long have you been skating?
11 years.
Realistically, how much longer do you think you can keep skating at
the pro level?
Tony Hawk's going to be 30 in a couple months. If I could even be at that
level someday, I'd be stoked. Yeah, I hope I can skate when I'm 30.1
Competitively, I don't even know if I'd want to be a pro skateboarder two, three
years down the line. Right now, I'm having fun and able to make a living at it, so