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From: Pueblo West, Colorado, USA
Division: Am Division
Sponsored by: Reverse Wheels
Age: 27
Skating: 13 years
I still remember the first time I rode a skateboard, it was a hand-me-down 1975 R.A.C.O. fibreglass board that I found at my Grandparent’s house. It had no griptape, was frail from misuse, but it was fun for brief sessions of rolling around. I decided to ask my parents if they would buy me a Pro Model, but they were hesitant, so I started doing yard work so I could buy the skateboard myself. First I started skateboarding in my driveway, garage, basement, at parking lots, wherever I could, because we didn’t have a skatepark in our small town. Because everyone else was doing Street Style I tried that, but because of a terrible injury tearing my ligaments in my ankle, I had to quit. Even after I healed there was no way that I could throw Ollie triple kickflips, almost everything I had learned I lost due to that one accident street skating. I was desperate to continue skating, so I switched stance for a little while, (that didn’t go well), then I saw a few videos which changed everything. Reverse Freestyle Flatlands, Powell-Peralta The Search for Animal Chin, and Almost Round 3. I realized at that point that the way I skated wasn’t street at all, I had been skating freestyle before I even knew what it was. I bought a Lillis pro model from Lynn Cooper in person, and relearned how to skate without much use of my left ankle by imitating the skaters I saw in those freestyle videos. Skaters like Lynn Cooper, Ray Meyer, Tim Morris, Russ Howell, Witter Cheng, and Daniel Gesmer became my mentors that help guide my skating to higher levels. Catching up with Lynn has initiated a network of great people who have motivated me. I reconnected with Witter Cheng at Decomposed Skateboards, who has been pivotal in supplying me with several excellent freestyle boards. Thanks to both of them my influences are a much broader list of people. I am currently attending Pueblo Community College where I am studying CIS Networking Security. When I am not in school I like to play video games, tinker with electronics, and geeking out on cars and airplanes. I also enjoy playing various sports when I can and have recently picked up playing a guitar. All year I have been saving and making plans to go back to the World Round-Up to see my freestyle friends and to share how much I’ve progressed. When you see such a wide spectrum of unique freestylers, it broadens your scope of inspiration. RECENT CONTEST HISTORY:
2016 US Freestyle Championships, Philadelphia: 2nd Place Amateur |
Canada's Freestyle Skateboard Competition