INTERVIEWS

Why Kerry Getz Walked Away From the Skate Industry

Published

4 years ago

March 27, 2019

Skateboarding has always had a “here today, gone tomorrow” element to it. The list of pros that have come in with a bang only to quietly fade into the history books is substantially longer than the one of those that impacted the culture for decades. Kerry Getz helped define an era in the early aughts, and will always be associated with the glory days of Love Park, and the Sovereign Sect. One day, seemingly out of nowhere, he walked away from the limelight. He breaks down what lead up to the decision at the 1:13:00 mark of the latest episode of The Bunt.

Once the recession hit, everything just started going downhill. Every couple of months you get a phone call, “Oh, we gotta cut this.” Every four to five months, I felt like there was a change. [I was] going deeper and deeper into a whole. [I thought] within the next few years, I will be making no money on skateboarding. And I’m not going to be able to get any money to skateboard again. I saw it coming. But I wasn’t ready for it. So it gradually went down to almost nothing.

Habitat was like, “We want to have your name on a board forever.” I was cool with that; but it was one of those things… My homie here on the East Coast was starting a brand. He approached me to do a guest board. I said, “Look dude, I’m not really going to be skating much anymore. I’m so tied up with my kids and my life that I’m not really going to be able to skate or film a part anymore. So I’m just gonna walk away from Habitat; and I’ll ride for your brand. I’ll help you with whatever I can to get your name out there through me…”

I was kind of over it. And then, DVS was just gone. They were filing for bankruptcy. Everything was falling apart. So I kind of just walked away from everything. I said, “You know, I still want to skate. I skate when I can.” I just didn’t want to be involved in the industry anymore.

Listen to the entire interview above.

Related Topics:Archive Kerry Getz The Bunt

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INTERVIEWS

‘Good Work’ Episode Features Lisa Whitaker and Meow Skateboards

Published

2 days ago

September 23, 2022

Skate Newswire

Skater Lisa Whitaker narrated how she started Meow Skateboards in this episode of “Good Work”.

She also related how she got introduced to skateboarding and how she founded Girls Skate Network in 2003.

Whitaker started her skateboard company in 2012. Now, Meow has more than a dozen talents including Vanessa Torres, Mariah Duran and Kristin Ebeling.

“Lisa has always been the catalyst for women skateboarding”, says Torres who was one of the first skaters to join Meow’s roster.

Produced by Red Bull, the Good Work series features skater-owned and operated businesses.

INTERVIEWS

Monster Energy’s Aspire-Inspire Episode Features Mami Tezuka

Published

4 weeks ago

August 31, 2022

Skate Newswire

Get to know more about Mami Tezuka in this episode of Aspire-Inspire by Monster Energy.

Surrounded by skaters growing up, Mami showed interest in skateboarding at around the age of three.

She started participating in competitions abroad in 2017. In 2021, she won silver in the X Games Women’s Skateboarding part. She landed third place in X Games Chiba 2022.

Fellow Monster Energy rider and friend Lizzie Armanto describes Mami as easy-going, fun to be around, and inspiring. “When I’m around her, I want to push myself better,”

Tezuka admits that she enjoys filming video parts more enjoyable than participating in contests.

“Competition is kind of stressful for me”, Mami said. But added that she does enjoy seeing everyone at contests.

“Filming part is more fun for me…it doesn’t to be hard, tricky trick, but you can see the style and progress of the skating”, explained Mami.

I want to inspire girl skaters and young people. Do what you love and then don’t be afraid to be yourself.
Mami tezuka

Aspire-Inspire is a mini-documentary series by Monster Energy. Previous episodes featured Aurelien Giraud, Kelvin Hoeffler, Rune Glifberg, Ayumu Hirano, Nyjah Huston, and Matt Berger.

INTERVIEWS

The Nine Club Features Elliot Sloan

Published

1 month ago

August 24, 2022

Skate Newswire

Elliot Sloan narrated how he injured his neck while doing a 900 and his other worst slams on the ramp in this episode of The Nine Club podcast.

He also talked about getting into vert and then mega ramp, building his own vert and mini mega ramp in his own backyard, and hosting the X Games in his backyard among other things in the two-hour podcast.

Sloan is a four-time X Games Big Air gold medalist. In the recent X Games held in his backyard, he landed second place in the debut of the Mega Ramp category and first in the Skateboard Vert Best Trick.