INTERVIEWS

Hawk Talks Aging Gracefully with The New York Times

Published

1 year ago

May 26, 2021

Tony Hawk’s post-50 resurgence is proving to be one of the more interesting chapters of his story. 40 years later, he’s not only still doing it; he’s signing new deals and remains a cultural icon. Hawk gives some insight into maintaining a middle-aged pro skateboarding career in an interview with The New York Times from last week.

What is your physical state these days?

There are tricks that I don’t want to attempt any more because the risk far outweighs the reward. They’re tricks that I used to take for granted, and it’s like, I’m not really going to get a lot out of doing it again unless I decide, all right, I’m going to put my mind to it and make this the last one. But so many of those tricks — I know the cost of one tiny mistake. It could be devastating. So that doesn’t interest me. But the state of my body? I feel healthy. My neck is super stiff. That’s probably the one ongoing issue, and not getting any better. You know when you call out to someone, and they turn to look? When I turn, you’d be like, “Oh, what’s wrong with your neck?”

In addition to knowing his own limits, it appears that Hawk also knows when he will quit.

Think you’ll ever stop?

If my skills are truly fading and I’m just going through the motions, I wouldn’t be doing it in public. I won’t be on display. But I’ll still be skating.

Read the entire piece here.

Image Via The New York Times

INTERVIEWS

‘Good Work’ Episode Features Lisa Whitaker and Meow Skateboards

Published

2 months 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

3 months 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 Hoefler, Rune Glifberg, Ayumu Hirano, Nyjah Huston, and Matt Berger.

INTERVIEWS

The Nine Club Features Elliot Sloan

Published

3 months 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.