What got you into skateboarding?
Perfect storm of the “old way” and “new way”! I was about 10 and saw older kids in my neighborhood skating, which is the classic way to start, and THPS had come out the year prior. So, yeah, the video games hooked me.
What is your skate scene like in your city?
Baltimore has always been a great skate city as far as talent coming from here, but I feel like it has been overshadowed by Philly and DC for so long. Like, up until rather recently, Baltimore was just the traffic jam between those cities on skate tours. Now, since we have an actual skatepark, thanks Steph Murdock and Skatepark of Baltimore, and super talented people pumping out footage from the area, Baltimore’s grown in legitimacy in the broader skateboarding world.
This is not just a Baltimore thing, but it is rad to see how more woman, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ are diversifying skateboarding’s dude’s club. In a city that is over 65% Black, skateboarding being “white boy sh*t” is so beat and damaging, so I am glad that it is more accepted for more people now because skateboarding is a truly valuable for development and something needed in a city with problems like Baltimore’s.
What is you to go trick to start your sesh?
Something stupid on a quarter, for sure. I like to do nose stall to fs disaster, blunt to back tail, or something with a revert because it will open my hips and might even crack the back a little.
Do you feel skateboarding has changed your life? How?
Skateboarding taught me about perseverance and that success is gained through multiple, multiple failures. No team for fall back on, and no one to hold you back or get better for you but you. You learn to see a problem, approach it, adjust, adjust again, and find eventually success. That is something I learned at like 11-12 but did not appreciate until I was older. Other people, if ever, do not get that until they are well into adulthood.
Later, I noticed how meditative just skating has become. Muscle memory takes over and you are not thinking about anything but the movement of your body in that space. I am sure that is achieving “Zen”, and people pay good money for that!
What pro skater inspires your skateboarding?
Chris Haslam because of the inventiveness and imagination he puts into his skating – and he is a fellow long-hair with similar taste in music and golden era wrestling.
Do you prefer watching skate videos on social media or buying it? Why?
I prefer to watch on a TV whether I buy it or its online. Skate videos used to be a ritual, and I miss that. In the before times when we could all hang at each other’s houses, just pop a video in, or on, and sit their soaking inspiration from the tricks, editing, and music to psych you up to go out and do your thing. Whether I buy it, or it is just online, I am just chasing that feeling. That said, if your homies have a video coming out, buy it regardless if you watch it online or not!!
What is the gnarliest trick you have ever done? How did you feel when you landed it?
I was like 16 and did a kick flip manual to back-foot hardflip out that took like all afternoon. It was the bender in my first full video, and that is probably the best I have ever felt after landing a trick. Excitement, pride, but mostly relief, ha-ha. I have done a bunch of flippy-spinney-double-late-revert maneuvers, but that one sticks with me.
Tell us little bit about your local skate shop & what they do for skateboard scene?
Vú is the absolute best thing to happen to be skateboarding in Baltimore in my lifetime. Gary Smith, who is an amazingly generous, down-to-earth person that still rips, has cultivated spaces, a team, and platform that helps showcase Baltimore skateboarding to the world. Vú/Gary hosts the skate tours that come through, do lessons, run skate camps all summer, and provide the community with the latest and greatest product. It is everything you want in/from a skate shop!
What is your daily routine before you go shred?
Stretch, stretch, coffee, stretch! I am not too keen on eating a big meal before skating, but I will do cashews, bananas, or bar. I hit the Pso-Rite and Pso-Spine to work out and hip/back tightness, the rest is just rolling around. Micheladas are almost mandatory on Weekend morning sessions though – sandwich in a can!
Any inspiring words you want to tell the next generation of skaters?
Keep pushing, talk to people at your skatepark/skate spots, get involved in your scene, volunteer, build something, through a fundraiser, ask questions, learn to fall, always have health insurance, do whatever tricks you want, wear what you want, appreciate everyone’s differences, and skateboarding is not about “being good” it is about the process and comradery, that feeling is there regardless of skill level.
