Buckle up for a soul-stirring session as former sponsored skateboarder and current World Skate judge Russell Grundy takes us through a mind-expanding traverse of the skatepark known as life.
Russell unveils his own version of that profound connection between the skate life and personal growth. We explore the emotional richness of scaling the peaks of elation on tours with the likes of Billabong and Channel V to finding beauty in the troughs of sorrow.
Russell opens up about his early years on the Central Coast of NSW Australia, the thousands of train rides he did back and forth to Newcastle and Sydney as a teenager, USA adventures, competing on the hallowed grounds of the Tampa Am in Florida USA, opening skate shops, leading community initiatives, his approach to parenting, his innate desire to progress, and much more.
This isn't your standard skate talk; it's an exploration of Russell's philosophy on staying centered, listening to your heart, and learning from experiences.
Enjoy,
Shan
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Buckle up for a soul-stirring session as former sponsored skateboarder and current World Skate judge Russell Grundy takes us through a mind-expanding traverse of the skatepark known as life.
Russell unveils his own version of that profound connection between the skate life and personal growth. We explore the emotional richness of scaling the peaks of elation on tours with the likes of Billabong and Channel V to finding beauty in the troughs of sorrow.
Russell opens up about his early years on the Central Coast of NSW Australia, the thousands of train rides he did back and forth to Newcastle and Sydney as a teenager, USA adventures, competing on the hallowed grounds of the Tampa Am in Florida USA, opening skate shops, leading community initiatives, his approach to parenting, his innate desire to progress, and much more.
This isn't your standard skate talk; it's an exploration of Russell's philosophy on staying centered, listening to your heart, and learning from experiences.
Enjoy,
Shan
THT gets by with a little help from these friends...
(Intro) Music by Def Wish Cast.
Song: Forever
Album: The Evolution Machine
www.defwishcast.com.au
https://defwishcastofficial.bandcamp.com/
INDOSOLE - Sustainable footwear
Code: THT
(15% discount shipping is WORLDWIDE and fast).
Sandals made from recycled Tyres. Timeless footwear for the conscious consumer.
BELLMOTT - Ready to drink Coffee
Code: THT
(Get 15% off your first two online purchases).
Pre-mixed cans of coffee goodness, Iced Lattes and more. Ethically sourced coffee beans, made in Australia, made my Musicians, Skateboarders and Artists. It's all about caffeinating culture, inspired conversations and shared creativity.
KRUSH ORGANICS - CBD oils and topicals
Code: THT
(Get a HUGE 40% Discount...shipping is WORLDWIDE and fast).
Purveyors of the finest CBD oils and topicals. I think long and hard about who I want to be affiliated with. Do the research yourself, the health benefits of CBD are unquestionable. It’s done so much for me, especially during times of stress and anxiety, it’s improved the quality of my sleep and sped up my recovery-time post workouts, surfs and skates... and it’s all natural.
Use code: THT
Krush Organics CBD oils (40% off)
Indosole footwear (15% off)
Become a SUBSCRIBER of THT. Only pay what you feel the show is worth to you!
Follow on Instagram: @terriblehappytalks
Checkout the website: terriblehappytalks.com
He's almost done. He's almost done. He's almost done. He will be here forever.
Speaker 2:Hey, it's Shan here. This week I catch up with Russell Grundy. Russell is a former sponsored skateboarder. He's currently a judge of some of the biggest skateboarding competitions in Australia and parts of the world. He's deeply involved with community activities and leading community initiatives such as free skate clinics where he teaches coaches how to be coaches of skateboarding and how to pass on culture and things like that. So it's super cool. I won't make this intro very long because Russ and I speak for like three hours. Man, Like he had a lot to say and it's a bit about skateboarding, but mainly about his life and his experiences and his philosophies on life, which you know I enjoy that kind of stuff, so we go deep on some of those topics. I would be keen to have him on again because some of the conversations we had prior to the podcast were super interesting crazy experiences he's had in his various travels around the world and the vast amount of time he's spent in America Skateboarding, competing, skating in the Tampa Am and much, much more. So enjoy getting to know Russell Grundy. Cheers.
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, because each day you grow and you become a new person. So I would feel that emotionally, I'm more than I was like in the past. I can't, I don't think I've regressed from that.
Speaker 2:You know, some people don't have that growth mindset of trying to progress and improve themselves or learn from their mistakes, as you say.
Speaker 3:Then they'll keep repeating the same thing until they get the result, the lesson that they'll keep. What is it? They'll keep repeating the same lesson until they learn. Yeah, it's true. Hey, yeah, 100% Like you'll just get in a cycle until you learn your lesson. Fuck around and find out, you know.
Speaker 2:What in your life, what centres you? What brings you back down to earth?
Speaker 3:What centres me? Wow, just breathing.
Speaker 2:Okay, really.
Speaker 3:Yeah, stop and have a look around every now and then.
Speaker 2:What about when it gets chaotic?
Speaker 3:Depends what the chaos is. When I was in a state of sadness long sadness, through some things in the past, where I found happiness was, I sat in that sadness and I was like, well, life's beautiful and there's beauty in this sadness right now, and to sit through and experience it is part of the life experience. So enjoy this as it is, because, as happiness is an emotion, so sadness and it has its own beauty. So be happy that you're sad, if that makes sense. Like, be content with that. It's emotion, that's part of life. So with that came such a calmness and made everything so much easier and better.
Speaker 2:Would you describe it as like an acceptance of the situation? You became more accepting, like you're not trying to fight against it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, just sitting with it, just sitting in it, and just it will pass, like anything. Don't get too high when you're high and don't get too low when you're low. That's hard though. Oh, it is, because it's just going to keep driving and they have their peaks and their dips.
Speaker 2:True, but it's potent when you have a taste of the highs in life. Man, that's potent. Like you want more of that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you don't chase the dragon, not at all. Yeah, you just got to ride with what it comes because you can't predict the outcome. The situation is unique.
Speaker 2:Give me an example of like a really high moment in your life. Wow.
Speaker 3:Alright, this one's pretty good Putting on the spotlight. No this one's pretty good. I like this one. We used to do these tours with Billabong and Channel Big, so they were like on air live, some like. One year they were through the weekdays and next year it was like over the weekends and they would you know we did that for a few years and they were live on Channel V and we would have shows with music.
Speaker 3:So that would be different bands and things like that. You would have ones that would tour with you for a couple of weeks and change and then and also do individual ones. So like Good Charlotte was an individual but 28 days, traveled with us for two weeks, you know, and we would do these stops and usual days get up at 5am, 6am, have breakfast. Don't have like this big setup where everyone's eating. It's like 50 people traveling to their next destination and they start setting up the stage, and that there was like one year there was a burnt ramp. It was getting set up at each second one and have like Barquilacic, the Pappas Brothers and things like that, people like that, sorry. And then on this one we was in Broken Hill and we'd like film at the skate park for the day because they would play it in between clips.
Speaker 2:In Broken Hill. Yeah, it's so random.
Speaker 3:Yeah, real flat down Because we did all rural.
Speaker 3:It's like a metal one, like you know those, and we would do rural or coastal like, depending on what year or whatever, went from the tip to tip to Tassie and inwards and things, and yeah, so this one was Broken Hill and I had been doing these for a bit at the time. I've been traveling for like six weeks straight and that was a Sunday and I had back spasms for the first time, like muscles spasms, and went to the hospital and saw the doctor, you know, because I'd never felt this before the doctor. This was like Sunday afternoon you're in Broken Hill, it's no cameras open today, can you get any weed? And I was like, yeah, on a tour? Yeah, of course. And he's like just go and have a smoke and lie down. For the afternoon you just been traveling in different beds, hard and soft. You're also pushing your body to its limits and then do that. So, yeah, after you would have to show, then after a party, then you make it back to your bed, sleep forever, however many hours, if you do get any sleep then back on the bus and that.
Speaker 3:So, after the hospital went, had a smoke, went to walk on the bus, because it's like a 40 degree day or something in the middle of the desert and it was like a big double decker bus and that's where the AC was. So I just wanted to go and lie down. Went to walk on the bus and the pre-motion lady's like oh, can't have you come on. And I was like why is that? And she's just like security. I'm like you know, like I've been traveling for like six weeks, gone to hospital, I'm doing what the doctor told me. There's the only place to lie down in there where it's cool. Yeah, yeah, I need to do that. So she's like give me a second.
Speaker 3:Goes upstairs, talks to the artist, comes back and says you can go upstairs. So I go up and I see these guys there with the guitars just two of them and they like make me a space. And they're like here, lie down. And like grab me a pillow on that and get a pillow lie down. One guy's like here's, you know, do you want a banana? And I was like yeah, I want some bananas. And then these guys are jamming, warming up for the show, and I'm like is it really good? I was like I like this and it was Ben Harper and Jack Johnson, but like an hour I had just them at my feet Jamming, just us three it was. It was chill. Yeah, got to fall in love with their music right there.
Speaker 2:Were you into them before that? No, not at all, but you'd heard of them Not really Interesting Right. I remember that era. They were huge.
Speaker 3:Yeah, massive, I didn't realize. And then they're like you want to come down and watch the show. And I was like, yeah, so I just followed them out of the bus, dragged the beanbag over, sat in the shade, just watched the show, like in front of the stage thing or whatever. And then after that, yeah, the good times continue to the night and they could say, not with them, but just like you know, even their time of events of the day. So that was, that was a good day in total, but there's a lot of highs and lows. That's just one that sticks out because had a really good skate in the day and then it had like this little dip. And then, yeah, just hearing those those euphoric sounds and being in a moment, just complete and calmness, chill, like relax as you could be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when you're involved in those kind of things, do you find it hard to balance skateboarding and partying?
Speaker 3:Nope.
Speaker 2:Okay, we're doing both.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And able to just manage.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Could you manage that lifestyle now in your 40s?
Speaker 3:100% Really.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, that's a big call.
Speaker 3:I just don't. I don't get consumed by it. Consumed by what Well skating plays so much of my life. And with the partying, like I don't try and push those limits like I do with my skating, like that's that's where it balances, get to a point where I'm happy in a coast or cruise you know what I mean Like I'm not trying to like be the most fucked up guy at the place. That's that's never been me, gotcha.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, yeah, so you're able to able to keep a keep a lid on it and not nowhere to draw the line, eh yeah.
Speaker 3:I've got a bender tattoo because I love benders.
Speaker 2:What do you mean? You love bend, oh benders.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Bender, that's, is that from Futurama? Yeah, Ah right, I never really watched that show.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he always drinking and smoking and stuff, because he's and he's on a bender always.
Speaker 2:But you like. So you like a bender. I don't mind a bender, but just not all the time.
Speaker 3:Just as it comes Really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't like, I don't know, I don't really plan for them.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:It just happened.
Speaker 2:Is that because you just want to enjoy life? And if you're, if the vibes are high and with the right people, you're ready to do it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's what's going on, if, at that moment, doing it, not sitting there trying to plan my life around it, yeah, not trying to waste money on it, not trying to like chase that it's just. Yeah, with the right people in the right time and something like a peers, yeah, I'll go and enjoy that and spend moments and make memories.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Make memories. I love that. So tell us again where's Grop.
Speaker 3:Grop in.
Speaker 2:Morrison. So for those that aren't aware, like, where's that geographically in Australia?
Speaker 3:32.
Speaker 2:I know the latitude and longitude. I'm pretty close.
Speaker 3:So it is on Lake Macquarie, the biggest saltwater lake in the southern hemisphere. It's in between, like the two thirds from Sydney to Newcastle, two thirds of the way. Yeah, it's a beautiful spot where the great dividing range gets close to the coast and creates a lake.
Speaker 2:Yeah, nice Good memories. Have a childhood in that area.
Speaker 3:Great memories. I did a lot of, played a lot of sport. Grown up got us in a footy. Then I'm going into soccer because I lived on the water, did a lot of things like scuba diving, snorkeling, you know, getting towed behind boats on boogers. I was on boogie boards and things all the time. Sailing, did sailing for a few years and yeah, just anything to be active. Playing in the bush, making cubbies, you know, catching food, eating it.
Speaker 2:Did you take the footy? Pretty naturally.
Speaker 3:Footy was dad's thing and I'm smaller than most and you know I only really did that until about year nine. I mean, no, not year nine, sorry, nine years old, okay yeah. So I went to a little ball, played soccer, went to a gala day with him one day. Funnily enough it was over in Mayfield, not far from here, and they're under nines and needed another player, like from Morissette, and so I'd use my little brother's boots and shorts when he wasn't playing and go play, you know, for the under nines, and upscoring a couple of goals in the first few games. And the coach ended up turning up to my school and signed me up and I just switched sports from footy to soccer. Sick, yeah. So I'm fine Again.
Speaker 2:I think we talked about this the other day when we were chatting how a lot of skaters have a soccer background. It's the foot-like ordination. You really think that has to?
Speaker 3:be a nice correlation yeah.
Speaker 2:And so from there, like how odd, we would have picked up the first skateboard 15.
Speaker 3:Right, yeah, so I got the balance from you know, getting tired behind the boats and the skis and things like that and then the coordination from the soccer. You know played basketball, did volleyball for a bit too. That was a bit different. I was the smallest person on that team, that's for sure.
Speaker 2:You're not that small.
Speaker 3:No, I'm not large. Like you know, I was in the I'd call you more sort of like in the medium range or bigger. I was like in the eight or nine.
Speaker 2:Oh, back then you were smaller.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was smaller and then I was playing with people who were like in your 12 and most of them were Islanders, so I was like at least a foot smaller than everyone. I would just help set them up so then they could do the spiking and things like that, yeah, and they would do the hits over the fence or make it so they can make the points.
Speaker 2:So even on the soccer field were you one of the smaller players on the field. Yeah, for sure. Do you think it bread some tenacity in you, determination and things like that?
Speaker 3:I think it's just in my blood.
Speaker 2:In your blood. Yeah, should Dad like that.
Speaker 3:It actually goes through my whole bloodline. Grundy is Latin for battle ruler, and each male descendant of coming from my father's side has played part in some form of war or battle, going back to the Renaissance ages. There you go and always been like yeah, really involved.
Speaker 2:Like warrior spirit Kinda.
Speaker 3:Dude yeah, dad was pretty gnarly. He was Red Beret, which is like the most like he's done, like surrounded 80 something comes out of planes and can do all sorts of stuff Like yeah, army, yeah, yeah, yeah. So he's a trained weapon, that's for sure. We had the police stand up to our house a couple of times because Dad would be at the pub and he would end fights. The people would start.
Speaker 2:When you're a kid, though, were you intimidated by.
Speaker 3:Not at all Interesting. You are from your father. Everyone is. Dad never laid a hand on us. Some did their strapping and stuff because she thought it was better that she does that so and they always use like a wooden span or a leather belt or something. So it's not the actual physical hand hitting you, because then there, when, when the hand hits them, that's when it's could be causes the trauma, when it's. That's why they used to do the canning in schools, because they didn't see it as the principal or the teacher. So it is the actual thing hitting you as a disconnect.
Speaker 3:There's a disconnect on there.
Speaker 2:Interesting. Yeah, it's funny. People always have a story about how, like their mum, used to break the wooden spoon on their ass and stuff my older brother in his seven.
Speaker 3:He would used to break all the wooden spoons He'd asked you to. He'd learned how to like tens his ass and snap the spoon and he decided in woodwork to make mum this really nice spoon with a thick handle and he wrote on it with wood burner for salads. Only she used that shit on him. He regretted that. It's so funny she probably still has it to this day. I reckon we could find it. It's a classic food.
Speaker 2:I remember I got the cane in year six because I'm old enough to. The cane was still around. Yeah, man Traumatised me, scared the shit out of me and it wasn't funny. It wasn't so much about the actual pain of getting hit, it's just the whole scenario, like I mean a room, locked in it, like in an office, with a strange man who's the principal. He's like put your hand out to the side. There's no one in the room, it's just the two of us. It's a super intimidating situation, like dark energy. It's like okay, put your hand out. I'm like no, don't do it. You know whack, slap my hand, yeah.
Speaker 3:Do you think of the thing, don't you? They hit you.
Speaker 2:You do, but I do remember him and his face. That's interesting I remember my principles. Excuse me, I remember my principles. You don't.
Speaker 3:No, I do, you do, yeah, but I never had that.
Speaker 2:Were you in trouble a lot. No, not really Really yeah.
Speaker 3:You sure?
Speaker 2:What's that, you sure? Yeah, you're like a naughty kid. Yeah, how would you describe you at high school, for example? Where'd you fit in?
Speaker 3:I just floated around Like I didn't. It wasn't until like year 11 and 12 that I found like an actual group and I sat with them. It just weirded, if I wasn't here, I was there and I was with them, since everyone from so many different years still do that type of stuff to this day. What?
Speaker 2:do you mean?
Speaker 3:I just float around, I get around you know, I'm not constantly doing everything with one group of friends.
Speaker 2:So you're not like only hanging out with skateboarders?
Speaker 3:No, but it was how it was for a long time. It's just that it's like you know how people are getting clicks and they kind of stay in that group and they do things yeah.
Speaker 2:Because it's comfortable, right, I don't know, Well, for a lot of people it is, you know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I guess. So it's a familiarity. Yeah, yeah, it's a word, I guess.
Speaker 2:That is like it's like it's comfortable, it's safe. You know, people don't want to venture out of that, and they should, because there's heaps of growth, yeah, and there's heaps of good stuff to do and have more fun to have, I guess.
Speaker 3:Yeah, 100%, definitely. You learn a lot from different walks of life, so I don't sit there and think that I'm on a higher or better than anyone. So the people that I've hung out with either have nothing or have a lot you know abundance, or some people that come from nothing. You have better morals and some people that you know. It doesn't matter what the background is, it's just situational and who the people are. I don't think that, like if you grow up with abundance of stuff, that that means that you're automatically going to be selfish or a prick or anything like that, because I know a lot of people have grown up with stuff and they've had the right guides, right guidance and actually good humans.
Speaker 3:And I've had the other way around, like people that have had nothing, because that's usually what you think of, like people like oh I know, I know someone who has nothing in the heaps of life, so you know, and they start to paint that picture. But I've also seen it the other way, like people that grow up with not much and they just they'll step over anyone for anything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 3:No, they'll stub you in the back. They'll be your best mate. You'll think that these are. These are so good that they're just used to manipulating. They used to like understanding the situation and getting what they want out of someone in the ways that they can, or keeping that person there until they get the thing.
Speaker 2:And saying or doing whatever they have to do to get there Exactly. Have you seen a lot of that in your life? I have. Do you think it's just human nature?
Speaker 3:No, no, no, okay, yeah, that's I don't know. I like to think positive, so I think everyone's on a path and it just takes different like situations and different things to get to the end goal, I guess. Yeah, and where do you go further along or further? You know people further along on this path of positivity.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, like, do you try to look for the good old people and?
Speaker 3:everyone and everything that's a beautiful quality.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I struggle with it. I just I just like I'm, I just feel like the world's out to get me sometimes, yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, the thing is is like when you've been burnt, you know, so many times or scolded really hard, um, that can leave that effect, but it's not until you're going to realize that, like it doesn't have to do with you. So happiness lies within, and as long as you know that you're doing the right thing, then just you can sit with that. Um, people are going to make their own choices and do their own thing through life. That's just how it's going to be and, like I said, some have either found it or they're not having found it yet. But if you're, you're blaming things is victim mentality, and I'm not calling you a victim anyway, I have in the past been.
Speaker 3:I had a victim mentality and it's cause it's easier to blame someone than to then accept within and that's. It's just difficult to do that. But we can all do it as possible and like I can say words, but that's if it resonates with someone that does. If it doesn't, like it's a everyone will find their own piece in time.
Speaker 2:Love that you said that. Have you ever heard the philosophy of like you know, other people's happiness is not your responsibility, Happiness is their responsibility.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's pretty well. I'm saying, I haven't heard that yeah.
Speaker 2:It's like that's. I'm just relating to what you're saying. I've, yeah, similar, yeah, it's the same vibe, Right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've seen so many different relationships with people, whether it's someone that I've been with intimately or just like a mate, you know. So I've seen all those types of things where it's like it's. It's that like, yeah, you can, you know, anytime someone does me wrong, I just kind of sigh and I'm like, fuck, you know. Oh well, but in ultimately you put yourself in that position at the time and you like to trust someone you like to, I like to trust. And when you start to give someone that trust, you also give them the ability to hurt you in a sense, because you're over in yourself, up to them.
Speaker 3:The hard part is just to continuously open yourself up to people when you get burnt by so many. But it doesn't. Each thing that one person does doesn't mean that the next person is going to do that. And that's the hardest battle in that mindset is like once someone scolds you, you then think, oh, the next person's going to do this. Or you might relate something like, oh, this person does this similar to that person, so they're going to do it. But it's not. They're two different people and we're going to look for similarities.
Speaker 3:So another one that I saw. I think I, in spite of you the other day is if you were to close, if you were to look around the room and then I told you to close your eyes and look for the brown. You're going to sit there and be able to look for the brown, but then you also find anything that like kind of tans and all sorts of things that you can be like all right, this kind of brown. But then if I said you know what was red because you weren't looking for it, you're not going to know it was there.
Speaker 2:But it was there.
Speaker 3:And it was there. So if you're looking for negativity, you're going to look for any possible like shade of it to to work with the mindset of that you actually have for this person or moment in time. And it can work on the reverse effect too. If you look for the positivity, you look for the little positive things and you know how that can help shape that moment in person.
Speaker 2:So good that, going back to what you were saying about when you've been burnt, then you know you start to prepare for it for the next time. You know that is like really primal, that self preservation, you know, expecting someone else to do the same, and that's what I've learned. I think that's where forgiveness is like. Actively forgiving is so important to then open yourself up again to the next person, or even it's a friendship.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, no, like all, all relationships, all relationships, all relationships, and you can't predict the outcome. You know, and everyone comes to their own choice and their own decision through their own space, and you have to respect that at the same time. So once you start accepting people for who they are, then it's easier because you just like that's just who they are and they will get there, they will get to where they're meant to be in their time and you know accepting them for their time and space that they're in.
Speaker 2:These are pretty deep philosophies. Do you align with any religious denomination, or is it just life lessons?
Speaker 3:Life lessons.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because it's quite these are quite the themes that you're talking about Heavily based in a lot of spirituality.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I guess.
Speaker 2:How do you feel about me describing you as, like a spiritual character?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'd like to. I don't know everything and we are more than just a primal thing you spoke of.
Speaker 3:I do believe that there is more to us than just an animal, or even even animals as that, like we see them, as they are, but we don't know how they sit on another plane field and, once again, just being okay with not knowing as well, not trying to act like I understand everything and there is a bigger picture as well, but not without trying to make yourself, because I know when people talk about like, oh, there's a bigger picture and we're just like, and in the hell, it's like, yeah, but don't put yourself down so much, because you matter as well, because in each person you are your own world Also. So I know people like to minimalize their worth by saying there's so much going on, there's so many people in the world. It's like no, you're special, except that.
Speaker 2:So true, yeah, been teaching my kids about the solar system lately. You can see that first and I don't think much about it. I'm like, yeah, you got the sun and then you've got Mercury, like all the planets. But then start explaining, just reading off the poster, start talking about the scale of these planets in one solar system in the universe. Just what one system of planets that are affected by one sun. But that's just one system in the whole universe.
Speaker 3:You're a teacher.
Speaker 2:But what I'm saying is, like my son goes to me we're pretty small and I'm like, I'm like, how big are we? We're as big as a grain of sand in the universe. And I'm like man, like we're probably less. And then I started thinking, well, what's my problems in perspective? You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:Yeah, if that's going to help you cope like that can be your coping mechanism but do you think we take ourselves too seriously sometimes? Yeah, well, not serious enough.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Also. It's like. So there's no separation between atoms. They just keep getting smaller and smaller and everything's connected as one, and that's the knowledge that is passed through, all when it comes to religion, all signs, so therefore, everything matters.
Speaker 2:It's good for people to hear that there's people out there that don't feel like they matter.
Speaker 3:You definitely matter, You're special Like and you're just on your path.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's true, and it's good that you accept that. But to play devil's advocate a little bit, you know we live in this world where there's a lot of evil in the world and people putting people down constantly, and some people are unable to see the good, the positives.
Speaker 3:Okay, I get one for this.
Speaker 2:Okay, you got to come back for it.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You're unable, but their default becomes just expecting the negative, like going back to your analogy of like you know, what do you see in the room when you close your?
Speaker 3:eyes.
Speaker 2:And I just like I sometimes think, well, how can you explain that to people, that there is positive ways to look at life?
Speaker 3:Okay, so they're putting their trust in someone and that's why they're being hurt.
Speaker 2:In a human.
Speaker 3:In someone else, but then someone saying something or putting them down they put their trust and love and they believe that person so much that they're allowing them to affect themselves. Gotcha, this is where you got to bring it back to yourself and you got to know who you are internally. Understand that. You know that you're doing your best and the right things that you can. At the time, the reason words from someone else heard is because you hold them closely to your heart or above you in some way, shape or form.
Speaker 3:Like you either care for them or whatever. So you, you making yourself smaller, like feeling small, like I said, like minimalizing yourself, and then so that comes from empathy and compassion, you know, allowing someone else's words to hurt you when you got to realize that.
Speaker 3:That's them saying that and it's usually a projection of who they see within themselves and it has nothing to do with you, because if you know who you are deep down, if that person is hitting the nail in the head and trying to help you, like, be a better person, and you're like, oh wow, no, that actually do do that. Thanks for bringing that to my attention and I can better you, like that's a good thing too. Like you got to look at the positives and that yeah.
Speaker 3:So it's like, because otherwise you're going to keep repeating the same thing and lessons until we learn it. And sometimes someone comes along and is like wait, mate, like your cup's half full, it's true, but I agree it's not half empty.
Speaker 2:That's true and I agree, like we shouldn't really be putting our faith in other people.
Speaker 3:But yeah, no, you should at the same time.
Speaker 2:Well, I look at the reason I say that is because humans, even the best humans, are flawed. We're all flawed and I really believe that at some stage, that just through human nature, you will be let down by human at some stage.
Speaker 3:Because you put your trust and love in them.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 3:I agree you shouldn't be putting your faith in a human At the same time, you know it's part of life, and to love and to trust another is there's so much beauty in that at the same time, and to give yourself to one, and that's what we want to do, and that's why, when we find our significant other that we spend a lot of time with, we give them our everything, our whole, and we trust our full self with them.
Speaker 3:You know, when we don't trust our full self with them, then that relationship is not really a real one. You know what I mean. It's hidden and everything will come out at some point, and then that's when. That's when you'll have separation, because there won't be the honesty that there always was Expectations that one might have, and doing certain things to get out. When they can, like I said before, because they're wanting to take, take, take. They're not trying to give as much, but they'll give enough to keep you there, so then they can take more. But that's, it's push and pull, and it is, and that's the Yin and Yang theory.
Speaker 3:So, the masculine, feminine energies and the way that, like everything, flows. So you need to have the push and pull for the waves of the universe and energy to flow the way it does the balance of opposites?
Speaker 2:Yeah, just hard, and it really gets me thinking about, I guess, why I do some of the things I do and I feel like for me personally Is. Yet reducing my expectations of others has been has been very good in my personal development and allowing me to be more forgiving. And just yeah.
Speaker 3:And it's great.
Speaker 2:And I think it's like expectations can really let you down sometimes, if you do place a high expectation on someone and sometimes that person doesn't know they have the expectation on them and then they can't live up to these expectations that they don't even know that are on them, and then you get disappointed.
Speaker 3:You shouldn't have expectation. That's the thing At all. No, you should just like when you trust in that, and if someone is who they are, then they will be. If they're not, then they won't, as when expectation comes into it or trying to live up to someone else's, that, that's when you start to come in problems, because you're wanting something out of it. You're wanting them to be what you have inside you, or what they have they want you to be. They want you to be what's inside them, their vision, and therefore it's not. That's where you got two individuals. That's where you have human choice, because you have to respect each other's choices and movement.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it goes.
Speaker 2:It's hard, it's hard.
Speaker 3:That's the trust and love back to that and the everything compassion.
Speaker 2:That's good man. Compassion is always a good thing, bro. I love that you're talking about that. So can we get back to it? Can we get into some skate stuff?
Speaker 3:100%, we can talk. I'm here.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir. So you picked up a skateboard at 15, which some might consider to be late, especially these days. 100%. I started skating at 11, and that was back then in a different vibe, but nowadays I keep starting at 5 or earlier.
Speaker 3:My son's been on skateboards since he can stand.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my eldest Sick. How's he going with it?
Speaker 3:Yeah good, he just does it. Like I don't push him to do it, he's just like when we're out in the skateboards he just does it. He doesn't listen to me anyway when he comes to like oh man, you gotta stand up on that 50-50. He just looks at me like, yeah, all right, whatever mate. Yeah, yeah, you just do you. I have to do me, so let him do him.
Speaker 2:Cause I was considering getting you to give him a skate lesson, because it's like I've been trying.
Speaker 3:Oh, you're yeah.
Speaker 2:My sorry, excuse me, I was getting. I was considering getting my son a skate lesson with you because I have tried to teach him myself and he just doesn't listen to me. But then I've seen him with other people when he's like listens.
Speaker 3:Floyd learnt to push from one of my coaches. There you go. He didn't learn that shit from me.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:He learned it from Alex.
Speaker 2:Gotcha.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so it's because I'm dad.
Speaker 2:Exactly, I'm authority. Yeah.
Speaker 3:But he listens to me with a lot of things. It's just when it comes to certain things he doesn't, and skating is one of them and that's fine. He can do that. I don't need to gate, keep it or be the controller of it. The whole reason I love skating is it's so free and there's freedom, so I'm not going to tell him how to do it, what to do and stoke when he does it like, and he'll do it as much as he can, as long as he has the opportunity to. And we're having three kids and you know they all different ages and stuff. It's hard to spend so much time in trying to help develop one skill in that area when the other ones don't necessarily want to be there or have nothing else to do with that space.
Speaker 3:Yeah, gotcha.
Speaker 2:Have you is.
Speaker 3:This is your skate school, still running we do I do the event still through through councils and state governments, but actively with indoor parking. Now they had tearing down the building to build apartments, yep. So yeah, that was some fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, existed, I'm happy about that. So I know, I know you. Over the years you've done a lot of free. You do a lot of free skate clinics.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Around the community. Can you give us some background as to how it started and why you started it?
Speaker 3:Started it to really just get. Give people, anyone, no matter of financial situation or any sort of background, equal opportunity to give skateboarding just standing on it and rolling, like having the safety of doing that, and then just opening it up to anyone who might have any doubt of it being difficult or hard and just wanting a couple little tips to just get the first feeling of the first role, you know. Then they can take it from there and if they want to develop tricks as other coaches there to plant the seeds, yeah.
Speaker 3:And so that that just come from doing a lot and working with councils and community and with all sorts of aspects and using opportunities and trying to help it to grow, get more people. The feeling that I feel when I was cruise down the street pushing but also like bring people together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not like a team sport environment.
Speaker 3:No, no, it's not, it's not like a versus or anything. Yeah, it's just you and the thing. Yeah, having a good time Versing yourself. Yeah, well, challenging yourself.
Speaker 2:It's always been like that with skateboarding, oh yeah.
Speaker 3:So with anything that we do, we push out limits.
Speaker 2:Hmm, do you like that aspect of skateboarding?
Speaker 3:But trying it to you for a hundred times, yeah.
Speaker 2:Pushing yourself when you know, in the battle.
Speaker 3:In the battle, not so much. You can get frustrating, but it's well the process and, like with life, it is what it is. It's a process and it's like when you give into it, that's somehow when it happens, when you finally just like alright. What's stopping me now? Probably the frustration. I'm going to relax. Yeah, and then it will come.
Speaker 2:That's what you found when you're in battles that just the moment you relax, it happens.
Speaker 3:Yeah, most of the time, some of the best stuff I've done has been like when I say best stuff, I mean photos or things like that has been hung over and I can't be bothered to try a bunch of tricks and I just I'm just going to land on this thing and I'm rolling away. Okay, get out of my head.
Speaker 2:So funny. As I'm older, I love the battle more than ever. Like, sometimes it feels a bit pathetic that I'm trying a trick, 80 times, you know, and it's a trick that some people can just do first shot. But yeah, I'm in pain and then I go through all these emotions and then my brain starts trying to trick me going. Oh, you don't even really need to do it. No one cares. What are you doing this for? You're going to hurt yourself Self.
Speaker 3:There you go, bring it back to self again.
Speaker 2:What do you mean?
Speaker 3:Doing things for yourself is better. It's not for. It's not for anything. You shouldn't do anything for other people.
Speaker 2:So you've always been like that with skateboarding you didn't do it for like accolades or sponsors.
Speaker 3:No, no, no. I just I got into it so late, didn't even think about it. Like going into a competition, because I grew up with sport was just like Saturday Go along, have a good time. You know, it doesn't matter what the outcome is, just sometimes we can be out on top.
Speaker 2:How long was it before you went in your first comp? Six months, so you mean it's getting six months.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I got served in Newcastle Skatebar or force, sorry, I was at school and someone come up to me and goes you're in a magazine and I was in the slam mag with my name, force.
Speaker 2:No way A photo or just your name in a competitive result.
Speaker 3:Yeah, just because they used to do all the comps and that, and yeah, it's just like oh, okay, cool.
Speaker 2:Do you remember that? How was that feeling when you sent your name in slam?
Speaker 3:I think, because I wasn't like, the only mags that I had had were the ones my older brother had before that, and skating is something I did, but I just saw it as like another thing. I wasn't engulfed in it yet. Where I was buying the mags and these were the die hard skaters in the school that come up and were like man, you're in the mag and I was like I didn't really understand what that meant because there was a huge magazine person. It was a very outdoor, active person and if I was inside I was usually doing art, drawing or painting something, watching cartoons Interesting, yeah.
Speaker 2:You know how you said. You hang with a diverse range of people, yeah. Do you find, though, that, outside of skateboarding, you are drawn to more creative types?
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:I knew it.
Speaker 3:That was just at um what are? We talking about like Taddoists, yeah it was just a Taddo shop electric Pantera before I come here and was just talking to a guy that had met, who's from the Central Coast, and we just realised that we were around the same age bracket and we know heaps of people together and we were just kind of going over a whole bunch of stuff when it comes to that and we have a lot of mutual friends from all over the coast, like from Queensland down to this way.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he was like yeah, and he was like you know this person. Yeah, and he was like, oh, I went to Costa Arba and we did this thing and I was like I know, you know what I'm talking about. You work with this person. And he's like, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:See how it works. It's all connected, man.
Speaker 3:It is All connected. That's not the same.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it seems like Newcastle is a very connected place, like they talk about six degrees of separation, but I'm finding that it's a bit closer than that, like everyone kind of knows everyone up here to some degree. Do you think the same To six degree?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think it's four degrees. Yeah, probably. Yeah, well, I guess that comes from. It's the. What is? It's the second biggest city that's not a capital in Australia.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:First biggest is Gold Coast. Yeah, and yeah, it's big enough to be to do some things, but it's also small enough that you know a lot of people. You spend some time in the one place you're going to and especially with what I do, where I meet a lot of people in either, from five all the way up. So the age group of people that I deal with on a daily basis is like five through to fifty five.
Speaker 3:So this is huge age gap and with also working a pub and people growing and coming through like these relationships get reborn and rebirthed in a different light, and I can also use my that time and space to help people with substance as well. So I've come across when I do come into people partying and because I'm still, you know, actively out at bars and things like that, with working at a pub and stuff, and then ended up having drinks with them after or whatever, helping them learn to regulate what they're taking from just starting to experiment with those things. So, and because I already have this presence with them where I hold a trust, where I'm not an authority figure like I'm not a teacher, I'm not a parent, I'm not a cop, I'm not anything like that they'll listen because they know that I'm only coming from a place of love and caring.
Speaker 2:So you sort of just to recap that you're sort of saying that when you are you're able to more identify ones that maybe having problems with it.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:And you subtly advise them because you've seen the patterns.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, just talk to them about what they're doing, how it affects the brain, what it will do later on in life. That what I've seen it happen to so many people and a way to keep it safe. Yeah true. And to not, because substance abuse can really really like, mess you up and make life harder.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I also find that, like you can get away with it in 20s and even 30s, but I find, as time goes on, the real effects of it is that to hit people in the late 30s, early 40s, and then that's where that's when it really leads to very poor like poor mental health or self harm and things like that. That's what I've noticed.
Speaker 3:So what you've got there is also with females. They're starting to get towards a medical stage and males are having their drop in testosterone, so they're also losing. You know that the key stuff with substance abuse if that gets you before that prefrontal cortex, the decision making part of the brain, is fully developed. Because once all your stuff's off, then later on it's going to cause a lot of problems. So it's getting anything that if the abuse happens in those early 20s late like teens through 20s would be worth experimenting. That's going to have that huge dramatic effect later on If you're starting to play with it when you get in your 30s or when you're starting to make decisions, not as bad.
Speaker 2:Oh, interesting. So yeah, like okay. So if they delay the use of it, is that what you're saying? Wait till the brain has developed more.
Speaker 3:If you look here in Australia, we say 18 a drink.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And then a bit, people are using alcohol, and that from younger. When you look at other countries like America, where it's like 21 to drink. Well, people aren't even starting to experiment with alcohol till they're 18.
Speaker 2:Exactly, yeah, okay.
Speaker 3:Over here everyone's doing it from like 14, 13. You know what I mean. Yeah, I'm a first drink at 11.
Speaker 2:I'm a first drink at 12.
Speaker 3:Yeah, my parents know that there's nothing hidden and yeah it's what you're exposed to because these brackets are younger. We're also a country made from the rough of the rough. When they first started it, they shipped a bunch of convicts over. Here. They went to the bad people.
Speaker 2:And the culture was, you know, brought over the drinking culture was you know, brought over from you know, I guess, the first settlers, and England, I guess, and it's still been a big part of our identity.
Speaker 3:Exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like you know, when you've been to the States a fair bit.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we're Aussies, we're drinkers.
Speaker 2:I was going to say, like did people identify that? Because when I went there it's like, oh, you're Aussie and I could. I could actually out drink a lot of people.
Speaker 3:Everyone's drinking light beers, yeah. And they'd be like.
Speaker 2:No way, man. You're a machine, it's what we do, and I'm in hindsight, I don't know. I'm not proud of that.
Speaker 3:I'm not a huge drinker, like and like of beer. I don't drink beer. Okay, and going to when I, when I did move to the States and going over there, a bunch of people like, oh he's a beer mate, like and I'm like no stereotype yeah and then they're like what do you mean? I come from a family of beer drinkers and I've been there in black shape forever. If I don't like the taste, I'm not gonna drink it, just how I am.
Speaker 2:Wow not like worried, you'll get ridiculed for it.
Speaker 3:Not at all. It's like. It's not about other people, it's about what I like.
Speaker 2:Mmm, that's, that's so strong character.
Speaker 3:Been like that the whole time, even as a kid. I've always been me.
Speaker 2:Just like I'm doing it my way, mm-hmm Respect.
Speaker 3:I've been. That's why I haven't fallen into just doing what others do.
Speaker 2:Even now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, at one point in my life the way that my mind was working with skate tricks, and that is I would learn something and think, alright, I've got this and have a trick down solid, and then that trick will gain a popularity, and then I'll stop doing that trick because I'm like too many people are doing it. Yeah, you're too many people are doing it. Like, yeah, that's how, against the grain, you would say that I would go.
Speaker 2:You didn't want to follow the crowd, not at all. Lead.
Speaker 3:Well, just do me.
Speaker 2:But usually those people inadvertently become leaders.
Speaker 3:Essentially.
Speaker 2:Hmm, have you ever been described as a leader?
Speaker 3:Multiple times, really.
Speaker 2:By who?
Speaker 3:At the moment, I'm the sports leader of Blame and Glory.
Speaker 2:What does that mean?
Speaker 3:I mean, out of all the sports these are all me is the one that's doing the most and for my community and that so can you tell us about that award?
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you don't mind.
Speaker 3:It's coming up again actually in two weeks. It's just a recognised. You know, they recognise that you've been doing a lot within your community and for your sport and they look across all sports so, whether it's football, soccer, the whole lot, and then they pick certain individuals who are then finalists and then they go through all that and do that. So for skateboarding it was first here in Australia and then I was also mentioned in parliament by the Speaker of the House, and that was the first in skateboarding here in Australia.
Speaker 2:So specifically for the skate clinics or for your judging, it's for all of it.
Speaker 3:So it's everything that you do together. So when the Speaker of the House would speak for the people, like back when there was Kings and Queens Cypherdale, that's how you would get knights from your community. You would be, like you said, a leader in that thing Through your you know what you did, then held merit. Then you'd get knighted, like how you got Sir Elton John, sir Paul McCartney, those guys for their contribution to music, that job, yeah, so cool.
Speaker 2:It's good. I mean, how does it make you feel when you get awards like that? I got validated.
Speaker 3:Well, I just went along for the dinner. I didn't think I was going to win at all. I'm up there for 30 seconds on stage, like everyone spends like 25 minutes talking about their thing, and I was not ready.
Speaker 2:And then when I was, you knew you were a finalist. Yeah, but when they're just thinking is that why I'm going to win this? Always? I didn't prepare a speech, no at all.
Speaker 3:I get up and I'm like thanks for this. I have nothing prepared whatsoever. Have a good night, nice, and then this will yeah, cool, I'm not ready at all. And then I received a certificate in the mail talking about like being mentioned in parliament. It's all like stamped and all that Nice.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Let's think it somewhere.
Speaker 3:My mum will probably frame it.
Speaker 2:Can you tell us how you got into the judging? Skate judging yeah.
Speaker 3:So I have traveled around many different countries, competing A lot of the time just either go there or be sent there from my sponsors, not even with my name down on the event, just showing up. And there was this guy.
Speaker 3:It was like one of the runners of World Cup skateboarding, such as Steinholtz, rest in peace. And he had a lot to do with every major event for about 25 years. So when it comes to events, he played a part in many people's lives and careers and after a bit he was like he would see me in kind of like Russ, like when he you know, I've got so many people here that are down on the list, I want you to be in that and eventually he would get me in.
Speaker 3:I'd be like thankful, and if he would notice that if I wasn't at my event, I would be on a platform of you know the dirt or something else where if in every contest I've ever gone to, if you're, you know someone who's in the street, calm, you just watch in the street and then you go off and skate in street or doing other activities afterwards because you're getting your thing done and then you're going and doing your thing. Where I just love all forms of skateboarding, I'd be on platforms every time. So when I'd moved back to Australia and Sasha had come over here and they were doing the stream ball run, championships and ball around and things like that, and Sasha came up to me on dangers, I was really judging and with a ball contest which is out of my discipline really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, at ball and rum I was ABC first.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and just gave me a like he was. There was like a bigger panel then, so he was doing it so he could stick with these originals if he needed to and then just had me in there and separated us all around the ball. First the only time actually where a panel that I've been a part of hasn't been sitting anywhere near each other and everyone had their spaces and just gave me an idea of what I got to do and then said go for it. And then he judged the finals as well. And then afterwards he got all the papers out and put them next to each other and with his background in that I was nearly exactly the same scores as him, closer than anyone else, and he's just like you have a natural gift to do this.
Speaker 3:Can I use you for ball run next week? And then from then on did every major event come here to Australia with X games and all that stuff, up until like yeah, then it rolled over into people you know, got to like you got accredited for World's Gate and then World's Gate looked at things, they judge character and they're like what you're about and see what you do and yeah, Wow.
Speaker 3:I'm really good at, like you know, everyone's my friend and no one's my enemy and I'm not going to school or someone higher because they did this and that before or better friends or something like that. Really good at just keeping it to what it is skateboarding.
Speaker 2:Yeah, nice, yeah Stressful at times. Not at all. I'm laughing at the fact you're going to say that. Surely Not at all. Even at like the bigger events where there's a lot at stake.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's just more people, so you got to make sure that you got that's 250 people in the right order. Okay, no, everything I do, I'm happy with it and I do it, with it being what I feel is correct.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, and you stand by that.
Speaker 3:You got it.
Speaker 2:I respect that. It's really nice.
Speaker 3:I'm happy to sit there and you know I've definitely spoke to like, when you come to a tie, you have to split a tie and, like, I'll listen to the other judges and think about what they have to say, look at their notes, because it would mine, and we come to a good thing together and sometimes I do go with them, because I don't have this over dominance for anything like that. I'm happy to listen to everyone and hear what they have to say and we can bounce off each other. I don't have to sit there and demand them right every time.
Speaker 3:Okay, because you're not always correct.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay, so you're a team player collaborator.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you've got to.
Speaker 2:Do you like judging when Ty's one of the judges?
Speaker 3:I love Ty.
Speaker 2:He's a very likeable guy.
Speaker 3:He's great. He's such a nice guy.
Speaker 2:He said he's a better judge than you.
Speaker 3:I'm sure he didn't say that?
Speaker 2:No, he didn't say that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because he's not that overpassing there.
Speaker 2:I mean, it's not the last thing Ty would ever say yeah, and he's trying to push it on him.
Speaker 3:No, ty's great. He's been a good friend and looked up to him for a very long time. He's helped me out in many scenarios and I've been there for him with others as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah cool man. What a great thing to be involved with. Where was the judging taking you, though? Like obviously the biggest train event has it ever taken you overseas? Yeah, I went to Rome.
Speaker 3:That was fun. What Was it? X Games, no, that was World's Gap, and Sweden Picks.
Speaker 2:How was it? It was fun, good times yeah.
Speaker 3:Oh, I did. Yeah, I went there for like 10 days, that's great.
Speaker 2:So there's more judging in the future.
Speaker 3:There is.
Speaker 2:There is Any events coming up.
Speaker 3:Um, when's one next one? I wouldn't have a clue. There's a contest in Koff's Harbour. It's going to be a quite large street contest. I think there's like 10 or 15 thousand dollars up for grabs.
Speaker 2:Okay, nice, at the Koff's Harbour skate park.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, they're going to build extra obstacles and stuff.
Speaker 2:Oh, they hasn't say because I skated it recently. Yeah, it's actually about a month ago, I skated it.
Speaker 3:It's good. Yeah, there's going to be like, um, the harbour's going down the big section and a couple of the things I don't want to put out there.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Put out the surprise. But yeah, nah, it's going to go all out and do a good thing.
Speaker 2:So when you're at a different venue, like if it's a street course and it's a different skate park, like do you all get together at the start and go look anything done down this obstacle, like, say, it's the big harbour, like that's going to get scored up higher.
Speaker 3:I instantly know.
Speaker 2:But you don't discuss it with each other and have a common grading system. Like you, all agree that a trick on that ledge is going to be worth more than that or is it just expected that, with your experience, you?
Speaker 3:understand that. Yeah, I think it comes to that because, like, you shouldn't be on the panel if you're doubting yourself, because if you're doubting what you're doing, then you're going to have a lot of troubles down there. You know, when it comes to fun also, whatever, Okay, well, I'm going to hit you with one.
Speaker 2:What's worth more, a flip in trick or a flip out trick?
Speaker 3:So that comes down to how it's done, what it's done on and you know all sorts of things.
Speaker 2:So there's not a common agreement that a flip in trick is harder than flipping out.
Speaker 3:No, I will.
Speaker 2:Depends.
Speaker 3:Well yeah because I guess if you're doing a back nose one, keep a back nose one. Back nose one. No, loofah, flip, yeah, flip out is going to be harder.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you think flip out is harder than flip in. Generally, yeah. Like I said, it does vary from obstacle to obstacle. But I'm just curious.
Speaker 3:I'm trying to think of like what there would be. There would be where a flip in would be harder than a flip out.
Speaker 2:Like I know, like on a rail. So I was going to street leg Even on the ledge, just think about it. But like at street leg. For example, chloe Clavel did a 50 50 kick flip out of a hand rail. Now around hand rail, which is like I mean.
Speaker 3:Which is gnarly. Yeah, you don't even see that in the men's.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And it's not because it's like easy, it's because it's hard.
Speaker 2:It's so hard. Yeah, I can't even imagine I did one on. I did a kick flip out of a 50 50 on an ankle high ledge, took me 30 shots, but anyway. But yeah. So and me and my friend got into a debate over you know, is flipping out of a 50 50 on a rail more difficult than say, doing kick flip backside, kick flip backside nose, like kick flip, blunt slide front side, blunt slide down.
Speaker 3:Well, you changed all the tricks. There, aren't you?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You would have to. The only way you could do it is by going kick flip 50.
Speaker 2:And the point I want to make is like damn, like charging must be hard dude, I don't know if I'd be any good at it.
Speaker 3:Oh it's, it's not that hard.
Speaker 2:I just feel like not much is hard for you in terms of like your approach it's, it's cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't know if you're sitting there and like dwelling on things. I guess, you know what I mean. You've got to have confidence in what you do.
Speaker 2:Have you got any like standout up and coming Australian skateboarders that you that you find interesting?
Speaker 3:Oh.
Speaker 2:Any any prospects that you've. You've been fairly impressed by.
Speaker 3:I'm impressed by anyone really that's doing their thing. Rome's doing great. Who, rome Collier? Okay, he's doing good. But, yeah, I don't, yeah. So he's doing good things, you know then yeah, there's.
Speaker 2:Are you reluctant to name names because you want to stay subjective? I am. Okay, I won't put you on that spot, then yeah, because it's just like.
Speaker 3:But seeing the development of him's been great, you know, from being in Newcastle from such a young age to what he's done with these things. It's great to to view it from externally. The other other people, I guess, they just see him when they're, when they're already coming into their legs. You know what I mean. So you don't actually see the development, so it's good to watch. I watch from afar these days. Cool. So to to involve, that's part of the judging aspect of it You've got to. That's, that's what makes it very the different. The most difficult part of judging is the fact that you have to disconnect from your friends Because you can't be so involved in their lives.
Speaker 2:You have to, consciously not, so you're saying it is affecting your friendships because you can't keep them that close anymore.
Speaker 3:If they're if they're competing Interesting. You know what I mean. Yeah, like we got, when you're on that world scale, because if someone from one country A sees you talking to someone from country B, then they're automatically like, alright, there's a relationship there, and you end that person who is getting scored higher than ours and we want an investigation on how. And yeah, you get through, you get run through, the whole, you put over there like a conflict of interest.
Speaker 2:Sometimes I feel like I can go the other way, where someone wants to make a point of like not giving favorite favoritism so they mark their friend harder. You know that can happen yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so you people do that with their children in an event. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I had to judge Floyd one time when he's first come. I was like guys, I think this one he got last, but still.
Speaker 2:Did he deserve last?
Speaker 3:He did. He was in the under 12s or something. He was like eight. Okay, he could do a lot more than him, but he was having fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:When I asked him how well do you think he did, he's like, alright, can I got.
Speaker 2:Third, yeah, I'll ask you maybe an easy one to answer that's less political who was some Australian skateboarders that had an influence on your skating back in the day?
Speaker 3:Jeff Williams, michael Davidson.
Speaker 2:I love these heads gone.
Speaker 3:Yeah, straight up All terrain killer, all stuff that he did 20 years ago and it's and it's par with what's going on. Still relevant, yeah, still relevant. And he would do it on a very amp, he would do it on a hand rail, he would do it on a ledge, like and people don't realize how crazy that is, like how amazing that someone that can do massive frontside heel for pairs and then being able to switch back sub flips down a big block for yeah.
Speaker 3:And then I'll flip in and out of rail tricks, switch frontside 360 style fishes on six foot half pipes and they're like five foot in there, like come on guys.
Speaker 2:And just such a down to earth guy. He really was like had time for everyone. He's sorry, he's, he's relevant, he's relevant, he's very relevant. I shouldn't say he's like was he is and just yeah, like not again not overly chasing any spotlight, just a hard working lover of skateboarding. And it was so obvious. And Ty recently, on his one of his vlogs for flow skate, put up the whole juice video from 1993. And I actually just switch. No, yeah, yeah, v. No, no, no, no, no. V2. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I really watched it just for, you know, some memorabilia and some nostalgia. And, yeah, I was just skunks part. I was just like, yeah, it's as relevant, and he's styling the streets and everything was just insane. He's got his style.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah so, but like you know how some vert skaters they get like vert legs in street. You know they call, it's been, it's known. It's like you can tell they're a vert skater in the street because you know how vert it's somewhat like a light touch kind of floaty and but he somehow could just differentiate. Just go okay in the streets, street pop.
Speaker 3:I'm in the vert, I mean vert, I'm in vert, boom, vert, pop, like I just and he had people like spin Dave Bonner riding 52 mil wheels and vert doing nollie front heels.
Speaker 2:Was he? Is he someone else that you regard as an influence on you?
Speaker 3:I was just like a guy that primarily said the vert but then would do street tricks like golemica type of deal. In those moments I wouldn't say who's. I guess everyone's an influence, aren't they? If you get into what they do and watch it and see how they are.
Speaker 2:But who's skating was like, speaking to you Like none, like who's. Who's skating was sorry, skunk, skunk, mainly.
Speaker 3:Yeah, skunk, dave, oh yeah, yeah, so you'll see the class group when you go to the city, because I'm in Morissette, so jumping on the train. Hour and thirty nine minutes was your express to Sydney and thirty seven minutes to Gosford and thirty nine, or something like that, to Newcastle. Only, these are the express ones, it's funny, he knew the exact times. Had to.
Speaker 2:How many trips do you reckon you did from Morissette to Newcastle? I think?
Speaker 3:I have about two and a half thousand train tickets.
Speaker 2:No, and you kept those training.
Speaker 3:I did. They're in chronological chronological order as well.
Speaker 2:What do you love about the Newcastle skate scene?
Speaker 3:The weather. It's good, isn't it? It's warm, yeah, that's, I don't know. I just love everything about it. Everything that's going on, it's great.
Speaker 2:You've seen it evolve over the years.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've seen everything change.
Speaker 2:And how do you feel it is in present day? It's great.
Speaker 3:Do you like what it's evolved to Thriving?
Speaker 2:Thriving.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Do you feel like there's something in the water up here?
Speaker 3:Hundred percent.
Speaker 2:Why.
Speaker 3:It's just what's going on. I think it's the way like there is a couple of clicks, but it's not too clicky. When you start to get more people, people start to create these little groups and they don't mesh and mold together where we're just small enough to like talk to one another.
Speaker 2:Keep you guys in check.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, they still exist. There you go, but yeah, it's just like I guess there's not too many people skating, so it's like these are the people I'm skating with. You know what I mean? Like when there's an abundance, then, yeah, I guess there's less people hanging out. You go to some Sydney parks and you'll see multiple groups of people at the park where they're not hanging out, where, if you go to a park here, you'll kind of see like everyone's putting their stuff in the same spot.
Speaker 2:And everyone will say hello, although, at least most of the time, they'll acknowledge you.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Even if they don't know you like you give the heads up. I mean, there's Sydney parks, man, like just more people just heads down. Yeah, they just phones and I know it's like that, you're just not there, yeah, so I do like that aspect of it. Up here.
Speaker 3:You'll get a nod if you're, if you're not being a complete fuck with you on the street and even if you just someone cruising by on the skateboard yeah, that's how it grew up you know you would see someone and they would be instantly friends they would have a skateboarder.
Speaker 2:Is that getting lost a little bit?
Speaker 3:100%.
Speaker 2:Do you think skating is mainstream now?
Speaker 3:Ah, yeah, well, as soon as it hit the runways. Yeah, I guess you can't get any more mainstream than that, can you when you've got pro skate athletes doing Lewis Vuitton walks and turns?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. There's a few people yeah.
Speaker 3:I can't name off the top of my head, but there's a couple, okay. But then there's also, just like the models of some pro skaters that are doing the runway walks that aren't necessarily sponsored by them but paid to go and do that.
Speaker 2:Like male modeling yeah.
Speaker 3:You can say like I like it look.
Speaker 2:Okay, you've got to take the opportunities when they come. Why you can?
Speaker 3:Pharrell is like their head designer right now.
Speaker 2:For Louis Vuitton.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, now Virgil's passed.
Speaker 2:Would you say yes to a Louis Vuitton sponsorship? Yeah, of course. Thanks for being honest.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm not going to lie, it's um. It was a quality product.
Speaker 2:Do you find it funny how skaters who get those big money sponsorships from mainstream brands or brands that aren't necessarily linked to skateboarding?
Speaker 3:originally Giving you perspective on that Rotary billabong for 12 years and you know that that was surf culture and at a time I was um I just say yes to a lot of things and the way that I saw it was like an Australian company, you know, awesome. At the time I used to only wear juice clothing. I used to only wear global shoes. I used to, you know, ride XEN boards. At one point I was even um, what were those trucks that Chad Bardy had? That company started with D.
Speaker 2:Oh, um, I'm having a mental blank.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and then I read like they did no, not the wheels.
Speaker 2:No, not, they didn't go out, not dark star.
Speaker 3:No, no, no. You know what I'm talking about, though. You know what I'm saying. I was even running them. I was like fully supporting Australian skateboarding prior to getting sponsorship.
Speaker 2:If you're out there and you remember the name of those trucks Defiant there you go.
Speaker 3:There we go.
Speaker 2:So like, why were you writing those brands? Were you getting for free?
Speaker 3:No, or just because I was like buying them Okay, buying my juice, clothes and doing all that stuff. Yeah, I was growing up with your buy story mate. You support, you know local.
Speaker 2:But going back to the sponsorship, thing you know like um.
Speaker 3:So yeah, right from Billabong, billabong was it a matter of like? Was it a demo?
Speaker 2:Was it just like hey, that means I can just skate. This is giving me an opportunity to skate more. You weren't really concerned about its background as a brand.
Speaker 3:I didn't really. I didn't think of the background as a brand. I didn't look at skating that way. This was just before I turned 18. So it's only a couple years into skating. I didn't have this mindset of all that. I wasn't chasing the dream that many chase. I was just skating, had an opportunity and then took it and it was contracts and them sending me. I didn't like.
Speaker 3:My parents had you know, they bought a place in the 80s like on the water and we'd been one of four kids. My parents did their best for us to have. You know enough, gotcha, you know what I mean. So when it comes to extra things didn't always have the money. When I was going up to my schoolies and everyone was going to the Galdi and I wasn't, I wouldn't say any money that I was buying. I think years ago I was going to a deck or something at the time, some parachutes. I wasn't going on that end of year trip Got on billbomb just before and then I went and did my schoolies with Brachylastic Ben and Tuss Pappas, alleycans, just ten days on the Gold Coast. I would do one demo at Pizzy and five star first class the whole way. It was amazing. I got some own. I went from the bush to the deep end, like this with the top, yeah, best of the best of the time and yeah, it was amazing.
Speaker 2:Did you feel like you fit with the other team? Writers? I was just a kid. Was there any intimidation?
Speaker 3:Not at all.
Speaker 2:You weren't nervous, no, like you had to prove yourself.
Speaker 3:No, because I wasn't buying the American Max. I didn't watch those type of things. I didn't know who Huff and Wynna met him. I just went on this trip with him and I ended up watching him skate on that's crazy and then drinking with him and spending every moment. But you knew who. Ben and Tuss were Not heaps.
Speaker 2:No, I knew of them.
Speaker 3:I didn't know of the X-Wade's Evo. I didn't know the history, so I actually got to know them as people before I got to know their skate past.
Speaker 2:Interesting. Yeah, they probably felt that too, that you were coming from a more authentic place with your relationship, maybe. Yeah, oh, my God, yeah, yeah, because, like I used to fan out on those guys, I can imagine.
Speaker 3:I still try and I Over the years I tried to stay away from those people that I kept up there. Okay, because I didn't want meeting them to ruin the experience of having a skate hero and From PJ ladder looked up to a lot he was. He was, you know, wonderful and horrible life. I watched it that many times, kind of imagine, and every little rebirth in the 270 hours and I just thought it was the best. It was so different to everything Frontside tail slide, front side 270 kickflip on a ledge like a low ledge, like still it's fucked.
Speaker 3:And there was one time, was it? When I Moved to San Diego and say, my friend Rob, we used to go to DC ramp, a bunch like that very ramp. And this one time I was like I was skating the street because they were all about guys and I saw this like plan B PJ lad like bored on the ground. I was like, oh yeah, and here I was just skating flat ground doing my thing, and then I hear board flip over and look over and this PGL, I just does a tray flip and then he disappears again. I was like, oh, so glad I didn't meet him Because I didn't want to, didn't want to lose this, this thing of holding him up here and then um Couple years later, oh, we can take a ladder. So I don't know what was it. It was new balance. New balance. When they come to Sydney and they went down to see um most and Most of it and Tyler series to my close friends, say hi to mother in Australia.
Speaker 3:Yeah you know, I got them to meet Floyd and Sunday was still baking at a time and I did what I could do Because PJ's on the chip and do what I could do, kind of not bounce into him. You know, it gets like two days in or something and I'm there talking to the Filmmer who I knew from San Diego Russell and Russell Horton and Just told him and then PJ pops up next to us. He's like hey, pj, and I was like yeah, it was cool, it was good, that's, he didn't ruin it for me.
Speaker 2:It was some other, like foreign skaters. You mentioned some Australian skaters that you really liked, but who are some foreign ones, aside from PJ that you always I think I think you could go to everyone's constant as well, because, like innovative he also he's a likable person.
Speaker 3:He's got that good energy. If you have a problem with anything that he's doing, I suggest you look within yourself and your problem. Yeah, yeah exactly, yeah, just so many. I know. I just come across them over the years and A lot of my favorite skaters actually Dudes I'm really good friends with, known for a long time- Like you stay in contact regularly and things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so yeah, where it's like FaceTime phone calls or yeah, just messages.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sometimes I struggle with younger crew trying to explain the significance of certain skaters because they some of them can go back and look at footage of Kostin. You know and go, oh, you know, everyone's doing those tricks these days, but they don't understand like the era they were being done and the significance of the time that these things were being done.
Speaker 3:I think exactly less people doing it, and these tricks had never been done before, never been done before. Yeah, never, never, even like it's. It's not now that people are building off what was done. These weren't even done yet. These were first discovered exactly so it's a different thing altogether. It's not like oh, that's just a K-Grant. That's a K-Grant because it's a costume grant exactly, yeah, that I'm thinking that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like pine ear stuff, and oh man, I was talking like it trips me out like this. Kids these days who don't even know who Danny way is, I'm like what.
Speaker 3:You know, trip.
Speaker 2:It trips me out like am I that old, you know?
Speaker 3:yeah that's. Then you just get them watch those old videos and they're just like, wow, I didn't realize people doing those tricks back then too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what's happening with skating. Are you saying that you know your coach kids from five to 55?
Speaker 3:I'm not just. That's the community that I'm a part of.
Speaker 2:It's not like I'm coaching.
Speaker 3:Sorry, I don't actively do the coaching. I I have coaches that I Do that stuff for us, for our events and things like that. So I tried to actually distance myself from Doing that. So I just skating myself, I show them how to coach, ah gotcha, and teach them what to do and what to look for. And then, like with getting people and trying to give people that first role, like Getting them to you know and do their own research on developing those skills, like they shouldn't look at me to what I do next it's like Well you Be, we've got a school for this if you really want it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I guess sorry maybe Interacting with people from that age range and it just, you know, we're at this stage with skateboarding where it has a really deep history. Now you know, it's not a new thing like it's got really deep, significant cultural history and I think it's an interesting time. It really is. It's exciting actually.
Speaker 3:Yeah, forever evolving. That's why we still love it is because you you think you know what's going on. Then you realize you don't. But that's life as well. That's why life's interesting.
Speaker 2:Hmm. Yeah, it's like you but I mean, how do you deal with change?
Speaker 3:embrace.
Speaker 2:How do you do with change in skateboarding?
Speaker 3:embrace.
Speaker 2:Like okay, so let's say there's a trend in skateboarding. I don't do trends. I know, but like, let's say, you see a trend emerging in skateboarding, even though you got nothing to do with it as an as now I can an elder statesman. How do you deal with that? Do you just sit back at the skate park and win you about it to everyone?
Speaker 3:98 points under the times. That trend was around 25 years ago.
Speaker 2:It's so true, like, okay, do you trip out like I'm baggy, baggy jeans, like I know? You're wearing some but I See you wear baggy jeans. I'm going and I think, well, he hasn't stopped wearing baggy jeans since the 90s, right? But then I see, like these new kids coming through with super baggy jeans and like they're like, they think they're all fresh and new and I'm like I Was wearing like jeans we got from Sun Vinnies that were just too big.
Speaker 2:You know, 30 like six sizes too big, like I was a size 28 and I'm buying 36 is and I'm just pulling the waist in and it's all Bunched up and then cutting the bottoms off, yep, and capper jeans and shit like that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, half of mine were like Hand me down some older brother, my dad.
Speaker 3:Yeah and that's and that's essentially where big pants come from me was. I Didn't necessarily have Like like, well, out, now, made big. They were like what you're saying, just bigger pants that you pull in and and that come from you, instead of worrying about the new pants just getting a board when one was all chipped up and I had these little square ass tails. Like you know, you never see the little tails anymore. You don't see people reshaping their boards. No, definitely don't see people re-gripping their boards. If they've got like two or three chips on it, they're like oh yeah, it's done. It's like, mate, mine was about two inches long at one point.
Speaker 2:Could you just keep like they're giving it new lease on life by sending it down and taking it to woodwork at school, going in there and at lunch. Sandy belt.
Speaker 3:Yes, you know it, this Santa all things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're crazy man. There's actually like, speaking of skate fashion though, I was in Sydney recently and I was at Tech Park and that is really good to the cool young new skaters came, came in. When I say young, doing that in the mid 20s, so it's young to me and they're all ripping. But this new fashion, like they had baggy jeans on but short t-shirts, so the t-shirts were cut in how we wear baggy shirts.
Speaker 3:It's like a mid-drift.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like it. They'd cut them off at the waist. Does that make sense?
Speaker 3:So they're like my t-shirt belt and their little and the keys.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it was like this, so the shirt was like. You know, my shirts will go over my sort of ass pretty much, you know. I think that might be. But they would deliberately cut.
Speaker 3:Stop restricting. It would be less restrictive, wouldn't I?
Speaker 2:don't know if it was for fun, I wear big shirts because they're less restricted, can move. Yeah, and it's like I don't know if they were cut for function or fashion. I'm pretty sure it was for fashion. Yeah, I'm like that's different. I don't know if that's 90s inspired, because so more 80s inspired.
Speaker 3:Maybe, it's like crossing the 80s and the 90s together.
Speaker 2:So you, the kids, are coming up with new shit. Yeah, how old is that sound? Hey, very.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's life. That's a soy and Stevie Williams who's mash them together.
Speaker 2:What do you mean? Well, I heard where like yeah just big pants, stevie big was big pants. Hey, you know scary because shirt off a lot.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but then, like you, talk about her soy with the cut shirts.
Speaker 2:Remember and like. Also remember that fashion of like your boxes were hanging out the top of your pants. Like your pants, like this baggy and then the saggy. Yeah you know like so saggy is when, like your pants hang real low and, yeah, boxes are out the top. You know I was what and I was watching gifted. Have you had a gifted hater?
Speaker 2:Of course he was talking about it. How like fuck he's so funny me kills me that guy. But he's talking about how they need to you saying like saggy's cooler than baggy, and then you need to sew, they need to create jeans now that, yeah, I actually had seen a pair of those reports. But the box is. The box is a sign to the pants. So you got the look. But then the functionality.
Speaker 3:That's a thing. So I don't. But I guess a gift that had it would probably be too young To know that that was a thing maybe thing at one point yeah.
Speaker 2:Hmm, he does make some good observations though, that guy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but then he's done and he's just regurgitating. Something was actually like something you could purchase at a point in time.
Speaker 2:They were around with a yeah, because I thought they might have been. Actually they were so good. Yeah, man, like skating in Newcastle, like you know, because street skating was a thing like did you have any favorite spots around Newcastle that it frequent? Um.
Speaker 3:I would skate wherever and a lot of things if frequent. There was this like ledge manual pad that was outside of the hospital. That's our apartments. I got start off, like you know, around 10 centimeters and then drop off about you know 60 centimeters, so we just like to the hill drop down. That was fun. It was a tall thing. You could grind the inside of it and, yeah, could. The outside was really chipped up. Yeah, it was a fun thing. It wasn't that far from the skate park.
Speaker 2:Like you know how civic plazas Kind of like a bit of a meeting spot, the place.
Speaker 3:I wasn't part of the clicky ones, so me and my friends had been building and stuff like that. It would skate it sometimes, but you'd see a lot of people that were like, yeah, they were very rounded by the time that I was skating. Oh God, you know what I mean. Like you could see that they had a life before you know I was doing what I was doing in the late 90s.
Speaker 2:Okay, around 97. Yeah, okay, just hit the streets like still searching out spots and stuff though.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. Just trying to think of all the things and plus, like you know, the schools down my way got fair few spots as well, and it was a lot of school hunting through through things anywhere that was close to a train station.
Speaker 2:Exactly, hey, yeah, yeah, nice. No mobile phones to film every single thing you did.
Speaker 3:No, no, but like my, my crew, we didn't even have a camera.
Speaker 2:Was there a time to it? Ever like every now that you get a camera, like, were you trying to document?
Speaker 3:No, not really. It didn't matter. I don't know the only time that I started I started shooting photos when I started Getting paid to do it. Started filming when you become part of like the job.
Speaker 3:You know, what I mean. There's a couple of like you know, little camera photos from back in the day that a mate might be like I'm bringing my camera today or bring a mom's camera, whatever. And then One friend did have a handy cam that we used Like a couple weeks. I don't know where that footage is lies these days, but that was mainly back backyard stuff a little skate park in my backyard. My parents, like they were gonna build a house down the back, will they've built the house now and that a concrete slab that was there. And and dad, instead of wanting to build a by a big boat he built, bought the molds to To do a big boat so he could build it right.
Speaker 3:And we ended up using these molds and just chalking them up with bricks and things like that to create ramps. And then, and then after a few years I'll have a couple bunch of mates who will come over. We have these little flat bars and that made out of trampoline sides and whatnot. And then just in the next Area across crew and bomb the kids who went to that school for the 12 and 10 they they build skate obstacles for their major works and they had them in a cul-de-sac called the sack, and I don't have it skated there once. A couple quarter pipes, ledges and all that stuff. And one day come home from school and my whole backyard was like a skate park because the council told them they had to get rid of the ramps, otherwise I'm gonna destroy them. And then I had 30 kids over my house every day, sick.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I could do, I wind you back out.
Speaker 3:Well, they were really well made. Ramps, like one was actually made out of fiberglass like and don't. It was slippery as shit when in the rain. But, um, yeah, not actually built quite well, because it was a expensive school to go to, yeah, so it was like I think it was $10,000 a semester or a term or something really high education. But they got to do whatever they wanted to with their mind and so they all built this skate stuff and then it just ended up in my backyard.
Speaker 3:Your parents supportive of that they were until we got a local skate park, and then they're like it's gonna have to go. But um because they had nowhere else to go. They were. They were like it's better than everyone comes here. We had no neighbors complain. We had real estate's come into us going like hey, some of our tenants are complaining because we live on the water, so the the banging the boards who travel across the water to the houses all around in that and it would just echo through the space.
Speaker 3:But so what could you do? Yeah, like there's a shop next door that's arrived because there was people buying chips and drinks and lollies all day like well afternoon my parents got a bit upset when I Because I said before we got local parkals already traveling and people who had just gone to my house and I wasn't there. It's not the best. There was a couple broken arms and things, but yeah, that's a common one.
Speaker 2:When someone has a ramp or at their house, it and everyone knows about it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know they come over when you're not there and it gets weed well before that, what a couple mates used to do is because the area is full of holiday houses for people from Sydney before it got developed and things, and they would use the car, boats and all that of people's holiday houses and Build a little skate park and they're for the driveway and stuff. So there was a couple of those that you would go around to know Round of this area and skate this house that gets used twice a year.
Speaker 3:Yeah, things like that yeah that's so sick. Yeah, tom, yeah, some good things, and that's just like. That's what you had to do when there's a bit more bush?
Speaker 2:Yeah, improvise, that's it, do you serve? No, I've got a surfboard have you ever been Periods of being into it I got in a body body.
Speaker 3:That's not surfing and Like as I was used to, just getting towed by home boats and things like that. So I have a good relationship with still water, the beach. This never, never, had, never really got into it. No. I think, yeah, I worked at um slimes board store when it first opened here in town and, like Richards, made me a surfboard and I used it a handful of times. It's still new. I've had it for like a decade, probably longer. Wait 13 years.
Speaker 2:Twin fin.
Speaker 3:No try fin.
Speaker 2:Yeah, swallow tail a bit. You know the swallow tail is yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So yeah, I understand, it's a fish fish. Yeah it's um, so I Know a lot about surfing. Wait, mick Adams, who? Who's there is?
Speaker 2:is.
Speaker 3:MR's best friend and work in surf retail since the beginning of time and I Learned about Board shapes, wave shapes. You know Everything's you could about how it all works and people would come in. You've been surfing for 40 50 years and things and say, oh, I want to want to get a new surfboard, and I'll ask them the questions and going off leaderage and but my knowledge and then go. I think this would be a good choice.
Speaker 3:Yeah and Then they'll come back going all this is the best water had. And right there I was like I can't do this anymore. I Was like this is wrong. Like they're having great times this is awesome, but like this isn't, it's not right. So open my hands, k-chomp.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, that's how it start that was what the inspiration because you were feeling a bit like Don't miss lead people.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's just like. It's Like it wasn't right, like they were getting what they wanted out of it and that it's just like. Oh, mine was just a calculation. I guess it's how someone would work when they work at zoomies or something like that. They just they get told their requirements. Yeah, ben, yeah, and it's just whatever but, this gate is usually know exactly what they want anyway, yeah that's okay, we're surfers is still open to just so many different board shapes and things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's like lots of detail and dimensions and Rale size and shape and yeah yeah, it's, it's quite another thing that's gnarly about it is it's like it's a big purchase, so like $1,000, but like up to 1500, and it's like so.
Speaker 3:When you add, like you know, Fiends and pads and yeah you know your leg rope and all that. Yeah, you always up around that 1500 yeah whereas I was skateboarding.
Speaker 2:It's like, okay, look, if someone put like there's not a lot of variation in shapes and sizes, and if someone does purchase the wrong board, it's. It's not as consequential as like $1,500, it's like a hundred bucks.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so it's a different sort of thing, less stress on, on Providing them, that there was a couple of times when with my, with my shop, and and kids would come in and want the best of the best and I would talk them down from it. Okay because it wasn't. It's not about the sale. It's about, like this is what's gonna work best for your skill level.
Speaker 2:Now, I'm not trying to capitalize off you All right, yeah, where did that shop open the first time?
Speaker 3:In Walnut's Bay inside playgrounds park. Okay yeah, indoor skate park that was built out there by a guy named James Mansfield. Yeah yeah, um, he worked for Woodward in America for a bit doing the snow stuff and he's from like Out here, okay, and he just wanted to bring that energy here and do it. He did a great thing and Without him, like, like things thrived. We had a lot of people who comes through that they're still around today, yeah, and developed a little skill and had a lot of fun enjoying themselves.
Speaker 2:Yeah, nice. Yeah and like was it a overall? Did it, did it flourish for a while? Like, yeah, well, and then popularity died down.
Speaker 3:No, no, no, the. The logistics of the rent was doubling. And then we're reopening somewhere, and, and then we got involved with another company to Move forward on a bigger facility at Lambeer care to do a place called Rush Fields. Okay, and COVID, covid like stop that. But now it's back in the pipeline again and we're talking about happy time. Well, birds are beautiful.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, no, like COVID.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but the birds are beautiful. Yeah, I'm just sorry about that, no no, sometimes actually on a tangent, sometimes in the podcast you get some beautiful native, native birds making sounds and I've had some American listeners reach out to me. Go, oh my god, oh they, they message me in DME.
Speaker 3:That was rainbird lower key.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're like. Those birds sound so cool. It just sounds like and like, but we take those sounds for granted because we're so used to use to them.
Speaker 3:I leave my window open so I can hear them. I wake up to them. I wake up to a tree for low-key and I'm like, yeah, thanks, mate, appreciate that I'm gonna make some sleep now.
Speaker 2:So sorry to divert you away from your story. You were talking about how COVID kind of, yeah, it's just a difficult.
Speaker 3:Yeah, put it in its tracks. The company they focus on a lot of Supporting use and people with disability and stuff like that and hardship, and they want to go into a direction where they could help, like them, focus energies into productive things like and now it's back on track to still be doing it. So it's like almost a woodward like thing, gotcha. Yeah sick but it's own. It's gonna be a bit different with the indoor wave pool, and indoor still wave and They'll do still wave. It's still wave.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, where they should the jet or whatever yeah and then other Other things that aren't available at those other venues across the world. So it'll be unique but more tailored to because Australia we've got so Such a vast country and not a huge population. Yeah, so you have to. For a facility to work, you have to Get to so many different things To draw people in. Yeah, I mean because everyone's still into different things and yeah, so it's like skating.
Speaker 2:Skating is pretty niche at the end of the day.
Speaker 3:Yeah, especially here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's why, like pure, Pure, just skate, only skate shops. I mean, it must be so challenging to stay pure like that. Yeah, yeah 100% yeah. I mean, I know you know better than anyone, but I I've got a lot of admiration for anyone that stays true to that and with their skate shops.
Speaker 3:Yeah, at the same time, like With with those people do venture into Extracurricular activities that you know, skate park culture and things like that. Yeah, okay, you know, moving into even the art realm on something we're within their space. It's all about keeping the doors open. Okay, you know. I mean so if I would rather someone sell some art pieces that aren't done by skaters or, you know, sell some other things that aren't skate core skate shop, you know, like, and it's getting moving into the skate park culture stuff, if it means that they get to put food on their table and have a roof over their heads rather than shouting Because that's just ego.
Speaker 2:Good call yeah it's just ego.
Speaker 3:If you're gonna, I would rather you thrive, then survive.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's a tricky one. I mean it's admirable, they want to stay true to the culture, but it's challenging because they got to put food on the table and Doesn't mean I, you know, like the, they're not. It doesn't mean they're any less of a skater. I think that's what some of those and I say this because I have friends that own skate shops so Same yeah, no, and like sure, I mean shoe sales. I think help, because anyone, well, anyone wear skate shoes, whether you're a skater or not.
Speaker 3:So I think that's yeah, and in the clothing clothing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, come back to the billabong thing. I was thinking like no, billabong has always been surf, surf, surf. And then they were sponsoring skaters as well. Mm-hmm, I was funny like Vulcan, that's the one brand that's blended the two seamlessly. Yeah, it's really interesting how they were able to pull that off. I don't know what's your observation on that. Do you have one?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think that, like they did, surfing in America, A lot more than they were doing the skating here. So if you look at videos like let's live yeah.
Speaker 3:You know, I think I was resting, oh shit, Um, uh, they kind of like, before they moved it here, it seemed like it was like you know what. I mean, they would have a couple people that rode for it. In America. We had like rallying, you know, I think, auto, I don't know. You know what I'm talking about back then and it was heavily Australian skaters that were part of it, and then the surfing was like there was more surfers over there than there was here. It's like they just like played with the dynamic.
Speaker 2:Maybe or also maybe because they just started like that from the very start as well, whereas, like Billabong's roots were so in surfing originally and then.
Speaker 3:Because it's older.
Speaker 2:Were you with Billabong when Bart Kahnz was the manager, a team manager.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, he became a team manager up one while I was riding for them. Yeah, okay, yeah, so he was just, he was a team rider at the start. Yeah, and yeah many wild adventures with old Bartos Neville. Bartos Respect, love that guy. Yeah, many, many good times.
Speaker 2:Yeah, dude, wow man, good times, like you just always like. Well they. Actually, if you don't mind me asking, I started from giving you a free product where they, like they were paying for trips. They're paying you a salary of any type, yeah, okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, so I had money coming in. That'd be nice Monthly.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And you get paid monthly and then you have. You also get when you're in magazines or video or TV, like you get paid for the incentives for stickers and things, and when you mention the names and blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, wow, so they're organized. Yeah, they were. They like pretty free with their budget and stuff and go on tours.
Speaker 3:Like when we the escape program started here, probably in 2000. And that's when Billbong just went public, right, got a merchant, still owned 51%, so he had control over the company, but it was when it first went to the open market. Yeah, and they just poured heaps of money into everything marketing because they had a lot more money to do so. So there was what Billbong did, for skating here in Australia was huge. And the tours and bringing people out and then sponsoring some big events that people could make no proper money on.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it wasn't happening here. Yeah, you know, and they were never trying to buy their way into it. They had the talks of most meetings. They were always like we know that skaters aren't going to buy Billbong, we're just happy to support it. Wow, yeah, it was great. That's cool, because they were never trying to sell on skate shops. They were never trying to. They did come up with a logo for the skate and snowboard stuff, but it wasn't to try and like yeah, move into those markets more so than just showing like this is what we're going to use to support them.
Speaker 2:Do you think it?
Speaker 3:was three years or something.
Speaker 2:Do you think they were acknowledging that skaters often lead street fashions and then they were trying to just sort of like get on that?
Speaker 3:You know how, like a lot of we weren't doing the designing of the clothes.
Speaker 2:I know, but like I guess what I'm trying to say is like you know how, like skaters.
Speaker 3:Some of the stuff was most of the stuff If you didn't go through, if you didn't wasn't in there going through the warehouse yourself, like sometimes they get flown up there to go through the warehouse to pick out my packages, yeah, there would just be someone that's picking your product and sending it to you. Okay, yeah. So that's like, yeah, that happened a bit and I do believe that that happens right now with a lot of skate companies. They just get you so as and send you whatever you don't choose it.
Speaker 2:Okay, but I guess the point I'm trying to make is like in terms of from a marketing perspective, like you said, they weren't. You know they would just want to support skating, but do you think it was also like being identified with skate culture to help with sales of their like you know, their fashion and their clothing lines?
Speaker 3:Well, that would mean that they would want to sell on skate shops and that, I guess.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 3:The way they were doing it also is like they also did own. They bought brands like Element, nixon and stuff at that time too, and they're also pumping money into those. So then you use it. Those we're going to work with, skating not so much, like you know.
Speaker 2:Okay, ah, there you go. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:And then, having those brands. They were also advertising a lot with the magazines and keeping the pages open.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Because once the funding from big companies like that you know was gone, you started watching them go from magazines all once a month to bi-monthly, to quarterly.
Speaker 2:Gotcha.
Speaker 3:You know what I mean. And that's because of those companies aren't funding it. All right, and it's turned into more companies, like the shoe companies and things like that, but they're not supporting it the way that it was getting it before, so they're doing less. Yeah, gotcha.
Speaker 2:That's so interesting. It's a different perspective. I never, never, really considered it, so thanks for sharing that. That's all right.
Speaker 3:It's just being part of it and being around. Yeah, so I also did marketing straight after high school, which I wasn't able to complete because of the teacher and I had to go on a trip, but also learning about that and seeing it all working and looking at the eye and looking at, looking through everything with this new eye and new lens, and it's very crazy to watch, like what everyone does. It's very evil.
Speaker 2:Marketing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like this. This is money man. Well, it's just the knowledge that they have on how to control people in the masses and doing things like that. What they can do with triggering certain things in the mind to get people to follow and do stuff and conform is insane. And you know, when you get the right information and look into it over an amount of time, you like you understand that a lot of stuff that you're looking at isn't necessarily the best.
Speaker 2:Right, and it's the crazy psychology, like it's not even your choice type of deal.
Speaker 3:Like you learn to.
Speaker 2:Like you've been brainwashed.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so you learn to to get the attention and then to create a want, and then create a need, and there's like five to 10 steps to get someone to have not known about said product to catch in their attention, to get in this abliminal and then all the way through to feeling that they have to have it and they need to have it and they need to be a part of it and without it it's not right.
Speaker 3:And we become slaves to it. Yes, and with knowing all these things, I kind of went in the other direction when I started my own branding, because I didn't want. I'm not trying to make choices, I'm trying to be an option, trying to help people. Okay, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And, like you, could definitely have capitalized on it a lot more and being in a financial better position, but that's not. That's not what it's about. I'm about free choice.
Speaker 2:Okay, not driven by money, no.
Speaker 3:Not at all. We talked about this the other day, yeah.
Speaker 2:Why aren't you driven by money?
Speaker 3:I've watched it kind of tear up family at one point in a time of growth and I kind of like I put everything aside. I watched what people done for it, also, like enduring this in this time of growth was around 16. Also had someone hold us up. Like first time someone put a gun to us. That was. That was an experience.
Speaker 2:Do you mind sharing that story? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's fine, pretty much was. I worked for Domino's for a few years at this point and my sister was a manager in Sydney and in a place called Likamba. At this time, in each school holidays, if I wasn't doing like something else, I would go and do some work with her for like two weeks. Yeah, just because instead of getting the odd shift here and there, friday, saturdays, it would be like daily, because she was a manager, and one night after a Saturday night we just went to take the funds, like the bags of money, across to the drop box which is straight across the road from the front door. Yeah.
Speaker 3:And next to the drop box was an alley and yeah, had these two bags of money and had to come around the alley it's just going to wear in sunnies and that and held the gun to us and was like give us it, grab the, grab the bags. And stupidly, I'm like fighting with him. I'd already had the key in the drop box and if you know how drop box works, you got to like pull it out, put in a bag, shut it, open it and then put the other bag in. Yeah, so I was able to get one bag in and then I've closed it and I've gone and opened it and he's like he's got hold of the other bag, he's got one hand and the gun and one hand and the money, where I'm like kind of got two hands on it, hit us in the hand with that with the gun, like the butt of it, and it just like broke the grip, ripped it, ran. It was like six foot something.
Speaker 3:I was a kid. It was other people around, but yeah, they're just adrenaline just pumping for me. Had a big smile on my face afterwards.
Speaker 2:Smile. Yeah, it was just like oh that was a gun, yeah. I'm just like you're interesting. I can't work you out Like you're smiling, because Adrenaline. Just because. Is that how you react to gnarly situations in general?
Speaker 3:Yeah, sometimes as well. It does get me in a bit of trouble too, like if someone's like trying to have words in me. I think it's funny their reaction and how they're being.
Speaker 2:Then they think you're being a smart ass.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but not just just laughing at the scenario.
Speaker 2:I should say it's interesting, dude. I remember like I know you've spent a fair bit of time in America Like how old were you when you first went over 20. 20. And what got you over there originally?
Speaker 3:I went over for Tampa Ram. Yes, yeah, I just used to watch all the videos and I just thought that's like my only goal on skateboarding was to go to Tampa Ram and I just wanted to go to that party. It was a great experience. So back then it was 2003. Caught there, it really all happened. Each quick I got I was like I'm going to do this. It was in January at the time and I went and got a job at and surf, diving, ski at Tuggera and they were giving me like 14 hour shifts through Christmas holidays on a casual rate and was working seven days a week and after a few weeks was able to just buy my flight like knew my goal, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3:Then went over flight center, bought my flight in the same Westfield or whatever, and then the next couple of weeks and built up what I could for spending money and buying my hotel and stuff. First, like before I left, I printed out the direction to the skate park from the hotel. Stand that yeah. And then missed the connecting flight from a delay in the plane and got put in LA overnight and then made my way to Tampa in the morning and by the time I got to the hotel the guy was like your mum's called like 20 times trying to find out like where I am, because at this point she doesn't know what's going on.
Speaker 2:So she knew where you were, the hotel you were booked at. Yeah, that's all she knew, yeah.
Speaker 3:But because I didn't. I was like a day later and she didn't know that I had the connecting and things like that, because there's no way to.
Speaker 2:You're a poor mum.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this thing was stressed, so yeah. So this is an interesting experience the first night like I broke up and I got two big bags of pack for like four months. At this point it seems like compared to what I would do now and so I go in. You know, I never travel. I never traveled to New Zealand at this point, never by myself, and I didn't realise that I'm in the hood and I'm Tampa's gnarly and so.
Speaker 2:I didn't know that. I mean I've watched all the skate park of Tampa, Combs, Tampa and Tampa Pro. It is rough. I thought Tampa was like the place, like party town.
Speaker 3:It is, but it's rough, Is it? Yeah, it is gnarly. So I take, you know, I go and stay there first night and like two in the morning. So I just I just hit my door, I go to the window and I just like open the curtain instead of because you've, you know, at this point, if I open the door and have a little chain, you don't know what's going to happen. And there's just three, three big African American dudes there and they're like look at me. And they're like I was like can I help you, mate? And the voice caught on guard. And they're like oh, it's John here. I was like, no, John here, mate. And they're like, all right, and they walk off. So the next day I'm like, oh, actually earlier on that day, after I dropped my bags off, I'd gone and walked down the wrong street and I've come up to a cul-de-sac and I'm like I'm not in the right place and there was a couple of car loads of people there rolling dice like gambling in the gutter. Such a hood guy.
Speaker 3:And that was like and I just turned around and then we walked back and as I started walking, they just all got up, looked at me, jumped in their cars and followed me and I went into a 7-Eleven which I had a subway, and then I bought myself a foot long, a foot long, a foot long meatball serve and I sat down and I was eating it and this dude just comes up, stands right next to the table standing over me looking down at me, and his friend got two dollars worth of fuel because he got a pee-pay for the fuel there, and then he just walked away.
Speaker 2:Just two bucks for the fuel, yeah.
Speaker 3:And I was like fuck, it's three car loads of guys. So then I go down the right street and the first skater I see he's named Mattias Nyland, from Sweden. He's a bird skater.
Speaker 3:I just saw a skateboard and I was like that's me, mate. Went straight up to him and was like where's the Cape Park? He's like down here, I'm going in now. I was like perfect, we stopped by his place, which is Tampa. Right? You don't stay at Tampa, right? The place is like run by each room. They've always got a room open to rent but like you've got drug dealers and prostitutes out of each room.
Speaker 2:It's like hourly rates.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So the next day after my altercation I see him and I'm like man, like last night I had guys set up my room at like 2 am and he's like that's nothing, my door I had people kicking at it from like a big rock in that, and this rock is like solid bit of concrete and pointed to it.
Speaker 3:It's on the ground right near it and these doors got a big. They were trying to kick in my door, to get to me, to rob me, and I was just like, yeah, and I wasn't trying to get me to come outside and I was because I had two queen beds. I was like you can come stay with me if you want. And he's like, oh, I like that. I was like, just get a refund. And he's like I'll try, I don't think I'll get one. He goes to the same hotel, no this is Tampa right?
Speaker 3:I'm at the Howard Johnson. I'm like I'm in a bigger place.
Speaker 2:He's just small, he's just dodgy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he's just he's he, you don't stay there. This place is. This place is not like. This is yeah, mine has like 50 rooms or 60 or something. Yeah, he's, he's would have like eight. So it's called Tampa eight. It's called, yeah, it's good. And he goes to the front counter and goes, oh, is there a way to get a refund? And I don't want to stay here. And the guy in the front was like, yep, just gave him the cash straight away and he didn't expect that. And I was like, sweet, you can give that to me and come stay with us. So it halved my money. Nice, I use that money. And yeah, bought some stuff in skate park at Tampa. I turn up to the park, right, just thinking it's a normal event. You know, you sign up and you go on the skate. You're nothing about it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I turn up and I'm like, yeah, just when we go on the skate, the guys are what's your name? I tell him and he goes through all this. He's like your name's not down. I was like no, I know, I'm here to sign up. He's like you got a book like three months in advance. I'll just travel across the world, halfway around the globe. And I was like, oh okay, do you want to have a skate?
Speaker 3:He's like yeah you can go for a skate, and he's like, thanks, and he just went and had a roll. He's like, oh well, whatever, I'm just going to be here.
Speaker 2:So you weren't bummed after all that I'm like I bought some stuff.
Speaker 3:I bought a skateboard, a Tampa shirt and bought a Nixon player watch and a bunch of things to have the watch this day and I was just happy to be there. I was just like, yeah, I'm in a skateboard to Tampa. I love this place, this is great, this is going to be awesome. The next day I turn up and Clements comes and finds me Ryan Clements and he's just like hi, you look like you come from Australia. Like yeah, he's like, mate, you're in the comp. I was like yes, thank you. And he's just like thank you for traveling all this way. Like I heard you bought some stuff. You want your money back.
Speaker 2:And I was like no man.
Speaker 3:This is way cheaper than cost price. I'm happy to pay my way and he's just like anything you need. Like you saw it, I was like thank you very much. Have a good legend. Yeah, and that was a good experience, and so.
Speaker 2:Were you sponsored by Bill Bong at that?
Speaker 3:time At this point. And then Amitabh yeah yeah, I was making a bit of money each month.
Speaker 2:Be able to go in there. Yeah, you can get paid as an Amitabh. Ok, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's just like when you're getting into the once you go on a pro event, you can't go backwards. Yeah, Stop your deal. And yeah, and also on the first night, just after those guys had left about an hour later, around 3 AM, I just heard this pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. And look outside and across, just from where their car park from us is the back of a school. Yeah, a road ran around the back of like the what's it called, the field.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And there was two cars that met up there just to have a shoot off.
Speaker 2:Like a shoot out, yeah, trying to kill each other, yeah.
Speaker 3:Like a bunch of young dudes and here they are just doing their thing and though something went wrong. And then they peeled out after a bunch of yelling and shit. Maybe someone got here at dinner. He was just watching it. This is first night, first night like solid night in America, and the other one was just at a hotel, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I hadn't even seen anything. I've gone, you know. And then, yeah, so the second night, three more dudes come back to my door. Two shoes, two shoes, same thing. Just open it Curtain. One guy goes to ask the question and the guy looks over from behind us and sees some potatoes in the room and just taps his mate on the shoulder and then they just walked away and I didn't have him come back again. So that was just the first night. After they sussed us out, they were like, yeah, they just.
Speaker 2:These guys are just a couple of dirty skaters. They've got nothing to steal.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, they were just, like you know, going to rob the sword or whatever and trying to get what they can, stressful though, well, I was just thinking this is what America was. Friday was on. It was because you got the you know movie channels and every two hours they replay it, and then they'll do that for a few days in a row so you don't miss the show, the movie.
Speaker 3:And it just. I had Friday on every night and I was just from the movie and what was going on. I just thought that's just how it was Like Ice Cubes Friday.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's yeah Classic.
Speaker 3:It's a great film and, yeah, I just thought that's what went on. It wasn't until I lived there that these things don't always happen.
Speaker 2:It's because of this bad luck or just because of the area you just landed in?
Speaker 3:a rough area, yeah yeah, just in the ghetto. I went to a couple of south areas where things like that happened as well.
Speaker 2:Like a bit more on the California side as well. Man America is such a full on place.
Speaker 3:Really.
Speaker 2:I mean, it's gone through some gnarly shit at the moment.
Speaker 3:Oh, I wouldn't have a clue.
Speaker 2:I've been following it. Yeah, it's just so heavy. What's going on with their border jumpers at the moment, like the migrant crisis, is it's the biggest it's ever been. The amount of people just filing in over the border from Mexico is insane.
Speaker 3:I think every country is doing it tough.
Speaker 2:They are, but what it's then leading to is then these migrants come in with no way to make income to survive except by selling drugs that they can get easily from their own country, and then there's the fence, and then it's leading into this fentanyl crisis.
Speaker 3:Fentanyl saved my life.
Speaker 2:Well, you said that to me the other day. But what they're doing is they're mixing the fentanyl with.
Speaker 3:Cocaine.
Speaker 2:Yeah, crack and ice and stuff like that.
Speaker 3:Do you believe that's how we lost some of our grades?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's it, and people don't know. And then people are then just getting addicted to fentanyl and it's just they're ODing because they're not sure about Apparently it's quite strong and they're just not sure about their dosages. So yeah, it's a concern. Weird time, strange time Anyway.
Speaker 3:Drug crisis.
Speaker 2:You lived there after that, yeah, so what was the transition? So actually, no, no, no. How did you place in that first Tampa Con?
Speaker 3:I was 13th or 16th or something Okay.
Speaker 2:It's pretty honorable. Yeah, not too bad. First attempt, and then how many tempers have you skated?
Speaker 3:Two.
Speaker 2:How'd you get in the second one?
Speaker 3:Early 20s or something like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So I made it to semi-twifth times. Nice, yeah, I just can't remember exactly what the place was.
Speaker 2:Okay, you still made it to semi so.
Speaker 3:Yeah, made it through.
Speaker 2:It's under 20. Wow, man, Nervous. Huh, Don't remember being like should-scared, skating in front of like the best skaters in the world no the second year I was way more prepared.
Speaker 3:It's just, I went, and so what you're talking about is, like everyone that's there is the best at their own area and everyone gets out of their way what not? And they all, they're all there to prove themselves. The second year I went there and I was trying a front-side flip over this year for a little row and there was a guy playing skate. There was two guys playing skate over there and even though I'd been trying my trick longer than they had playing their game, you know, the guy kind of got frustrated and won the attempts. He flicked his board up and I've had to bow because I'm coming down this board, but these boards vertical and I come down on my knee on it. And then this one, he was toast. Yeah, he's like swollen and everything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, full we're all in like a month in the stage. Yeah, sucked Dude.
Speaker 3:But then, yeah, I had just I, just I stand here but I could do that. And then next day I had to skate, skate the semis with a bung knee could barely do anything. Yeah, it was just like hurt, just uh that's not good.
Speaker 2:And that's what it was so like. At what stage did you and what? What trip was it that you sort of went there and went hey, I'm staying for a while.
Speaker 3:I've been doing back and forth with my partner at the time.
Speaker 3:So you met someone. I had met someone Cool, I met her over here and um, and then, yeah, we did that. It was just really hard, like we start in your life every time, especially for her, like having to get jobs and whatnot, and at this point we were, she was happy where she was, when everything was going on. And literally night before she was crying to me and I was like, all right, well, let's fly out tomorrow and I'm just over staying my visa for a few years.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you go yeah, don't do that. If you're listening, it's it's. It's not what you should do. You should definitely go through the process. It's a lot easier if you do it before overstaying, unless you're going to overstay for at least seven years.
Speaker 2:Is that stressful though? Like we always on edge, like I'm going to get deported at any minute.
Speaker 3:No, because anytime someone uh someone saw an Australian license, any cop, it would be like a get out of jail for your car. They're just like here you go, all right.
Speaker 2:Going away. They're not worried. Yeah, they're kind of looking for migrants from, like, south American countries. Yeah, like we had to fly there and stuff and I um, and another thing was was my wife.
Speaker 3:She was a radiologist, a radiographer, and she worked for a federal prison, and the people that she literally worked with were the people to try and find people like myself and send them away. And one night one night we had to we went out with her work friends to a bar and they, like got in this cabana and stuff. It was really really fancy, though, going out of a club and because they're federal, like prison guards and that they're like seven foot something, they're real big, big people and if you've seen like big Americans, you know I'm talking about massive guys, yeah, massive guys. And this guy I'll say this real big deal was like hey, do you want to come and smoke a joint? And I was like, oh, um, and I just realized where I was.
Speaker 3:I was in a cabana where there was no exit except for past them, and I was like these guys, this job is to get people like me and send them back to where they came from. So I started, I just said no, and I just sat there and I was like like, just sitting there, just playing my chin, thinking what am I going to do, and then the biggest dude comes up to me, puts his arm around me and I just remember he's just like kind of covering my whole shoulder and down to like my chest. You know just this massive paw Just like big human.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and he's like don't worry. He's like we know all about you and we're not after you. Someone like you're fine, how cool. Like that. And I was just like, do you want to come out here with us? And I was like, yes, yeah, so I would like that.
Speaker 2:Smoke a split with them.
Speaker 3:No they didn't mix, it was a joint. Okay, it was straight.
Speaker 2:Okay, interesting.
Speaker 3:Yeah, nice, there was some. It was a different experience, but yeah, that was the only time I was like, stressed, like I said, there was a couple of times where there was a lot of great skate adventures, a lot of great trips with some good people, where I got to experience some amazing skateboarding Indian ditch and Albuquerque Okay, it's a great place to go to.
Speaker 3:It's like a really long train and it goes for like seven miles or something and you can just it's just on a mellow cruise and you just go up and down Like it's got sports all the way along it too. And if you go there, you go to, you'll see certain sports and you're like, oh, that's, that's what from that movie and that person and blah, blah, blah, like banked to ledges and stuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and like ledges going into the drains and blah, blah blah. Like these are different ones, we're just like we're just to be able to cruise these this mellow, like banked, you know, ditch that goes for miles Dude, it's just um.
Speaker 2:That's a different experience, though.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was amazing. It was like it was euphoric and just doing it with some of my best mates as well, people that see his family. It was just great.
Speaker 2:Like the friends you made over there became like family.
Speaker 3:Yeah for sure, like when you're in somewhere else where you're not able to make money, you're not able to do anything. You're fine when you're at, it's kind of like it's you find out who's there for you, gotcha.
Speaker 2:Do you mind if I ask that how were you surviving in that respect?
Speaker 3:Um, a whole different way. Some people would pay me under the table. Um, you know, I would be able to make money in contests as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I would have a social security number and stuff like that so that it was legal. Uh, you know, I was doing things like when I was in this like really middle transition before I got married, and things. I was doing stuff like I would stay. I was staying at my friend Rob Laura Fitz's house and there was a lot of party going on, yeah, so there was a lot of cans afterwards and I would take the cans down and cash them in and then live off that money. I you know all my credit cards and we only had one credit card Like I had maxed that out and I had done these things and, um, yeah, got down and collecting cans and living off the food that you could buy real cheap.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's surviving. Yeah, it's good. It's been resourceful yeah, there was a couple of times where he would like he was getting excess products and also giving me a couple of extras to take down to like an op shop and then sell them to them.
Speaker 2:Oh, cool man yeah.
Speaker 3:And that would get me through, like you know, a week or something. Yeah, yeah, just getting support by everyone around.
Speaker 2:That's so rad. Yeah, money, um, sometimes money can dictate your decisions. And and then when you have money, because like you don't have to be as resourceful it's like takes the adventure out of it. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, cause you just go well, I can afford this and that, and it's all safe and easy. But when you, when you don't have that, you gotta be resourceful on them, that'll you know you're not making a different relationship or taking it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I was in a, in a foreign jungle where there's nothing like no tools to survive.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:I'm just going off anything that I could do myself with no way home. You know what I mean. Like yeah.
Speaker 3:I was released into something else I didn't go over there with, like you know, I didn't know everyone and I wasn't the type of person that researchers, who people are and try and link up and things like that. The people that I met and the people I've just met along the way, that's right when, um, you know a lot of people. I met a lot of my good friends I met organically, not through anyone or anything like that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Just literally both of them escaped. I've been at the same place and starting relationships that I've had for over two decades now.
Speaker 2:Sick Still in touch.
Speaker 3:Yeah, still in touch.
Speaker 2:And that was predominantly like in the California area like San Diego.
Speaker 3:Um well, they're from a steam. When I moved there Gotcha, yeah, but that's not exactly where I met them. Okay, so someone was like 10 per am. Oh gotcha. And um. I lived in Florida for a bit.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 3:And met some in Florida and then, when you know, moved around, they would also be primarily there at times.
Speaker 2:What city were you living with your partner?
Speaker 3:Orlando and then San Diego.
Speaker 2:Oh sweet, yeah, yeah so.
Speaker 3:Florida.
Speaker 2:Nice man. San Diego, california. You like San Diego. If you had to compare San Diego to Florida, what would you choose?
Speaker 3:SD for Shell Um San Diego. I feel like gravitated towards the place Um it's, uh, it's on the same latitude as Newcastle and in the plus not the minus. So it's the opposite sides of the equator, opposite sides of the Pacific, opposite coasts of the country and opposite latitude. So it has a very similar weather pattern and um this, it was very deserty area over a hundred years ago.
Speaker 3:And this woman named Kate Sessions. She um was a botanist and in the early 1900s worked with the city and used a lot of her own money to put a bunch of flora around San Diego. And what she did was she actually used flora from different countries from the same latitude to have the same weather pattern. So they stick and there's a lot of gum trees there, so maybe we felt like home, and a lot of other trees that we had.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I remember we talked about this the other day and it's like really interesting because I relate to it, because over the years I've made some really good friends from America and I'm still in touch with them. I didn't actually meet them in America, I met them in various parts of the world, but they all are from California, just by coincidence, you know. And uh, then when you said that about how, and they are from San Diego. So it's like when you said that thing about the latitude and the longitude, it's like, you know, I didn't consider that maybe we have some strange geographic connection.
Speaker 3:We do, we reckon Well, sydney and LA are the same too, yep, and so is Melbourne and San Francisco. I see, yeah, and Melbourne and San Francisco, they're very arty, they are, and Sydney and LA, they're both just like big cities that have everything that's right. And so they have a lot of similarities. Also, um, san Diego has a military base where it's got a lot of um, they've got a Navy and Air Force and we have Air Force here in Newcastle. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Interesting.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so it's like there's there's so many things in common, but it's also looking for the brown. Yeah, I'm looking for the common things that are relating.
Speaker 2:Cause you want to.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm seeing these things. The only way that I the way I come up with this and noticed it sorry was I had a globe that was um, that I got from a trade show it was a world industry club and I had it on a mantle and I was watching TV. I always had Australia and America facing out. Yeah, I was like hold on a sec, those lines look like they could be very close. And I Googled it and yeah, one's like 32 degrees and the other one's 31.9 or something like that. They're that close.
Speaker 3:Yeah, interesting, yeah, and it's, super it's, and yes, Cindy Melbourne.
Speaker 2:Cause you may have stayed. Are you able to go back?
Speaker 3:I am now.
Speaker 2:How long couldn't you go back for?
Speaker 3:10 years. I got the maximum. I went back there and they cause I, when I left, I actually left on a visa. It didn't exist anymore. Um, the system had changed. It was an electronic or not. When I opened a paper one and they looked at me and were like wait, like you're still in the country, like all that documentation is when. Like when did you leave? I said I left awhile ago and like we don't have anything. I was like, yeah, cause when I walked out, you, um, customs was closed. It was like 1130 at night and I had like a 1 am flight or something.
Speaker 3:And they were just like they were confused. They put me in a cell for a bit and sent me home, did whatever, um, but then they told me that, like, look, you're not being deported, you're being turned around and this is what, and this is what you're getting hit and struck with. And yeah, that time has passed now and I'm allowed to go back there.
Speaker 2:Any plans to go back there anytime soon?
Speaker 3:Um, there's no set plans yet. Yeah, but I I never really planned things too much. I focused on an end goal when it comes to stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And then the past will present itself along the way. So, um, like I was saying earlier about going to Tampa, I didn't go, I'm going to get a job and focus on the money, to get the money to then do these things. I was like I want to go to Tampa in two months and then I was at um Westfield like the next couple of days and the manager was like hey, do you want a job here, like in Christmas casual?
Speaker 3:And I was like that'll be great. And then I was like you know, what can you give us? And he's like he's ours. And I was like, well, do that Sick. And then the path just presented itself. So the way that I see um money is that, uh, Mick Adams, who we've worked at Slimes with, who's one of the owners of it now, um, he once told me that money is something that it will be there when it's supposed to, and if it's not there, it's not meant to be. So don't sit there and worry about it. Um, I focus on the end goal and the path will present itself. If we sit there and look at the challenges that lay in front of us, or the hurdles, we focus on them and they trip us up, we don't. We don't focus on the finish line.
Speaker 3:So, um, keep your goals set and you can, you know, create these little hurdles if you want bit in a cruise and then the resources you need will appear if you're on the right path. Yes.
Speaker 2:I love that Cause I've learned that the hard way. Every time I chase money it seems to get further away. Yeah, and then when I don't, then it seems to come.
Speaker 3:It appears when you need it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, that's it.
Speaker 3:And it's like I've got to do said thing or I need to pay said bill or something. The money turns up.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And if it doesn't, and your situation changes and say you have to relocate, you'll find out. You end up being in a better place.
Speaker 2:Hmm, yeah, so I love that. So true. I, um, I like there's so much emotion attached to money for people because of the time investment they have to put in for it, which I understand. So if you're going to work for eight hours a day, five days a week, it's an energy exchange. It is an energy exchange, and so then it's it's an emotional attachment. So it's like when they lose money, it's it's not really about the money as much as the time they've lost as well.
Speaker 3:Exactly, and you've got to be happy with the moments that were because, then that's like you know what they were to do, what you got to do.
Speaker 2:I don't know. I think and so many people don't really like that whole notion of um time is the most valuable thing you have. Yep, like, as I get older it really resonates with me more and more I see how important it is, because money fluctuates, sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down, but you just never get the time back and there's just no time to waste. Like that, that should be. The priority is like well, how am I spending my time? And just be more refined with how you and who you're giving your time to and how you're giving that time. Um, for me, it's something I've been focusing on a lot lately.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, when you, when you got children, it puts all that stuff in the perspective a bit more. It's a little bit harder when you don't um, because you're under, because you're watching them grow. We're sitting here growing and we're experiencing growth, but we don't see ourself grow.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:When we're externally watching something else grow, even an animal, you know and they're like oh, people understand that their dog gets so big, so quick, like it gets from a puppy to it's full height in a year and then after another two years it's fully out to its full size and it's only going to last 15 years or whatever.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And that happens so quick and then and then there's so much longevity in the full size of the animal that it's it's a little bit harder to take on. But when there's when it takes a lot of time for something to grow, you get more um appreciation for it. I think bonsai trees, like they, take a fair bit of time and a lot of work and you get appreciation with them. I haven't done it, but I appreciate what they are and understand what it takes to do that. I, like I have a lot of house plants and um you know around, like you, how you've got a couple here, yeah and um so tending to them and, like in children, it's like watering your plants every day, but you do it with information and let's have knowledge and all the other structure that you use to help them be the best that they can.
Speaker 2:You're right. I'm so glad you brought that up. That's so true. Kids put that, put time into perspective and also, yeah, like you said, you're watching it and they grow and change so quickly.
Speaker 3:I don't want that to take away from anybody else's experience either. What do you mean? Well, I'm not trying to say that because I have kids, I know more about time.
Speaker 2:No, and that doesn't come across like that.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You just said. I'm highlighting that that's what you learned.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, it's, it's. Yeah. It seems to put it more into perspective for myself.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I agree, I feel it as well, yeah, so?
Speaker 3:there's a couple of things that's like you know what is it? Do you know why? Yeah, it's quicker each time, is it? Yeah, do you know why it feels quicker for you? Oh, as you get older, no, it's a less percentage of your life. Oh, okay, so when you fall, a year's a quarter of your life. A fall, no, it's not a quarter of your life. A year is a quarter of your life when you're four years old.
Speaker 2:Okay, sorry, I see what. Yeah, I see the. I see what you've done there. Yeah, yeah, okay.
Speaker 3:So when you're 40, it's a 40th of your life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I never thought of it like that yeah Interesting.
Speaker 3:Yeah, do you know that the brain is the only thing to name itself?
Speaker 2:Is it? Well, yeah, Shit it is. I guess it is Fuck. That's just blowing my mind. Wait up, wait up. I'm going back to the time thing A year, one year when you're four, one year is a quarter of your life. It's 25% If I live to like 80,. Let's say I live to 80. Well, let's say I live to 100,. 25 is a quarter of my life.
Speaker 3:Yeah, 25 years is a quarter of your life.
Speaker 2:So I still got 75% of my life left?
Speaker 3:Oh, I don't know, I'm so glad it's looking at the total right, and then what percentage of that is?
Speaker 2:So you're, but you're saying that it feels quicker.
Speaker 3:Yeah, when you get older, because it's a less percentage of your life, because you got less.
Speaker 2:You got less life left.
Speaker 3:It's a less percentage of your life. You lived 100, so it's only 1%.
Speaker 2:When you're four, it takes 25%, oh yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, yes, shit Sorry, 25 years is a quarter, but then one year is a 40th. So, for example, if I'm 40, I've got it. Yeah, oh, again, this is a whole new perspective.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Fuck, I feel so dumb actually. Now I've worked it out.
Speaker 3:No, that's all right.
Speaker 2:It's a trip.
Speaker 3:It is yeah, and then it's like and that other one that I just gave you as well. That puts things in perspective also.
Speaker 2:Something I think about a lot lately is like, yeah, like we've all had hard times in our life, you know, and the first half of my life, even as a kid, had its challenges pretty major ones. And then, and I've just got this mindset of like I feel like I've overcome a lot, and I mean I mean my midlife, literally, if I go by the data of, like the expected age of an average male in Australia. So I'm just like I'm like really focused on like the second half of my life is going to be better than the first half.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because you have the knowledge. A lot of the first half is you're growing.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You're growing as the being, and then you're growing in the brain, and then you learn how to use the brain with the being.
Speaker 2:And now I'm going to enjoy it. Yeah, yeah, and that's what I'm feeling. I do I feel really like that piece with who I am as a person and my life. It's taken me a long time to get here, but I've got here. So now I'm like I just really want to enjoy life Like things are in perspective now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, sick. That's why I just try to do what I can and enjoy as much time as I can. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2:But the thing that bums me out is like the only thing that's not coming to the party with that is that my body has aged and it's not able to do what it was doing when I was 20.
Speaker 3:That's a mindset, no, but seriously like it's a mindset.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, to a degree. I don't know.
Speaker 3:I definitely got more flip tricks in there than I did 20 years ago, really 100%.
Speaker 2:Are you approaching it more methodically?
Speaker 3:I've developed skill.
Speaker 2:Refined yeah.
Speaker 3:I got better.
Speaker 2:What about jumping down shit?
Speaker 3:I just don't try it. I think if I conditioned my body to do that again, I would still be able to do it.
Speaker 2:How many steps are at?
Speaker 3:Look at BT Switch hard Wallenberg. Come on, he was 40.
Speaker 2:That's amazing though. What a freak and he broke both his legs Jumping off that bridge or falling off that bridge. Remember.
Speaker 3:Yeah, what a comeback. What was that? November 15th, I think he did that, his switch hard flip day.
Speaker 2:It's insane. Hey, yeah, you're right. Do you know him personally? Yeah, Is he a legend?
Speaker 3:He's nice Friend and Turner yeah. I've been spending heaps of time with him, but yeah, he's jealous.
Speaker 2:I really admire all the stuff he's doing, like running a sober living.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a choice.
Speaker 2:Helping people.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's like, from experience, making choice and then wanting to change and make the world better in our own vision. And it's the same thing with anyone that helps or devotes time to others to give them a better experience, if they can like the opportunity for a better experience.
Speaker 2:Exactly Life experience Living a life of service to others.
Speaker 3:Yeah, to an extent, because you have to still service yourself, because if your cup's not full, you can't pour it into anybody else's.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's a good point. Yeah, I like that. But going back to the age thing, like how many you know? Like if you skate at Waterloo skate park in Sydney, you know the stair set there, how many steps is that? Six, six, like I tried to jump down that the other week. Well, I'm just going to have an Oly to six. I did say it like I'm going to turn 47 a few months ago and I was just like I bailed the first one and just the impact of landing my ankles and they just went. No, no.
Speaker 3:You could have started off down three for a bit I did.
Speaker 2:I Oly down the three. Then I turned around and Oly up the three.
Speaker 3:I mean, I'm feeling good, that's just one To condition yourself. You can't just do one.
Speaker 2:But I was warm like I've been skating for hours.
Speaker 3:You do Oly you do a couple of 180s, you do a kickflip or something, maybe a pop show. You do a few things down there, you don't just jump down one. All right, I got this, I'm conditioned.
Speaker 2:Like because you're taking the impact.
Speaker 3:Hey, you've got to crawl before you can walk. True. And sometimes we're going to go back to crawling.
Speaker 2:But it was the first time I just had this moment of like my immorality was like there, Like hey, like I felt like my knees and ankles are going to crumble. Yeah, you know, I was like no, it's like really, and I all of a sudden had all this fear. I'm like it's totally six stairs.
Speaker 3:Yeah, anyway, I was just like it's how, before you did your first six day, how many times did you do a five step before? Yeah, I guess a few times how many like how much conditioning everybody did you do of taking impact?
Speaker 2:Yeah, true, A lot, but I want to preface the bug on. I was never like a big gap or stair skater. Anyway, I think in my whole skate life I think I ordered 10 stair once you were. But that's it.
Speaker 2:That's it, you know and so. I think to my mind means to tape. You were talking about it in his episode recently. Like in my mind I come up with all these really good ideas for tricks and like I figured them out after years. But then the application and getting the body to do what my mind wants me to do I'm struggling with but I don't know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this is connecting, you know, your mind and your feet again. So, doing other exercises like juggling a soccer ball and stuff like that, or just skating more. Yeah we'll help you put all that back together. That's a mountain of boredom in the time on the board to spend five to six years. You spend five thousand hours or whatever you get next month better.
Speaker 2:So you've had a few. You had a bit of a health complication recently. Like you don't have to go into it, but are you getting on the aside from that, have you been getting on the board regularly or?
Speaker 3:I've had to reskate back.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah.
Speaker 3:So I also, because you know, spending the time in the hospital bed and things like that. I was playing soccer the other night with the kids. I had like an art thing and there was a bunch of other kids there and I pulled a muscle on the top of my right leg and twice I've tried to get off the ground with it and it hurt.
Speaker 3:So, I'm going to have to get this back to 100%. So it's because I haven't been doing stuff that the muscle deterioration is like showing effect Gotcha. So yeah, I had a couple of skates and they'll start and be fun. I was at mainland. It was like we got 20 minutes in and there's crazy wind and storm pop out of nowhere. The other one was a good flat ground session. Had some fun for a good like hour or so, and the other one was just like a mini ramp session. I think I did like five runs Like it wasn't even session assistant, oh yeah.
Speaker 3:I'm just trying to. And yeah, I was kicking a soccer ball. They friggin did this to my thigh Of all things.
Speaker 2:But you're a bit out of condition because, like you're in the hospital for a little bit yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and lost like five kilos of body mass. Wow, and it feels like it really attacked the muscle.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:The muscles. Like I can just see it, it's not just like it was not fat. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. It's like yeah, it feels like it's muscles. It's been a lot of blood.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Passing a lot of blood.
Speaker 2:You're okay with that. You reckon.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, you know, I've got a lot of things to your gut and all sorts of things.
Speaker 3:It's just got to work muscle up and I've never been one to go to the gym or anything like that. You know, ever and I'm contemplating it now. My housemate goes to the gym and does a lot of that stuff too, and he skates a bit, so he has all the knowledge of doing it and also he works at a supplement shop. So it's there if I want to do it for me, and he'll definitely, you know, just be like show me what to do and how to do certain things to build whatever if I choose to go down that path. But he definitely hasn't been like oh, you've got to do this with your life. You know how some people can be like that. Tell you what you got to do, the opportunity is there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, nice. I might take him up on that as well See how we go In terms of longevity. I think it does help man.
Speaker 3:It's helped me a lot Like.
Speaker 2:it has helped me a lot in terms of just maintaining the things I like to do to a certain level.
Speaker 3:The mindset that I have with it is like if I want to get better at skating, I might want to just skate all the time. If I've got the two hours to go to the gym, I don't know.
Speaker 2:just do two hours of kickflips, yeah yeah, Andrew Reynolds put up a thing recently about like getting your reps in. Like you know, feeling like skating, but just like, just go skating, go on, do 10 olleys, then 10 bucks. I want 80s and 10 front. So I want 80s and then 10 kickflips. And then, you know, get your reps in. It's true.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's my mindset. You know what I mean. Just, all money isn't even that Like. I guess I'll try the trick. I'll do kickflip and fakieflips, which flip and other flip, and then do the heel flip versions and the pop-shelvet version. Yeah, just try and work through the tricks, dude.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just go skate with yourself.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, the way that me and my friends would originally play skate is never score.
Speaker 2:Okay, and just go until you can't be fucked.
Speaker 3:Okay, yeah, that's the way you learn tricks. Yeah, I reckon, as you get to a point where you've done everything and you're not going through the two tries and there's not like a winner, it's now it's like you play a game and then you're like, all right, new game, new tricks. All right, new game, new tricks. It's like, well, I know, just not score in the first place, this is pointless.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Not trying to win here, just trying to skate.
Speaker 2:It's kind of true to my wasting time. It's like if I got two hours, why would I go to the gym and I could skate. But like it's like I go to the gym so I can skate better, but it's like give just wasted two hours.
Speaker 3:You could have just done the skating for two hours.
Speaker 2:That's true, so true. I mean, skating is such a good workout though. Yeah, it's just so fit.
Speaker 3:They really are maybe not in the upper body too much, but oh, that was the thing that comes to mind when you kind of went back I was like well it's upper body. It does help with the twisting and the cardio.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 3:So abs and cardio and stuff and not really the arms.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Unless you've fallen over a bunch and you've got to push yourself back up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that feeling when you've been skating all day and you just like feel like it didn't get injured, but you just feel like a little bit broken. You need a bath, yeah.
Speaker 2:And like all your muscles are sore, you just like your sorbys, feel good, sent to candles. Yeah, man, give yourself like a um, yeah, like a special bath, and I don't know it's the best feeling. You just feel so like accomplished, like I've done something. Yeah, I went skating the other day for the first time. We had a six hour session at tech park in Sydney.
Speaker 3:We just when I say six hours. I saw the footage from that and twisted something in there. Twist something, no, you posted something.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, yeah, I went like we had a weird day, like we skated a lot but we didn't land much, and we just had one of those weird days, but we were there at the park all day trying stuff, a little break, try stuff, and it's the best. By the end of the day we're just like Zen, like like I don't know, I haven't done that in years.
Speaker 3:Yeah See, you can run six hours at the gym and then two hours of skating.
Speaker 2:And you know it's. You know, the ironic thing is that my my legs were sore because I'd been to the gym the day before, so I was skating sore from the gym.
Speaker 3:Doing leg day on leg day. It's really stupid.
Speaker 2:It's double enough, it really is stupid, actually in hindsight I wouldn't say stupid, I'm just saying it's.
Speaker 3:It's a different mindset, I guess, like the other, one definitely goes down the path of athleticism and you're trying to be an athlete, yeah. And.
Speaker 3:I do believe strength building when you're hurt and you're not able to skate and say, like you've done that, go on the other thing like that, like that definitely helps. Like you want to. I've been an advocate of getting to a hundred percent before you start skating again, which means like, when you're hurt, don't party, which is the hard one, cause alcohol sends your blood and slows down your, like your healing process and actually makes it worse and you don't heal the same. And that's why not many people come back after they're like, oh yeah, well, I'm just going to go and do this and do that, like go to this party, in that party. It's like, yeah, just don't indulge in alcohol and there's a lot of other things which can mess with your getting back on the board.
Speaker 2:It's better to do it when you're healthy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, than it is to do it when you're not healthy.
Speaker 2:Oh, hell yeah. When alcohol increases inflammation in yourselves, so it actually increases inflammation. So then, when things can't heal as well when they're in flying, apparently, this is why you have anti-inflammatories. There you go. Hey, would you ever want to be a judge at the Olympics?
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, I could do that, that would be fun.
Speaker 2:I mean, could that opportunity ever pop up here?
Speaker 3:Yeah, like I said, I work for World Skate when it comes to it and they're the governing body that do that stuff. It's looking like that. I'll be playing a part in some of the ones upcoming. That's for sure that starts in 2025, I do believe, yeah, from the conversations that I've had. You know these things is always changing and things going on, but and tomorrow's a mystery you know yesterday's history, so got to live in the present right now.
Speaker 2:Dude, it'd be fun gig though. It'd be fun, it would be fun, I think it would be great. Probably more pressure, or no different.
Speaker 3:No, no different.
Speaker 2:How do you feel about the Olympics as a? What we skateboarding it or the Olympics in total. No, we skateboarding it.
Speaker 3:So skateboarding is an introduction to the Olympics. I think right now, how they've tried to make the new courses not symmetrical is away away from the Olympic thing. I think they're trying to involve too much of skate culture into the Olympics. I do believe I do believe that the Olympic stuff should almost kind of be separate, seen separate, to skateboarding. It's like a new, a new branch on the tree and it should be treated as such, because you're talking about people that are chasing a different game Athleticism, trying to be athletes. It's different to skate park attempt. It's different to street league. It's different to the dime contest. It's different to the street culture where you've got magazines and stuff and video parts. You're talking inside sport, not pressure.
Speaker 2:So when you say like, so you think it should be limited to like disciplines, like highest Oli.
Speaker 3:That will come, so you look at.
Speaker 2:so let's see that will happen, but are you alluding to that? That's what the Olympics should be.
Speaker 3:No, what I'm saying is like with lately, because of what's just developed, it did start off with like doing this the way street league used to be. You drew a line down the middle of the park and it was exactly equal for goofing regular. So if you were regular on goofy you could do the same run as the other person of another stance, not saying that you should, but just say that that person got like a 95. And then you're like well, I can do that run, but I could add like a where he did a back lip, I could do a kickflip, back lip shop, so I can get like a 96. And I know that if I get that like, I can strategically put myself in that position.
Speaker 3:I'm not saying that's what you should do, but the opportunity should be there, okay, and each opportunity should be equal for everybody, regardless of stance or ability. Do you know what I mean? Like the opportunity should be there, equal for everyone, for everything, okay. So now, with the last course that they just did, there's ones you can only hit from certain sides for certain stances, and that that changes the opportunity and makes the judging harder, gotcha. And then, because I've been part of the conversations with the powers of V with this and they're saying, well, you know in the streets like you can only really hit that rail from that side and if you're regular goofy you got to do this. And I'm like, yeah, but now what you're saying is that if one person does, only has the opportunity to do one version of it, and the other stance has the opportunity to the other ones that you've made judging harder and you've taken away opportunity.
Speaker 2:Gotcha.
Speaker 3:And does that make sense?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I said yeah.
Speaker 3:I said, I feel that Olympics should go down the more structured side and it should be almost separate, like the polar opposite to Sriracha. Making like a like magazine and street culture, making the courses go to how things are in the streets, is trying to adapt the culture to the Olympics. Yes you're trying to take the sport of skateboarding and making an Olympic thing, not the culture. If people get into it and they want to just chase the Olympic dream, they're a different type of skater, yeah, okay.
Speaker 3:Now they're not the ones that are trying to, they're not the ones living their life. They're not living their life like you know, putting up a spot.
Speaker 2:Yeah or you know like creatively adapting to the environment. The street like the street, like guys like amazing. I went to street league and they really are. They're amazing, but different. They're a different type of skater. Yeah, I know that a lot of those dudes do get in the streets, but even when they're in the streets there's just like there's a noticeable difference.
Speaker 3:It's robotic almost.
Speaker 2:This is what some people would say yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:But there is gone. Yeah, that's it. That's a different style.
Speaker 2:There is. I can't quite articulate what I want to say there, but they're not T funk. Exactly Like T funk. Like, so like, for example, like a street league skater will go and practice on a railing street league that could be a 10 or 15 stair rail that they purpose built for street league. Then that skater will source out like a Hollywood 16 and then be able to adapt what they've done there in the streets. Whereas, like T funk, his approach is like I'm going to go to China banks and try and ollie around.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but I think more is like. T funk is not like I'm going to China banks to do this. T funk is just like the spot that they're at the day is. That's where they're at.
Speaker 2:And it's like I wonder if I could only around that. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:We're a skater, a that you're speaking of. He's got a trick list for a part and they're going to certain ones which they know is going to be perfectly smooth and then to get said trick.
Speaker 2:So you're saying it's like the general approach? Yeah.
Speaker 3:And it's a different mindset altogether and which is why, like Niger, you know, I don't think anytime soon will be trash the Saudi, because it's not about the skating as much as like just living it. He's living a different version of it, like not not the way this trash the Saudi is looked upon, like yeah, he's been doing it since forever, she got amazing tricks, the parts are fucked up. I'm not taking away from any of that, but there's spotless, you know, there's tricks. He's trying to do the certain things and just having that in the next, even the next existence, he said we were out of the top, the finalists, that's it, you know what I mean, because it's about lifestyle.
Speaker 2:And that's how people seem to, that's how Saudi's gone the last few years, like that's what people are, sort of you know, hasn't been.
Speaker 3:What do you mean? What do you?
Speaker 2:mean Like when Niger didn't get it and Tyeh Sean got it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, people were like how? And it's like because you, the reason you're saying how is because you don't understand what a Saudi is.
Speaker 2:Hmm, like, so are you kind of saying, like, okay, that example, like Tyeh Sean was more encompassing the culture by the way he was skating than Niger was?
Speaker 3:Yeah, like everything. Niger at Bomber Hill, hmm, and is Niger out there like doing stuff over a bin? Like just because it's in the streets and it's just.
Speaker 2:It's just happening at the time Did Niger think to backside 180, kick, flip over a subway station subway?
Speaker 3:They found that and they would just want to. Oh, this is the spot, instead of being like where am I going to find a subway that I can do that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, always the perfect flat rail, or yeah, not to say. Situational isn't it Hmm, I mean I mean Niger, some of the spots Niger found.
Speaker 3:I don't want to take away from how Nali is getting it. He's skating with Nali. I couldn't do that and then do what he does. I'm not saying that that puts me on that playing field at all. Yeah, I just when you understand what you're talking about, like then it makes more sense. Yeah, and if you don't, then you don't know what you're talking about. Good call, hmm, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:I mean, it's a different thing. Oh, I really thought it was going to go to your uncle Louis that last time, and I show him to get it again. I was just. I realized that I haven't watched enough of you skating over that 12 months. That's all because I don't. I didn't. There's so much content every day we talk about a lot on here.
Speaker 3:You have so much content every day and to keep up on every coast of every continent and everything in between is a lot. You kind of just have to trust the powers that be in the end. You know some people can bring it down to you what's with this company and they pay this much money in the end. In some situations that does take effect or someone trying to be the first to do something or someone trying to. You know it's not actually what's going on, but something outside. Of you know that actual thing.
Speaker 3:That's the purity of it, like who's going to represent, who's going to be the face of skateboarding for a year of sitting in the top spot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, totally man.
Speaker 3:You know what I mean. I guess that's when it was like that's why, like and it's not the guy on inside sport cover with no clothes on, or GQ, or whatever it is.
Speaker 2:It's always a point of debate, but like always wondering, like with Niger's. You know his style. Oh, you want to go up, go the other way.
Speaker 3:Thanks, brother, all the way.
Speaker 2:There you go. I just didn't want to keep banging. That's better. I had it down to the sun was hitting before, but I mean I just, I just start with the. You know the like well try to respect, but maybe it's just not sitting. It's just not hitting with people, despite how good his tricks are, if Nigel is wearing a pair of baggy pant or Dickies it doesn't have to do with that you don't reckon.
Speaker 3:No, it doesn't have to do with what he wears. This is coming from like the way you approach, in the way that you live it, like a Saudi is someone who does it purely for the soul. There's no, it's no ego, but it's a voting system.
Speaker 2:What's that? What's a voting system?
Speaker 3:now, it's a voting system, see what the people want, but then, when it gets down to the last bit, it's the power as it be. And who is it?
Speaker 2:now that Phelps isn't there. Bennett, you think it's Bennett?
Speaker 3:It is Bennett, definitely, I do believe. But it's like, yeah, it's a big shoes to fill. I'm unsure if he's in the position to sit in it until the until the next person comes along, or if he's trying to sit in that seat until his time's done. I don't, I don't know what's going on there. I haven't been to that place, but they're very big shoes to fill and when someone's stricken from it like that, you can't just replace them, gotcha. You can't just sit someone in there and go. This is the next guy, I mean it has to be something that needs to strategically be looked at in every avenue.
Speaker 3:It's like when the vice president comes in, you know what I mean. If the president dies, vice president moves into his spot and they're just there because they're actually just supportive of the person. They're good at what they do, but they're not really the guy. You know what I mean? True, does that make sense?
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, they're not.
Speaker 3:Until the next guy comes along, or girl, when the person that comes along to do it it's. That's that.
Speaker 2:That is that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a hard topic to speak for it is.
Speaker 2:Let's face it. I mean Phelps really did, was kind of like the ambassador of the culture and was kind of the the, the, the marking point for what it was. You know people, it was looked to a lot or he was vocal about what he thought it should be. Yeah, people followed that and it did. It made thrash of what it is.
Speaker 3:And then that became the. Literally just come down to the purity of it and you know how to weed them out, and you know how to find people and get rid of the bullshit, it's true, and you know how to see someone, see through someone and find out what they're about really fast, it's true, man. Yeah, it's an amazing human. How are you feeling?
Speaker 2:Tired, I'm all right. It's been a three hour session already. Yeah, I might need to wrap it up soon, okay.
Speaker 3:Well, I'll leave you on this note that if anybody out there's feeling depressed and having suicidal thoughts, I just want you to know that it's your brain trying to figure a way out. So what it has to do is it has to get rid of the old self to make the new self. So it needs to kill off yourself. You need to make change in your life, and it's hard to make change and sometimes it just might be small bits. You just start with something small, something really small, but you need to make change in your life, and when your brain can't figure out how to do change because you're so stuck in your ways or you don't want to do this and don't want to do that, it's a fight between ego as well. Make small changes and it will change your existence and you'll become a better and new person. So definitely remember that.
Speaker 2:That's nice man. Is that? If you know what I'm asking, is it something that's impacted on your life?
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, we all have these thoughts. It's not uncommon, I think people think that they're alone when they come to suicidal thoughts and tendencies and things. But it's everyone goes through it and anyone who's been through it, and when they're on the other side, they realize that you know, they're same. Life still goes on, and the way we do this is by changing, making changes to ourselves, and it's got nothing to do with anyone else. Yeah, we can, and it comes back to replacing our trust and love in others when we're hurt and we feel certain ways, when something happens in our lives that we weren't expecting. But just, you've got this. Keep on battling, just make some small changes or drastic change. They're going to, they're going to help.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, that's nice dude. I'm glad you mentioned that and yeah, it's been a pleasure. Everything else, we covered every topic.
Speaker 3:We've still got some more. One day you got more stories? Oh, definitely, you've got heaps of stories.
Speaker 2:You do right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I got a lot more than that. It's not the end.
Speaker 2:You reckon.
Speaker 3:We haven't touched a lot of things.
Speaker 2:Dude, I don't want to leave anything out though.
Speaker 3:No, there's just stories or shit.
Speaker 2:Okay, some fun Life's going to be back on again sometime.
Speaker 3:Maybe at some point.
Speaker 2:See how we go.
Speaker 3:Thanks for having us. We'll see you guys later there, mr Russell Grundy, everyone.
Speaker 2:Hello, listen, I'm going to be back in a minute. Two hours and 59 minutes. We've got to go to three hours. Dude, like I can't stop it there, give me some.
Speaker 3:You've got 10 seconds. Go Come on, Russ Give me some in the last 10 seconds. I'm like we can't get this close to three hours. Thank you for listening. Thanks for listening to this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, have a great day. Quick advice to beginners Keep skating.
Speaker 3:Yeah, never stop. Ha ha, I'm going to go outro again. Don't grow up, it's a trap.
Speaker 2:This is a podcast. First, I'm going to do a theatrical twist. I'm going to do a theatrical twist.