Lodge Guest, Reef Orlando

Where do you currently live and where are you from ?

I live in Jupiter Farms Florida. I’ve lived in south Florida since I was 3 years old. I lived in Long Island NY before that and was born and lived in Costa Rica originally.

Tell us a little bit about your past ?

Legoes and dinosaurs, weekends at the beach with mom and dad, and then Skateboarding!

Why skateboarding ? How did it start for you ?

My dad always thought I would be into surfing like him. We spent most weekends at the beach and he would bring me in the water and I was learning how to surf, it was fun. Then when I was 8 years old I got a skateboard for Christmas, my dad hoped it would make me want to surf more, it didn’t, it made me want to skate everyday, and I have been!

2020, new year, new me ?

Skate vert everyday. I’m trying to go higher with everything these days. Trying for longer more powerful grinds. Working on techy stuff, flip tricks for the first time. That’s a challenge for me, I can’t do a kick flip on flat, I’ve never skated street or flat ground. I’ve always had my pads on and been skating tranny and vert.

What is really your plan for 2020 ?

Skate as many of the vert events as possible, like PATP, Rumble, the Vert Series, Super Session, the Houston Vert Ramp event, stuff like that. And I hope to do some of our normal family skate trips to see friends and fam in Denver, San Diego, and the Carolinas. Other then that I’ll be hanging and skating here at my house everyday!’

Do you have a great hangouts spots in your home town you can recommend ?

Haha, yes, Jupiter Farms Florida! My house! We have a 13’ Vert ramp and we just poured a really fun mini concrete flowy bowly thing. It’s fun and friends come by kinda regularly. Our good friend Pat a few streets over has a 10’ ramp at his house with a channel on one side and pool coping on the other. A hangout I would recommend in Jup Farms is Riverbend Park, so fun! Kayak through jungle with gators and all kinds of stuff!!

Trying to get that nose bonk at Super Session - PC- @tom.orlando

How is a normal day looking for you ?

Wake up 9am, homeschool til 3:30-4, chill and watch tv and snack til about 5-5:30, skate vert from 6-9:30, dinner and either play games with friends or watch tv with family til bedtime around midnight.

Tell us how a good long great weekend should look for you

Big session weekend at my house is my favorite. My close friends come and stay the whole weekend and all our skate friends from all over the place come for sessions both days. We have bbqs, go kayaking, minibike riding, bass fishing, have campfires, and everyone has fun!! We do it as often as possible but usually if some comes in from out of town we try to get a big crew together.

Who are you hanging out with at the moment ?

Gavin and Cole Liller, Tommy Leggett, Adam Effertz, Tyler Coffman, Garrett Ayoub, and local buds Pat, Dan, Violet, Luke, Freddie, Cam, Kai.

Who and what is your motivation at the moment ?

Bob Burnquist, Jimmy Wilkins, PLG, Matt Dove, Mike Frazier, Bucky, Clay Kreiner, Riley Kozers, Pedro Delfino,…the list goes on! What really motivates me is the stoke itself, skating makes me want to skate, going high makes me want to go higher, a big grind makes me want want bigger grind, some nights it take me a hour to get “one last run”

Last country you visited ? and what happened there ?

costa rica when I was about 8 years old. I skated a little ramp, we went to the beach, hung out with our friends there, saw monkeys, it was cool from what I remember.

What was the last gnarly thing you witnessed ?

AJ Nelson getting knocked out at a vert session, it’s happens so often I can’t remember which was most recent lol!

What was the last item you bought ?

Call Of Duty , Capri Sun

Do you have any odd or strange things you do, that you wanna share ?

I clean off my wheels right before every run no matter where I skate. One at a time I spin my wheels and then slowly stop them with my finger, it removes whatever dirt and stuff that got on there during my last run. I also touch the top of my helmet right before I drop in on vert, I don’t know why.

What do you do besides skateboarding, do you have other hobbies, other interests ?

Mostly just skate, but also kayaking, mountain biking, hanging out with friends

What is your to go to restaurant, you wanna share ?

Duffy’s

When you cook food, what do you cook ?

I only cook popcorn, but when mom cooks I like it all!!

How do you see the future of skateboarding ? more ? less ? bigger ?

I’d like to see more vert events. There’s an SLS for street, how about a VLS for vert and so on. A world level event for everyone to try to get to.

Who is the next person we need to interview on the lodge ?

A J Nelson

Do you ever think about a future with no skateboarding ?

No, it’s what I do, I can’t imagine that.

With this interview, do you think we know you now for the better ?

I think you know more stuff about about me, but come skate with me and you’ll get to know me better!

Last words, thank yous, other, did we miss anything ?

I’m thankful for the support of my sponsors, Lake Skateboards, Tracker Trucks, Speedlab Wheels, 187 Killer Pads, Triple 8 NYC, LAT/FAL (Loud asThunder, Fast as Lightning), Roadkill Hardware, Mad Skateshop. Thanks also to Peter Furnee, Austin Skiba, and Auby Taylor for always pushing me to go bigger when I get too comfortable. And thank you to a Skatelite for helping make our backyard dream come true.