INTERVIEW
Hawk retired from professional skateboarding in 1999, but continues to skate in demos around the world
young people who have already taken it on themselves to try to create skateparks in their communities. Hawk cites Los Angeles’ infamous
Compton district. Young people in the area spent three years lobbying for a skatepark, working with the city and key members of the community, washing cars and putting on events to raise money and awareness for their project. The Tony Hawk Foundation was approached and got involved with fundraising and designing the park, raising more than $70,000 towards the $500,000 needed. In June 2009, the Compton Skatepark opened, with Hawk there to cut the rib- bon and try out the park himself. As well as giving the young people a safe place to skate, the opening of the park made them feel listened to, and a part of their community, says Hawk. “It gave the kids there a sense of vali-
dation and support that they are doing something different and they are sup- ported in it by the community.” On a personal level, Hawk says he de-
rives huge satisfaction from being part of new skateparks opening in areas that really need them. “It’s very validating for me too, but it’s also exciting,” he says. “It’s exciting to think that skate- boarding has come that far, to affect kids from all walks of life. It makes me very proud that I had a hand in getting that park open.” The Compton Skatepark is just one
of 505 free, public skateparks in the US that have been awarded grants by the
Tony Hawk Foundation, with 420 of those currently open and being used by 4.5 million people a year. The Founda- tion was set up with a gift from Hawk, and money for the grants is raised by corporate donations and fundraising events, including the annual Stand Up For Skateparks action sports event. This showcases top skaters and BMXers riding on Hawk’s vertical ramp, as well as music performances, food and silent and live auctions. As well as providing grants, the Foundation also gives advice on building safe, properly-designed parks. “We do advocacy as much as fund-
ing,” says Hawk, who pores over every design himself, and marks it up to en- sure it’s as well-designed as possible. “We’re not set up to give funding inter- nationally, but we can give advice and direction on how to get parks built.” I ask whether Hawk would like to
take the work of the foundation global. “That’s the ultimate dream, for sure,” he says. “We need more funding and staff, but if anyone asks which direction the foundation is headed, that’s the di- rection we’re going in. We’d go where skateboarding is recognised and grow- ing, like the UK, France, Spain, Australia and New Zealand.” For now, the priority is to secure more
funding, with Hawk and his team work- ing hard on getting grants from bigger organisations. “We’re well on our way,” he says. “We got a couple of awards this year from bigger philanthropic organ- isations that have put us on the map.”
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HIGHS AND LOWS Despite Hawk’s huge successes, it hasn’t been all highs – not all ventures have suc- ceeded. I ask about his worst business idea, and he laughs and says: “My high end denim line. We launched it in 2004 and it started off pretty well, but the jeans were just too expensive.” What did it teach him? “Not to get involved in ar- eas that I know nothing about!” Another low came in 2003, when he
broke his pelvis while performing at Quicksilver’s Action Sports Weekend at Downtown Disney in Anaheim. “That was the lowest point in my career,” he says. “I was doing a 540 and over-rotated and came down on my hip. It kept me out of skating for a couple of months.” As well as fracturing his pelvis, the ac- cident left him with concussion and 15 stitches above his eye. For Hawk though, the pleasure he’s
got from skateboarding more than makes up for the many injuries he’s sus- tained. He is driven by new challenges, he says, and by “finding new ways to promote skating, spread awareness and get more skateparks built.” And of course, he’s driven by the sheer
pleasure of getting on a board, messing around for a couple of hours and trying new moves. At 45, he shows no signs of slowing down and when I ask him how long he plans to carry on skating for, he sounds surprised. “I don’t know,” he says. “I don’t give
myself ultimatums that way. As long as I’m good at it, I’ll keep on skating.” l
Issue 3 2013 © cybertrek 2013
PHOTO: JODY MORRIS/©TONY HAWK FOUNDATION
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