I basically owe my life to skateboarding. I've been skating for about two years now. I'll skate up here from 5 p.m. in the afternoon to 10 p.m. at night. [This skate park] is safer because of the environment that it's in. There's a restaurant right across the street, there are classy people walking around, and usually about every hour there's a cop that comes around and circles the parking lot.
I grew up in a harsh home. I never really had a father ever, and my stepdad was the closest thing to a father. He died. Hopefully, he's doing good now in heaven. [My mom] moped around, and she was always mad. The environment she was in basically led her to bad stuff and the people around her. They didn't neglect me, but they just didn't act like parents to me. So most of the time, I would be up in my room alone until I found skateboarding in 2012. [Now,] I live with my grandma. She's cool about [me skating]. My grandma loves it up here.
I've been through a lot of stuff in my life. Instead of taking it out on other people, I put the anger into skateboarding. It's just a way for me to put all of my energy into something that's positive instead of doing drugs and stuff. So, if I'm trying to do a trick and it's really hard, I just think to myself, I'm going to do everything right here, right now. When I do a trick and I land it, it releases all the anger and all the power in me. — as told to James Bigley II
