Speaker 1: 0:09

Hey there, welcome to how Do you Skate, the ultimate destination for all skating enthusiasts. We cater to everyone, from beginners to pros. Whether you love inline and ice skating or prefer quads and skateboarding, we have it all covered, and we bring you exclusive interviews with professionals, talented amateurs and influencers in the industry. So sit back, relax and get ready for an exciting journey into the world of skating.

Speaker 2: 0:41

Welcome to this week's episode of how Do you Skate. I am your host, Sean Egan, and my guest today is Zach Sayles, and he is the owner of Military Skate.

Speaker 3: 0:52

Yeah, official Military Skate. Most people just say Military Skate because it's easier, whatever works.

Speaker 2: 0:58

So now, when did you start skateboarding?

Speaker 3: 1:03

So I really started skateboarding when I was like 14. I was a little bit of a late bloomer, um. So when I was younger, I grew up very poor and we couldn't really afford skateboards or like anything really, and so I would go to my step cousin's house and they would have like this is when like 20 haw Hawk Pro Skater came out, so like skateboarding was like popping off and I would go to their house and I would like stand on their board and lift the wheels up, and that's pretty much it. And then when I was 14, um, almost the year I turned 14, I had moved back to Nebraska from New Mexico and my mother used her tax returns to buy complete boards for my brother and I that year.

Speaker 3: 1:51

Prior to that I had been just like jumping on other people's boards, like here and there whenever I had the chance. And, yeah, my first board actually no, sorry, prior to that my dad got me like a sporting goods boards, a sporting goods store board. But after that then my first real board was probably around like 14 or 15. But yeah, 14 or 15 is the short answer.

Speaker 2: 2:14

Okay, and then you started doing the tricks immediately, or you were just getting used to writing it in a straight line first.

Speaker 3: 2:20

Yeah, I didn't really have a lot of practice like writing around or whatever, so I took a while to learn tricks, actually so learning how to ollie, just jump down stuff, which is the fundamentals for most things I literally just did that over and over. I was jumping down really big sets of stairs before I could even like flip my board or like turn or anything. I guess big is subjective but like I remember, I like jumped down like five or six stairs before I could even, like you know, 180 or like flip my board or anything.

Speaker 2: 2:56

Nice. So now you skated all through high school, then I take it.

Speaker 3: 3:01

Oh yeah, high school was kind of like the like defining years of like me becoming a skateboarder. Uh got my first board probably like the summer after eighth grade, when I was 14, and then 15 through 18 I it's funny. So I was like I was actually really I was a really good student up until I discovered skateboarding. And then, uh, after school, I was like, well, I don't want to do extracurricular activities, I don't want to do advanced classes anymore, I would just spend every day, all day, at the skate park or watching skate videos or anything remotely close to that. So I was in like AP classes prior to that and all this other stuff and I basically just dumped all that for skateboarding.

Speaker 2: 3:46

And how did your mother feel about that?

Speaker 3: 3:50

Um, I mean, my mother and I didn't have the best relationship growing up.

Speaker 3: 3:53

So she, when I was younger, I was kind of like forced into it because I wasn't allowed to have a social life. And then, when she separated with my stepfather, when the year I turned 14, we had moved back. We had lived in New Mexico with him for eight years, we moved back to Nebraska and she was kind of like, well, do you can kind of do whatever you want? Now, like I don't really care anymore, like you have free range to do what you want. And I was like, oh, if you have free range to do what you want. And I was like, oh, if I can do what I want and it's a choice, then yeah, I'm just going to go like hang out, cause prior to that, like growing up, I like was not allowed to like hang out with people after school or do any like extracurricular activities because that costs money. And then my step family was very sketchy, so they didn't almost like involve with like other people, like finding out how we lived and stuff like that.

Speaker 2: 4:42

So yeah, Okay, and did you ever compete during high school years? Did you do any competitions?

Speaker 3: 4:59

ramps, anything. So I'm from Nebraska there is not much in Nebraska at all Um, I didn't do any like major con, contests or competitions wasn't, like you know, I wasn't like pro or anything, but um, I do remember the first, the first contest or like thing that I entered was a, a game of skate, um, like you know, like horse and basketball, and uh, there was only two divisions, there was beginner and advanced. There was no intermediate. I should have been in like intermediate section yeah but, um, sorry for the background noise.

Speaker 3: 5:28

I'm in the conference room at my apartment. It's like right next to the elevator, I can't even hear it. Okay, perfect, okay, great, um, okay, uh. So yeah, there's only beginner, advanced, and I had only been skating for like a year and a half. I think I was maybe 15, 16 at the time, I was probably 16. I'll say so. I've been skating for like a year and a half. I think I was maybe 15, 16 at the time, I was probably 16. I'll say so.

Speaker 3: 5:47

I've been skating for like a year and a half and I'm like the oldest kid in beginner. Everyone else my age is in advanced. I was like there's no way I can skate in advanced. And so I remember I was skating in the beginner uh, category and everyone was getting so mad at me because I was like skating against like eight year olds or nine year olds and I was just like beating them and they were like that's not nice, you should play fair, let them win, whatever. I'm like I'm like a lot of wins the contest, like it's a beginner contest, like not that I was like mean about it or anything, but like you know, like an eight-year-old's not gonna win the contest realistically anyway. But then like the younger kids that were closer my age, like the 12, 13, 14 year olds, like they were like really good, I was like if I didn't beat them, these kids are going to beat them anyway, it doesn't matter, but it looks bad because I'm the 16 year old in the in the group, yeah and um.

Speaker 3: 6:33

I remember um, I actually got second place. I got beat by a 12 year old um who had been skating a lot longer than I had and I remember I was doing the trick was called like a fakie 360 or a full cab, and he did it backside and I did it front side, not paying attention to him. I was like, yes, I got it in the bag and they're like, no, he did it the other way. And then I messed it up and I was like, oh, never mind. So I ended up losing.

Speaker 3: 6:59

I got second place but I got some like boards and some other stuff like that and then um skated like some other random like contests that they would have just like, you know, stuff hosted by like the local shop.

Speaker 3: 7:10

But my hometown was like or, my hometown is like a 50 minute drive to like the closest skate shop or like the closest uh skate park, that's like indoors or anything like that, so events and everything like that. It was like if the weather was permitted, like if the weather permitted in nebraska and you, you know, had the ability to go um all that way, because back then, driving an hour as, like a teenager, there's a lot of gas money, uh. So it was like, yeah, if you have time, if you have money, if you have the resources, then you'll go, and then most of the time it's like, just if you have time, if you have money, if you have the resources, then you'll go, and then most of the time it's like just like a local shop thing, so it's almost not even worth it at that point yeah, so now skated all through high school.

Speaker 2: 7:54

Now you're done with high school. How soon after high school did you actually join the military?

Speaker 3: 8:00

so, uh, so fun, uh, fun fact in nebraska it is required for you to take the as fab your junior year, unless your parents call you out. So I took the as by my junior year, not my junior year. I was like, oh man, I want to be a pro skateboarder, I'm gonna move to california, like blah, blah, blah. So I didn't take the as about with the intent of joining the military. I took it because I had to. And then reality set in when I graduated, and I think I graduated May 17, 2009. And May 18, I walked into the recruiting office and I said, hey, sign me up, send me out.

Speaker 3: 8:43

So I do come from a military background. My dad was a Marine, my grandfather was a Marine. Um, my other grandfather was Navy. So my mother, my mother's father, he was Navy. So when I, when I was like, hey, I'm gonna go talk to the recruiters, my mom was like, well, make sure you talk to all the different branches and see what they have to offer and see what's available for you. I was like, yeah, of course. I was like, yeah, of course. And then I'm there with my dad, who's an infantry marine, like the toughest of the toughest, and I I just walked straight in the office and I was like, yeah, sign me up, I want to be a marine. And uh, that was may 18th and I shipped out december 1st.

Speaker 3: 9:17

Uh, six months later I was in what's called the uh delayed entry program. So I basically had to wait for my job to open up. So I originally was like, oh, you know, I'll be infantry, whatever this or whatever. But my dad because he was he was like like, no, don't be an idiot, he goes, give this kid a job he can do when he gets out. And I owe a lot of that, like my current success, to him because, um, because of him doing that, I got put into like a really good career path in the military. And, uh, now I make a good living uh, in, uh, information technology.

Speaker 2: 9:48

I I'm a government contractor in it in san diego okay, and then did you guys like sneak off when you had leave to go skate, or was it?

Speaker 3: 9:58

you had your skateboard hidden in your bag, or so you definitely there's no hiding your skateboard in boot camp like you just don't skate for three months and then you get like a week after that, uh, of lee or 10 days of leave, and then after that you go to marine combat training or school of infantry or whatever. If you're on the east coast, again nothing. But I was on the west coast, so I would skate on the weekend sometimes and, um, if you like knew someone who was like from this area, like it was from southern california, like you could get them to like be your liberty partner and like go off base on the weekends. So I had this buddy, david, who was from uh, I want to say escondido, and we would like go hang out with his family on the weekends and I would go to like the skate park or whatever, and and then after that I went to 29 Palms. I should recap and say that most military bases most of them, not all of them, most of them do have skate parks on base, not the greatest, they're usually pretty banged up and old, but like I would skate on 29 palms. I remember I have this friend who we reconnected years later. He lives up in murrieta, california, or somewhere near there. But his name is mike and I knew him like 14 years ago. He was like the, his dad was like the sergeant major of the base or something like that. So I would, I would skate with him. And then after that I went to japan.

Speaker 3: 11:25

I was in one, uh, I was in the most deployable air squadron in the marine corps. Um didn't deploy to combat, but all the other pacific asia areas. We were just in operations all the time. So it was kind of like you get it in when you can, kind of thing. So like if you're lucky to not be on like a field exercise or not being doing, not not doing operations, and like you're like, okay, well, I can skate, you know, on the weekend pretty much all day, or, um, at the end of the work day I'll you'll drive over to the other base. I was on a base called fatenma and I would drive over to camp foster in okinawa, japan, after work. My work day would usually end like 6 or 7 pm. So I'm like driving over there like 8 30 to like ski for an hour and then drive home and wake up and do it all over again. So it just kind of depends. And then north carolina, kind of same thing. I was in a non-deployable unit, so I would go over to, uh uh, the new river base over there, the air station next to camp lejeune, and I would skate over there with people. Um, and it wasn't really until the last time I was stationed in japan.

Speaker 3: 12:35

I was stationed in japan twice and it wasn't until the second time I was stationed there where I realized like oh, there's actually like a lot of military dudes that kind of skate that are kind of gnarly, and. And so my second time in Japan, I really wanted to make a point to like not because I was like I'm probably not going to be stationed here ever again and most people all they do is, you know, goof off in the barracks and stuff. So I really made a point to like go out and skate with like locals. They spoke no English, I spoke no Japanese.

Speaker 3: 13:03

Back then I learned some some, they learned some, and uh, I mean I got exposed a bunch of cool spots, met a bunch of cool people that are like famous in like the japanese skateboarding culture.

Speaker 3: 13:13

They would take us out to like street spots where, like no one else had been before, like no, really no military guys had been before and they would just kind of show us around, we would all together. And it's kind of crazy because, like, for example, you know, the last time I was stationed there was 2016. Two years ago I went to Yokosuka, japan, for work and there's this Japanese kid I can't say kid, now he's an adult. His name is Aiki Arakaki. He's from Okinawa, japan, and I would skate with him and his brother when they were like 12, 13, 14 years old and now, you know, as an adult, like I'm hanging out with them in Japan. We met up in Tokyo and like all had dinner together, me and some of the other people that were there. So like skating with these kids when we were all younger and now we're all having dinner together as adults in Tokyo Kind of crazy.

Speaker 2: 14:01

Nice, so you can actually legitimately say you're an international skater, yeah, yeah. So so now, with the military discipline that you learned in the Marines and you skating before, how has that discipline helped your skating or affected your skating?

Speaker 3: 14:20

Yeah, that's a great question. So I've said this before. But if you take the resiliency of a person who you know skate over again, inspecting a different result, so by by that definition, most skaters are crazy because they're trying something until they, you know, can do it. So you take the resiliency of the person that like like, skateboarding is not easy Like you are, it's not if you're going to fall into. You are going to fall and the question is like, how many times are you going to get back up? You know, um, how many times are you going to get back up?

Speaker 3: 15:04

Rodney Mullen, the godfather of street skateboarding, had a really good TED Talk about it. I think TED Talk. He also did a thing on the barracks called A Beautiful Mind. I recommend people go listen to it. That dude is a genius, literally the person that invented the kickflip and all that stuff. Fact, check me here later after this is out, but I'm almost positive. That guy has, like, a master's degree in engineering. Like the guy is a savant, like he's just like he knows something that nobody else does. But anyway, like that kind of mindset for that type of person.

Speaker 3: 15:39

You take that resiliency and then you take a military mindset or military lifestyle, let's say, resilient mindset of a skateboard. You take a military mindset or military lifestyle let's say resilient mindset of a skateboarder with a military lifestyle of a person where your, like, life revolves around commitment. So you take resiliency and commitment, like you are committing to, you know, your country, you're committing to the people too, we, we, we like to say, like when we in the marine corps will say, like we're not doing it for ourselves, we're not doing it for this, you're doing it for the person to your left or your right. Like I should have like absolute certainty, like I should have no doubt in my mind that, like when I go to like if I didn't deploy to combat, but if I had, I should have no doubt in my mind that the person on my left or my right is going to have my back If something goes off, and vice versa, like I would have their back.

Speaker 3: 16:33

And so you take like a very committed person and you take a very resilient person and you put that together and it creates like a very unique personality.

Speaker 3: 16:43

So it's like I feel like, yeah, like I know a couple of skaters who are like pretty prominent in the skate scene, um, and like I, I do think that a large portion of their success is attributed to both, both sides of that coin. But it can also be I don't want to get political but it can also be kind of uh, frustrating also, because you, you have these two sides of this like like truly, like just a truly like strong person, but then on like the social side of it, uh, skateboarding is very, very, very liberal and, uh, the military is very, very, very conservative. So it's like most people like as as good as you have it from both sides for your personality and you as a person, you also kind of get shit on on both sides, uh, from like a social perspective, like, yeah, anyway, I don't mean to drag politics in it, I'm uh, I'm my, my prerogative has always been that, uh, the society and the human race is kind of doomed, no matter what, because of how intelligent we are.

Speaker 2: 17:57

But anyway, it's funny because a lot of the kids that I knew growing up that were skateboarders and punk rockers with the Mohawks and everything and listened to punk music are all conservative now. It's funny how that changes as you get older. So but now, when did official military skates start and what is that all about?

Speaker 3: 18:22

So, uh, so, officially, uh like, registered in 2022, I think it is as like as like a DBA, a new business has, unofficially, the first instance of like a military skateboarding event in the capacity of like myself hosting something or doing something, was in 2018 for Veterans Day. So one of the biggest like um media producers of skateboarding is this organization called the barracks, which is ironic because military barracks, but it's spelled different it's b-e-r-r-i-c-s and that's because there are two co-founders one's name is steve barra and the other one's name is eric costin. So barra, eric barracks okay so it's.

Speaker 3: 19:11

It's ironic because it's a play on military, but it has nothing to do with us. Um, so I've been watching their content since I basically started skateboarding. Well, that's not true. I started skateboarding I was 14 or 15 and I want to say their stuff came out like 16 or 17 a couple years later. And I mean they have like three million followers on instagram. Like they have a lot going on. They're like, they're pretty huge.

Speaker 3: 19:36

Um, they recently got rid of their um indoor park. They've transitioned to different parks a couple of times, but when you would go to the park, uh, they're literally on the door. It would say, like you cannot come in here unless you're invited. Like you are not allowed to skate here unless you're invited. This is it says filming in progress for, like, professional skaters only or something to that effect. Like it's very exclusive, or at least it used to be. But if you like know somebody to get you in, it's not as bad. But like if you're coming from the outside of the skateboarding industry and you don't know anybody, like you're, you're not getting in there, um.

Speaker 3: 20:12

So I got stationed in camp hudson 2016, got out in 2017, and I was like, man, I would really hate to like live here, uh, and like never get a chance to skate the barracks. And I, when I got out, I wasn't really sure what I was going to do, yet I was like I'm oh, I'm going to go back to the Midwest, so I'm going to stay here. I was like, well, either way, it would be cool if I could go skate the barracks. And so I knew that this um, there's an organization, uh, poseidon foundation. Um, they do like a ladies uh skate day thing every year, and they used to do it at the barracks and I didn't know that it was through them at the time. But I knew this girl who would attend the events and I said, hey, how do you go to these events at the barracks? Like, um, like I want to go skate there. And I was like, do you think maybe they would let us do like one for like military people? Like that's the only thing I can think of is like, maybe if I did one for like veterans day or something, it'd be about it. And so I went on instagram and I literally added like every single person that I knew that worked at the barracks, into one giant instagram group chat like a, like a dork, like I added their filmer, the, both owners, the producer, their their online store account, like everybody, everybody, and I put it in one grab, one big group chat. I was like, hey, would you guys be interested in doing a veterans day event? And they were like, oh yeah. And like the owner, the, the main owner, the primary owner, steve, uh, like was like here's my email address, send me what you're thinking. You know, let's make it happen. And I was like, awesome, like this is going to be so cool, like, fine, I'll get a skate the barracks to skate the barracks. I didn't really put too much thought into like the actual content of the event. I was like we'll just meet up and skate, like that'll be it. And uh, so I I made all these flyers and I like was like, hey, everyone come out and skate. Like, if you serve in the military, come skate. And I remember like messaging all my friends that I skate with on active duty and they were like yeah, whatever.

Speaker 3: 22:09

And so, like, when like the day actually came, like I was like, oh, this is gonna be so sick and I have a photo somewhere of like the day, like the first day that we ever did it and, um, I think there's like five or six people in the photo. Like there's not very many people showed up and the funny part is, if you look at the photo, so they're I'll say it's probably about six people. One of them has like a bandage around his leg because he went street skating earlier in the day and like gashed his leg open, but he didn't want to miss the chance to skate the barracks so he literally like rat, like he's bleeding out of his leg, and he like wrapped it up so he could come skate the barracks. And then somebody else I don't remember who, but they were not in the photo because they got food poisoning and so they were just puking in the trash can the entire night.

Speaker 3: 22:59

So like I went out of my way to like make this like uh skate session where I was like all these veterans are going to show up, it's going to be like super sick, we're all going to have fun, and I think like five or six of us skated one the guys, the guy had the gash in his leg and the other guy was just puking all night. It was like the most like grimy. It was like the grimiest like session ever. It was. It was insane. And then like no, and I was like, oh, I'll send videos and like photos to like the barracks afterward and like they were probably like this is it? Yeah, um, so that's where it started at. But um, yeah, so that was the first year. And then the second year I hadn't heard anything back from them. I don't know if it was just. I mean, they're a very busy organization. You know they have three, three million followers, but like didn't hear back from them the next year. So then next year we that was covid, so for covid, um, we couldn't really do anything. So I basically just held it was less of like a veteran's gay session. It's more like I put on an event for like the, the public of oceanside in san diego okay, uh, county, and like just gave away a bunch of stuff to like uh kids and other people. That was a fun one.

Speaker 3: 24:12

There's this like upcoming kid in skateboarding. His name's, uh, julian agliardi. I think that's right, but I remember like that kid was there, for example. He's like a tiny little kid and like he just like smoked every one of the kids action. I remember him coming out to me like, oh, can I skate in the adults too? And I was just like yeah, sure. And then he beat all the adults too. I was like damn, this kid just took all my money. Like I was like I gotta, I gotta not give away so much stuff next time.

Speaker 2: 24:38

Yeah so now your second year that you did it. Do you have a bigger turnout?

Speaker 3: 24:43

yeah, I would say the next year was like maybe like 20 people, so it's not like a significant turnout. But the trans world skate park was also much smaller, so we're kind of limited to how many people we could do. Yeah, um, I want to say about like 2021. I think we did the barracks again. I want to say it was that year. Um, yeah, 2021 did the barracks again. After all the craziness had died down from covid and uh, I want to say we probably had like 30 or 40 people at that session, so it was a decent turnout at a bigger park. And then every year since then we've done it at OC ramps in Santa Ana and we 2022, I'll say like 50 people, and then last year we probably had about 80 people. So this year I'm anticipating 80 people. That's what I'm planning for.

Speaker 3: 25:28

But also a lot of people will wait to like buy their tickets the last second possible because you know, people are cheap, especially service members. Um, I could say that because I was cheap when I was in the service. Um, but yeah, like, so I I haven't sold that many tickets, but last year was kind of the same thing, or like I didn't really sell that many tickets, and then everybody that would like come, they'd like bring their friends and be like, oh, I'm bringing these people and uh, I was like, okay, well, they need a ticket. And then a lot of like. Probably like more than half the people like bought their ticket at the door last year, so it's kind of hard to anticipate like how many people are just going to show up and now what dates.

Speaker 2: 26:07

So it's going to be this year in november for veterans day.

Speaker 3: 26:10

Yeah, so it's November 16th from 5 to 10 pm at OC Ramps in Santa Ana, california. There's a flyer. If you go to OfficialMilitarySkate on Instagram, there's a flyer that's pinned to the profile. I think it's the second one. If you click the link in our bio it'll take you to the Eventbrite where can like buy a ticket?

Speaker 3: 26:34

Um, I had originally put the price of the tickets at like 30 bucks. It's like $3, with the event right for you, whatever. Um, because I pay for everything out of my own pocket. Uh, every event that I've done over the last seven years has been entirely me. I always say we, but it's it's me. I always say we, but it's it's me.

Speaker 3: 26:53

Um, and so I was trying to like uh, I was like in between jobs this last month, not because I got fired or anything, but because I literally like uh, accepted a new offer. So I'm like I don't know what this, I don't know what the timeline looks like or whatever. So I need to make sure that I'm ready, just in case. But I've already covered all the cost of the event that I have already. So any funds past the cost of the event I'm donating to my friend, tim DeMau. If you look up Berserker Built on Instagram. He's a Navy veteran. His wife was recently diagnosed with, I want to say, stage four breast cancer. So I've been donating any money that I have from here on out to his wife's medical expenses, and you know, 30 bucks. I don't make a lot of money on military skate In fact I pretty much make negative money on military skate but it was cool I was able to send him like $800 this morning for his wife's expenses.

Speaker 2: 27:55

So if any military veterans are listening out there, sign up for the event.

Speaker 3: 28:02

Yeah, I mean, even if you can't make it, the tickets are going to a good cause Because, like I said, I'm not keeping any of it. Everything from here on out going forward is going towards Tim's wife's fund, so you can also go to berserker underscore built on Instagram and click the link in his bio to donate directly as well.

Speaker 2: 28:22

Okay and with? So what is the whole concept behind military skate? I know it's raising I don't know if it's raising awareness but skateboarding and military veterans have you seen any effect of like? Because I know there's a lot of stuff that goes on after being deployed and stuff.

Speaker 3: 28:50

Yeah, so I made military escape. For a selfish reason, I made it to escape the barracks, excuse me. And then after that I was like, oh, one and done. Like you know, I did it. I escaped the barracks, like I'm good. And then I remember the people that showed up or you know, only like six people showed up, but those people that were wanting to go the next year they were like, are you doing that again? Like I really want to go, I want to go do something like that. And I was like, oh well, I wasn't really going to do it again. And uh, I was like, you know, I also didn't hear back from the barracks the second year. Uh, they were busy with you know, whatever they were busy with. And I remember my buddy dale was like you know, he hit me with that military jargon. He was like adapt and overcome and overcome man. Like if you can't do it there, do it somewhere else. He's like improvise, adapt, overcome. And I was like, oh, he's right and so.

Speaker 3: 29:38

And then I did the second year and then so it started out just like skating together on Veterans Day. It was like that was like the initial starting point and I hadn't really given it too much thought of like what it was going to be. And then around the second or third year that I was doing it um, some other veterans actually did because I was I didn't tell any like merch or anything back then. It was purely just a social media platform to like showcase like uh, skaters who served in the military. And then around that time some of my veteran friends or people that I became friends with through the whole community started a nonprofit organization called Six Feet Above. The organization is still around technically. I think they're looking for someone still to take over as like a CEO, but for a couple of years they did some like amazing work where they would work with like skateboard companies and they would curate like these trips where they would bring people out from other states or other cities and it would be like a three day event where you would like use skateboarding as like a therapeutic tool for your mental health, you know, for anxiety, for depression, for PTSD and things like that. And I met all kinds of like really amazing people through that.

Speaker 3: 30:58

And I live in Southern California so I would never attend the event as like a guest. I would always just kind of go meet up with them because I don't want to take somebody else's spot, and so I had this platform already with like a little bit more following than they had, and so we would all. And then I have a decent amount of contacts in the skate industry and so we would all kind of like it was like a synergy thing where, like, I was like, um, like a community type thing, uh, like a brand community, and they were like the better non-profit um, but when you're working like that closely with each other, like it, there's gonna be a lot of like crossover and stuff. So, yeah, I would help them, they would help me. Like some of my best friends like, yeah, like you know, in the military you move around all the time and Nebraska is far away and, uh, nebraska is far away. So, like, the people that I am probably like the closest with now, friends wise, are people that I met in that organization. So that's that's saying a lot, because you know it takes a lot to like be a close friend to someone, especially like veterans, because we kind of like we are very like particular about who we surround ourselves with after being in the military for so long, because of our mindset and things like that, but not to go on too much of a tangent, but yeah, so they did that for a couple of years and we would all just kind of interact with one another, and then they slowly kind of had a falling out. Everyone that was involved with the board of directors just kind of went their own separate ways. Different career paths just kind of grew apart.

Speaker 3: 32:36

Um, and then during that time, though, at some point in time, I had started like the uh selling merchandise and things like that, where I, in 2022, I started a dba for nonprofit or not a, a for-profit, and then my mission statement used to be that I would, you know, donate like a percentage of every sale to that that are nonprofit to try to like help them grow through my community. Um, but once that stopped happening, it just, you know, just just kind of stopped. Um, but the community that I made just kind of kept growing, and I think I have like a little less than 19,000 followers on Instagram right now, which sounds like a lot to some people, but after seven years of engagement, it's not that big. In the grand scheme of things. I feel like there's only so far you can go with something as niche as military and skateboarding combined. But the people that are involved in that community are like the best people I've ever met, um, but I still, regardless of six feet above like leaving, I still try to have a veterans day event every year and so after I saw, like what they were doing, and then once I realized like oh, like this is actually helping a lot of people and it is like this whole thing where, you know, I started out like just wanting to skate this indoor skate park and then it turned into this whole thing kind of took a life on its own. Then I started adding more like structure to it and trying to like cater it around like the veterans, to like make sure they had a good time.

Speaker 3: 34:11

So, um, the format we usually do it kind of depends. So typically in the past it's been five to six, will be open skate, six to seven. Every year for the last three years we've had a game of skate against the different military branches. So the winner of the game of skate can basically say like oh, you know, we're the best branch kind of thing, like you know, like horse and basketball with skateboarding. So, and then my buddy, dale bonnell from db skate designs on instagram he makes, um, all kinds of amazing stuff out of recycled skateboards. It's, it's phenomenal, he's insane. But he's made some kind of crazy trophy, like the last few years in a row. The trophy last year he literally made, like the um, like the fallen soldier, like memorial thing, out of recycled skateboards. It was crazy. This year's is like in the theme of like a mortar, some mortar round or something like that does it all out of recycled skateboards, like he's so talented. But so he does a trophy, a different, unique trophy every year and then the winner will get that trophy plus, you know, prizes and things like that.

Speaker 3: 35:12

We have a bunch of people sponsor the event and then from seven to eight we have a best trick contest, usually on the big mini ramp. There are some street obstacles there, but I I prefer ramps and the place is literally called oc ramps. So I always typically have like the best trick contest on like the big mini ramp, which is always a lot of fun, and then the sponsors will give you like give a bunch of stuff and we'll throw it away. Like um, schloddy skateboards, uh, is run by like an active duty veteran or active duty army guy. Um, tragic skate co is run by a military veteran, um. But then also we have like sponsors like pit viper. Pit viper sends uh boxes of glasses uh, at least they have for the last couple years, so, um, so we'll just kind of like throw all, like someone does a cool trick, it's like here you go, here's some stuff, here's some stuff. But then we'll also have like dedicated like stuff for like the, for the game of skate or whatever, um, and usually by the time it's done, like everyone has like a really good time.

Speaker 3: 36:13

Um, this year I'm experimenting a little bit because typically in the past it's only been active duty and veterans who can skate sorry, not active, anybody that served in the military, past president, reserve, whatever, doesn't matter, they can skate and nobody else can. But other people can hang out. But this year, from eight to ten, I'm let kind of let see how it goes and let more people skate to see if it brings more people in, bring more awareness to the event. But anyway, as I go on 20 tangents at once, um, so after those events I've had so many people come out to me and tell me like I remember somebody came out to me like this is like the. Like they said I forget who it was. I'm very bad with names and faces. The problem is being so like attached to social media is I know everyone by their username. So I'll meet someone face to face like 10 times and then they'll be like hey. And I'm like hey, you know at whatever, you know at whatever. But I've had someone who literally came up to me and they're like, they're like. Honestly, this will probably be like my favorite memory for the rest of my life because you know, skateboarders are like that, in love with skateboarding. Um, it also helped.

Speaker 3: 37:23

The last year's event.

Speaker 3: 37:24

Um, last year's event coincided like around the same dates as like the last ever uh battle at the barracks, which is like a game of skate at that barracks skate park between pros. So like it was like one day they had their thing. And then we also had like independent uh skateboard trucks had like a death race thing in san diego and then my event was all that was in the same weekend. So like these people were like coming out from other states to southern california to hang with some other veterans are like being exposed to like all the stuff at once they never get exposure to, which is pretty cool to see how excited they get, and I think that all in general is just like very good. Uh, you know the the benefits of skateboarding physical health plus mental health. That and just being surrounded with like like-minded people who you know served also, who can you, who you can relate to like all that together, I think, has such a uh powerful impact on someone's mental health yeah, so did you ever see the movie thrashing with josh roland?

Speaker 3: 38:28

no, I didn't. I know you're about though.

Speaker 2: 38:30

So they have one scene where it's the leader of I forget what they're called now Hook and his gang and Josh Brolin, and they joust, they meet and they're like maces and they're going and hitting each other. I'm like you get the foam balls and the plastic chains and have an event military against the different branches.

Speaker 3: 38:52

That would be kind of fun to watch yeah, the problem is, uh, military dudes are pretty aggressive, so that would don't like to lose that would turn into. That would turn into a real fight really fast it was a thought so.

Speaker 2: 39:09

So now, what kind of merchandise like are you selling through?

Speaker 3: 39:14

oh yeah, so I don't do anything like extravagant or cool whatever. Everything I have is through like drop shipping, which costs like 50 of the sale to make it in the first place. So I like net profit, nothing, um, but it's more so just to like get the brand out there, okay. But uh, shirts, hoodies, uh silky shorts if you're in the military you know what that is basically short, short shorts for uh, dudes. Um, silkies is like a, it's its own culture in the military. But yeah, hoodies, shirts, tumblers, stickers, silkies nothing too exquisite.

Speaker 3: 39:59

So no military skateboards yet no, I've said this several times and I'll say this several more times I will never be a skateboard company.

Speaker 3: 40:07

I have no desire to do that. There is, honestly, really no money in skateboarding, unless If you're in skateboarding, uh, unless, like, if you're in skateboarding for money, you are in the wrong industry. There is none. Unless you are like nike, adidas, red bull, monster sponsored, you are not getting, uh, very much money from skateboarding like the people that do it as like a career, like run skateboard companies. If you're doing it with the intent of just like loving skateboarding, that's fine, that's a good thing to do, but as a whole, it's not sustainable. Like even pro skateboarders themselves, who get royalties from their boards, unless they're like a top competitive skateboarder in like the entire world, they are not making anything from their like. I want to say most from what I've heard and it's different based on you know how popular your skateboard company is and this, that and the other, but typically a royalty from like a skateboard is like anywhere from like I want to say like three to five bucks a board, like it's nothing.

Speaker 2: 41:08

Yeah, it's, uh, yes, it's not just skateboarding inline skating, roller skating, quad skating, ice skating, like skateboarding is in the Olympics now at second time.

Speaker 3: 41:19

Uh, you know, in a row, uh and it's great, like it's crazy, like your average pro, like core skater has, like you know, two or three tips. Like I know, pro skaters who have two other jobs. But then, like, for example, yuto Horigome, the Japanese guy that won the Olympics, back to back he's sponsored by Delta airlines.

Speaker 2: 42:02

Nice.

Speaker 3: 42:03

Yeah, so there's, it's like a very like, it's a very like crazy spectrum.

Speaker 2: 42:08

Yeah, I can see that. So now, how long are you planning? What's the future of official military skate?

Speaker 3: 42:16

That's a great question. So in the past so going on the Olympics thing I've talked about in the past I have not made very much progress on it and I don't know if I ever will or how it will go about. In the past I have not made very much progress on it and I don't know if I ever will or how it'll go. Um, it's been taking up less of my time lately just because I've been so busy with my personal life and transitioning jobs and a lot of stuff has happened in my personal life this year. But the end goal that I would really like to see is to turn skateboarding into a competitive military sport. Um, like dream job, which also probably wouldn't pay as well as it, but like it would be cool to say like hey, I am like the director of skateboarding for the armed forces someday. Um, and make sure that like it actually gets like funding.

Speaker 3: 43:05

Because one thing when I was active duty, I would see all these people who are in the same job as me, uh, and they were on like the Marine Corps boxing team or they're on the Marine Corps wrestling team and they did not work a single day in their entire four years. They were traveling for four years straight, mostly like they would be back for like a week or two, here or there, and when they're at work, they're not doing anything because they don't know their job. Um, here or there, and where they're at work, they're not doing anything because they don't know their job. Um, but like when I was on active duty, it was like, well, I'm not a football player, I'm not a wrestler, I'm not a boxer, I'm a skateboarder, but that's not a thing right now. And so there are a couple requirements for skateboarding to be a military sport. One of them is there has to be a demand for it, which is the kind of the killing force right now is there's no demand for it. I've had phone calls with the director of armed forces sports for the dod and for the air force specifically, and they're like hey, if you want to do your own, you know, contest or whatever, and like, set it up, like that's on you, but that's, that's a full-time job in of itself, that you have to have at least three different branches participate and there has to be multiple contests and this, that and the other, and it's like you know how much logistics that would require to set that up and then get the people to do it when there's nothing in play for it right now. I would have to pay for it completely out of pocket, set it all up and even then, like I mean, you can find sponsors and stuff, but I have a business plan, like saved to my desk, my desktop, for all this stuff. But it's a lot easier said than done, like very much easier said than done.

Speaker 3: 44:45

There is another option that the, you know, the military has, like the wcap program, the, whatever it is, the at world class athlete program, whatever, but like in skateboarding, um, the guy that I talked to, the director of armed forces for the air force, he basically said like they have to be, like, you know, top five or whatever in their contest whatever. And it's like dude, if you're in a skate contest at an amateur level, you're skating against people from brazil, japan, china, like everywhere. Like like tampa amateur skateboard contest in tampa, florida, for example, has been won by a japanese skater like four out of the last five years. Like it's already hard enough to like, uh, you know, get into like the top 10 or 15 or 20, let alone be top five when you're competing with people from around the different country, which is stupid, because in the Olympics, you're only with the Americans for your team. So it's just not a good structure.

Speaker 3: 45:48

It's almost like working against itself to make it happen.

Speaker 3: 45:53

It's.

Speaker 3: 45:53

It's almost like working against itself to make it happen, um, but yeah, I would love to see the skateboarding become like a competitive sport where you know active duty military, can say like, hey, I represent the army, I represent the Marine Corps, whatever, as like a skateboarder and then be able to qualify for the Olympics through the military.

Speaker 3: 46:08

Um, I think that would get a lot of backlash on the skateboarding side. Like I said, though, because skateboarding is so liberal and the military is so conservative that, um, there would be, there would be riots in the skateboarding community because, yeah, um, so there's like, like I said, the entire concept is just working against itself, but it is something that I would love to see. Skateboarding I don't know it's just sounds cheesy to say, but it's a way of life for the people that live and die by skateboarding. Tony Hawk had a documentary called Till the Wheels Fall Off. In the last year and a half, I have broken two bones on my ankle, tore my ATFL ligament, pulled the muscle in my knee, tore my head flexor, and people will be like, oh, you don't skating yet and I'm like I can still walk.

Speaker 2: 47:00

Exactly so now, who was, who is or was your biggest influence for skating?

Speaker 3: 47:08

Ooh, that's a tough call. Let's see influence for skating Ooh, that's a tough call. Um, let's see. So biggest influence overall it's oh, this is a tough one Cause there's different styles of skateboarding. Like when I was younger, I was very much inspired by like the zero team and how they dress. Like I dressed like you know, all black and like long hair in high school. Like if you saw a picture of me in high school, like people think I was emo but I was a skater because I had hair down my shoulders, um, but then, like later on, I got into more like transition style skating and skating a lot of ramps and, uh, I attribute that to like day One Song and Chris Haslam and the Almost Cheese and Crackers video. If you know nothing about skateboarding and you just want to see some of the coolest stuff you've ever seen in your life and you're just like, oh, I don't know anything about skateboarding, but I want to watch something fun, look up Almost Cheese and Crackers on YouTube. It's like 15 minutes and it's just some of the most creative like style of skateboarding you'll ever see. It's just these two guys getting a ramp and they just start throwing stuff on the ramp and start skating. It like just different ways. It's pretty cool, um, but yeah, I'll say day one song is probably my my favorite skater.

Speaker 3: 48:26

Um, what inspired me to start skateboarding originally was my sister.

Speaker 3: 48:31

I have an older sister, she's three years older, and she would date a lot of skateboarders when she was younger.

Speaker 3: 48:37

And I remember when I lived in New Mexico, uh, I went over to her boyfriend's house with her after school one day, um, and he was like skating outside and he did a very old kick flip, which is not like a super complicated trick, it's a pretty like beginner to be a beginner trick. And I remember like looking at him doing that and I was like wait, how did it come off the ground? And I was like I was like I think I was like 13 back then, maybe and I was just like that doesn't make sense. I was like it shouldn't be able to come off the ground. Like how do you get it to come off the ground if your feet are on top of it and not below it? And I remember being like mind blown by the physics behind that and I was just like trying to and I was like it's one thing to just bring it up, it's a whole other thing to like flip it and turn it. I was like I have to learn how to do this.

Speaker 2: 49:28

Yeah, so did your sister stop dating skateboarders after you started skating Was?

Speaker 3: 49:35

it kind of like I can't, I don't know, I don't know that she really yeah, no, her baby daddy, if you will. Her oldest, her two oldest kids. Their father was a skateboarder and so before I got my my sporting good board store, my sporting good store board and the other board for my mom, that guy had a board and so I would like steal it. He, he lived with my sister like a couple years later, like we all lived together. They had two kids and uh, I would like go into their room when they're not there and I would take his board, like take it outside and go skate nice so now, what is your setup like?

Speaker 2: 50:17

what's your board, your wheels, your bearings, your trucks?

Speaker 3: 50:21

yeah, all right. So I wear a size 12 shoe so I skate uh, 8.5 board popsicle. I like a big nose. I skate a lot of transition. I don't really jump down to anything anymore. I like a big, wide board for my giant clown feet so I have more comfort when I'm skating ramps and stuff. I skate a 52 millimeter wheel. I typically skate Spitfire Formula 4, but I'm not super picky. I'll skate like Bones as well. Formula 4 is just kind of like the one that most people kind of get now.

Speaker 3: 50:56

Um, hardware does not matter, just screws and bolts, bearings um, bones, reds, because they're cheap. I am one of the crazy people that pop my shields off my bearings. People like to make the argument that like your shields on your bearings, like keep the dirt from coming out, but then other people like myself or whatever, will argue that if you pop your shields off and you skate fast enough, that dirt that's going into your bearing is just coming back out anyway. Independent trucks I'm probably going to butcher this, but there's like different. So in skateboarding there are different measurements for your trucks for each brand, so it's different. I want to say I skate like a 159 independent truck, which I think for A5 is either 159 or 179, depending on. There's two different sizes for A5, maybe more, but I just skate like a 159 truck and I think that's it.

Speaker 3: 51:52

Oh, mob, grip plain black mob. I cannot have graphic or paint or anything on my grip tape. It drives me insane. Um, I feel like it takes away from the grippiness. And then also, my top left bolt has to be silver. I always put my a silver bolt on my top left to let me know which side is the front of my board. Okay, and then shoes um, I've I skated mostly fallen footwear growing up, but they went out of business and then they came back. And then the owner of fallen footwear, the guy who founded it the first time before they came back, so he owned it the first time. They came back under a different ownership um, they had some of my favorite shoes still, but the guy that made the first shoe, he's the owner of zero skateboards, jamie thomas. Um, in high school I only I pretty much only skated zero skateboards and fallen footwear back then, and so he just launched a new. It's a shoe brand, but it's also kind of like a clothing lifestyle brand. It's called Warsaw.

Speaker 1: 52:58

Okay.

Speaker 3: 52:58

Warsaw in Poland. So I actually just went to the brand's premiere a couple weeks ago. And then one of my buddies who's an active sorry, not active. He used to be an active duty Marine. We used to skate together in Okinawa. His name is Jake Watkins. Um, he is the first employee for that Warsaw company and he's also flow for zero skateboards. So, um, it's cool to see him, uh, getting some recognition now and he's also kind of like, uh, that like that dude is one of the people that are like so good. When you see them skate, they're like bro, why were you ever in the military? Like there was no point, you're just that good, but yeah. So I went to the warsaw premiere launch. I bought some like white mid-tops, um, and they skate like a glove, so I'm I'm pretty much only skating those now, but yeah, but I'm wearing old man shoes right now because of all the injuries in my leg. I just bought some of those Hoka's or whatever, so my right leg is so trashed that I need like old man shoes.

Speaker 2: 54:03

Yeah don't make fun of my shoes, man. So I use ceramic bearings, because you mentioned that you pop off the shields and I actually use a product called Monkey Lube to clean them, so it actually cleans them and lubricates them at the same time. It's a good product, just for future reference.

Speaker 3: 54:21

Okay, I always hear I have so many friends that clean their bearings. I have never cleaned my bearings once.

Speaker 2: 54:30

I'm so bad about it, like once they're shot I'm like, yeah, all right time for a new pair yeah, I, because ceramic bearings are cheap, because I think I paid 150 and I I like to use, uh, junk bearings, okay let's see, uh bones has a ceramic bearing called swiss.

Speaker 3: 54:45

They're like a hundred something dollars and you get like a lifetime guarantee. Everyone always talks, everyone always says you should get them for skating. But it's just. It's ironic Cause I'm like I don't want to pay this much, but as much money as I've spent on bearings over the last 20 years, I probably could have bought like 20 pairs by now.

Speaker 2: 55:01

And then you have to clean them too. Don't forget that part. Maintenance is important. Yeah, so now? How can my listeners follow you?

Speaker 3: 55:17

yeah, so now how can my listeners follow you? Um? So, uh, on instagram, official military skate, on youtube, official military skate. Um, I'm on some other channels. Uh, I think if you click the link in my instagram bio, there's a link to all my other channels, like discord and threads, which I don't post heavily on Instagram. It's kind of like the main platform. I post shorts mostly on YouTube, just because it's so time consuming to make YouTube videos. Um, so most of the stuff that I do is through Instagram. Uh, but, yeah, I think we're sitting at like 18.8 K followers right now. Like 18.8 k followers right now. Um, and slowly, like I think I don't know what happened this year, but, uh, in the last year I shot from like 11 or 12 to like 18, which is a significant amount in likea year.

Speaker 3: 56:00

So, yeah um, it's cool to see, but, uh, I'm hoping so. I planned the veterans day event this year for like 80 people, based off last year, but but I also got like 6,000 more followers, but also I'm not anywhere close to like 80 tickets. So I'm like I don't know if this is just like Instagram, like just messing with the algorithm, or if people are at. I'm very worried that I'm going to get there Like no one's going to be there.

Speaker 2: 56:24

I'm one of the followers. I'm one of the 6,000 in the last year, but thank you for coming on and I look forward to your events.

Speaker 3: 56:35

Do you mind if I ask you a couple questions real quick. Sure, how did you find Official Military Skater? How did it get on your radar? Because I saw your email and I was kind of like shocked, because most people like I've only had a few people like ask me to be on podcasts and it's just people that I know in real life.

Speaker 2: 56:56

Yeah. So the whole thing started. I was working because I do HVAC full time. That's my full time job and I was working on a roof trying to find a good skating podcast and then came up with the idea I'll start my own and do it interview style.

Speaker 2: 57:15

So then I actually started going through social media like TikTok and Instagram and looking up skaters, because I wanted to cover every aspect of skating quad, inline, ice and skateboarding and all the different kinds of disciplines that go with it ice and skateboarding and all the different kinds of disciplines that go with it. So when I saw yours coming from my grandparents being veterans and the military I'm a huge supporter of the military it was something that I felt important to have you on, just because of the fact of what you're doing and a lot of the times that you find some of the interviews I've done. A lot of people have been through some traumatic stuff and different forms of skating have helped them get through it. So I thought it was very cool what you were doing and wanted to have you on.

Speaker 3: 58:01

Yeah, definitely, I didn't want to touch on it too much. But yeah, I came from a pretty broken and battered upbringing as a child and skateboarding like the skate park has kind of always been like my home away from home yeah, so any more questions.

Speaker 2: 58:16

I'm not used to being interviewed.

Speaker 3: 58:18

Oh yeah, uh, I don't know if I have any questions. I was just gonna say that, uh, because we were talking about, uh, you, you sent me some like links or whatever. I listened to that uh. Oh yeah, now I remember what I was gonna say. Uh, I'm gonna butcher this too. Probably is it dan jensen, dan jansen, jansen sorry what?

Speaker 3: 58:43

what's, uh, a long track, or was it? Uh, you guys were talking about different kinds of tracks and stuff and I was like I was trying very hard while I was listening to the interview to like keep up with the lingo, but there was like so much stuff in there I was like I don't know what this means.

Speaker 2: 58:57

So what was that track? Long track ice is an oval and it's a 400 meter oval, so, and then short track is usually skated on like the basically, uh, ice hockey rink size, oh, okay, so and then you have like long races like a 5 000 and 10 000 meter in the in the long ones 10 000 jesus, 6.2 miles. That's insane, holy and that's. That's what I'm planning on competing in Meanwhile.

Speaker 2: 59:28

Skateboarding contests are like 45 seconds at a time, yeah that's why the skating community is so awesome, because there's so many different styles, and I think skating, like dancing, it's a form of expression of yourself too, and it really plays to who you are and that's more of your personality out just through your skating or your dancing or whatever you do.

Speaker 3: 59:55

Yeah, that's a really cool concept. I know there's like skateboard podcasts, I know there's other podcasts, but I don't think I've seen anything as unique as like one that covers kind of all of them at once. That's a pretty cool idea you had.

Speaker 2: 1:00:08

Yeah, so that's a pretty cool idea you had, yeah, and I was like, okay, I'm going to. Like I was nervous as hell to start the whole thing because I'm good at talking and some people will call me out on this, but I usually have a tendency to talk about myself. So doing a thing where I have to interview other people and talk to them and take the focus off of me and put it on the other person has been a learning experience, and it's actually also helped me off of the podcast too.

Speaker 3: 1:00:36

That's awesome. Yeah, I, um I. I always joke like I have a social media platform, but I'm like not very social in real life. But if you, once you get me started talking about skateboarding, I just don't shut up.

Speaker 2: 1:00:49

Yeah, and that's the nice thing is, when you find that passion that someone has, they can talk about it forever and it's kind of like you know. You talk to somebody like, hey, how you doing. They're like fine. You're like, okay, this is going nowhere until you like find that common ground that they like to talk about. So but well, thank you for coming on the show and I appreciate it.

Speaker 3: 1:01:10

Thanks for having me. This is fun. I uh, Thank you, Thank you.