My name is Jimmy –
I have been living in San Diego all my life. I am a professional downhill skateboarder traveling around the globe in search of new hills and podiums.
Here is some Q & A
What attracted you and got you into this sport?
The thrill, the community, riding gravity and having that feeling of
being free flying down a hill on 4 wheels and a peace of wood.
What do you have to do to train and prepare for this sport?
I find myself surfing, stand up paddle boarding and making it to the
gym once a week or so. I skate more than anything and that give me
the opportunity to work on going faster and taking better lines, as well
as stay in shape!
As a professional, what is the best thing about this sport and what
sets it apart from others?
As a professional I find the best things in my sport to be the
community that’s been created over the years. You can practically go
anywhere in the world that has paved roads and find some local
skaters bombing down them. Or feeling semi weightless letting
gravity slingshot you down mountain roads with friends from around
the world all in the same location for the same reason!
What was the scariest/most difficult thing you ever had to face in
this sport and how did you overcome it?
In our sport there are a few different things that could go wrong and
fact is you can try your hardest to save yourself from a fall but some
falls are worse than others. At speeds 50+ while on a peace of wood
with 4 wheels and gravity propelling you down hill with 3 or 5 other
competitors all going for the podium spot things get intense. Getting
taken out again falling at speed is something you become numb to
over time.
What is the funniest/weirdest thing that has happened to you whilst
doing this sport professionally?
Funniest things that has happened to me was probably winning my
first world cup downhill race fresh off all my sponsors and flying solo,
the pun is
that my old sponsor was the title sponsor for the event.
Have you ever had a serious injury from this sport?
Injuries come and go but I will stay, in our sport it seems a lot of
people have shoulder issues; thankfully I do not and only deal with a
bunk wrist time to time. I cant say I have stayed away from the
hospitals, Last year in Columbia I was taken out from behind,
slammed the hay bails and ended up with a chest contusion.
Who is your real life hero and why?
My real life hero is the every day Joe who is out there doing what he
can to survive and making ends meat, life rough at times and this one
goes out to all the everyday people, all the 9-5 people and supporters
of skateboarding! Keep making the world go around.
Do you have a favorite comic book or film hero and why?
I enjoyed reading batman comics back in the day.
What do you think about extreme and more unusual sports
getting their own world championships like the Olympics?
I think it about time something like this happened. It is important to
embrace these new extreme sports that are emerging into our world
and possibly pay respects to them and their athletes. I know lots of
people who devote there lives to sports that are ganglier or more
extreme than basketball or football knowing that it wont actually get
them any where further in life than there normal job. If the Olympics
wont adapt to these new sports and place them in that realm of
athletic compotition than we have no choice to do our own thing and
boost out sports higher in the public eye!
