Ryan Sheckler - Can Skateboarding's Big Dog Rule the Dew Tour?
July 20 2007 / Los Angeles, CA
|
__________________________
He's only 17-years-old, but Ryan Sheckler doesn't have much left to prove. Since 2003, he's placed in countless events, taking at least 14 first-place titles (seven of those in AST Dew Tour stops), he's gotten magazine covers, video parts (Oakley's "Our Life," an upcoming Red Bull film in 2008 and more), and he might even have his own TV series soon -- rumors of an MTV reality show were given further fuel last week when Sheckler showed up at a pre-ESPY's party with Rob Dyrdek, who has his own wildly successful MTV reality show. All in all, that's not bad for someone who can't even vote yet...
In fact, Sheckler is so dominant it's not a matter if he can win a contest. Rather, it's how many in a row he can win. And in 2007 he has one very specific goal -- to sweep the AST Dew Tour's five competitions, something that has yet to be done. Sheckler won the Dew Cup, the award given to the top overall points holder at the end of the season, in 2005 and 2006, and he started off 2007 with a dominant win at Baltimore's Panasonic Open.
|
||||||||||
"I like to start the season off good," he said after the win. "I told everyone -- I told my family, my dad -- we're coming out strong..."
But it won't always be that easy. Jereme Rogers dogged him last year in the race for the Dew Cup and Greg Lutzka, who won one of the four career AST Dew Tour stops that eluded Sheckler (Rogers won the other three), appears to be back to full form after an inconsistent '06. Sheckler also has his eyes on the X Games, where he won gold in 2003 (becoming the youngest gold medal winner in history at 13) and silver in '05-'06 (both years behind Chris Cole). If there is competition to be had, it usually is at the X Games where everyone comes to play, including vets like Andrew Reynolds.
With his myriad of accomplishments in a still very-young career, it's not a stretch to call him the big dog in the yard when it comes to skate street. Sure, there are some established legends (Reynolds, Chris Haslam, to name only a couple) out there who have been doing this almost as long as he's been alive, who don't do comps because they don't care, and who command respect every time they put down their deck. And there are some younger turks (David Loy, Nyjah Huston) that may not do as many comps because of whatever reason, but could give Sheckler a run for his money because they are "the next big thing." But Sheckler has an edge in the public eye, where it's not always about who finishes first or who does the most tricks. It's also about images and choices, and Sheckler is smart and his manager, who just happens to be his mother, Gretchen, does have his best interests at heart. And that means an education..
Even though he pulls down six-figures a year through prize-winnings and sponsorships, he is still on track to finish high school -- though not in the traditional sense.
"I'm going to Future's High School in Mission Viejo," he tells Lat34.com "It's like a private, home school deal. I can't go to high school, it's too much work and I don't have the time. I promised my parents I'd graduate high school, which is smart. So I'm going to do that."
To be clear, there are definitely some Sheckler haters out there -- it's not necessarily fair, but it happens. Some may critique his style ("Not enough switches"), some may say his focus on contests isn't really what skateboarding about. Some even complain that he wears too much bling. And that possible MTV show may not help things but it hasn't seemed to hurt Dyrdek too much. That kind of thing is pretty much standard within skateboarding circles, where even Tony Hawk, the vert legend who landed the first-ever 900 in competition, has detractors for being too mainstream and not core enough. But for Sheckler, being compared to Hawk is not all that bad -- he admires his mad skills and his business sense, as well.
|
||||||||||
Bestwick's own dominance in BMX Vert rivals Sheckler's in skate, but while Bestwick is nearing the end of his competitive career (he's discussed retirement), Ryan Sheckler's got a pretty bright future ahead -- and he's staying focused.
"After I won the X Games it turned into mayhem. People coming out of the woodworks, and that brought a lot of fame with it too. Quick fame," he says. "People didn't know if I was going to be in it for the long haul, or what would happen if I would just fall off. I proved myself and I'm still here."
- Greg Baerg
