This article was written for skateboarders and hopefully you will figure out that elskateshop.com is a skateboard shop. After speaking with skateboarders and receiving thousands of sponsor me tapes we figured this topic needed to be addressed.
The one thing that I noticed was that a lot of skateboarders tend to focus on (or worry about rather) doing handrails and big sets of stairs.
And when you look at their sponsor me tapes, you can tell right off the bat that these skaters don’t have the basic skateboarding fundamentals down. So forget stairs and handrails for a while and listen up!
1. Style
Great style is the mark of a great skater. Either you have it or you need to spend a lot of time practicing to get it. So if your tricks are sloppy, you need to fix that immediately. Chances are your technique is off, so we recommend buying a trick tips video to learn how to get tricks down the right way.
2. Speed
Having all your tricks down is great, but being able to do them a higher speeds is WAY better. We are very impressed by people who can do flat ground runs at high speeds. Five hard pushes and then a three flip, heel flip, kickflip…
3. Consistency
This applies more to people who are already sponsored. One thing that really bums the team’s filmer out is if you land your tricks every million years. Filmers have to spend their own money on gas and waste their own time driving skaters around to spots. If a team member always wants to go out and film, yet never lands their tricks – it’s a huge bummer.
The only recipe to fix this problem is a lot of practice and going to the spot by yourself (or without the filmer) and getting it wired.
4. Loyalty (fans)
This one is interesting. We see this a lot all over the skateboard industry. Someone get’s sponsored by a truck company and they end up riding independent trucks instead of the trucks they are sponsored by. This is really obvious – GET SPONSORED BY THE COMPANIES YOU WANT TO RIDE FOR!
If you don’t want to rock their stuff, just pass it up.
5. Something that hasn’t been done before
This is probably the fastest way to stardom. If you can hurricane grind El Toro, then do it. However, it doesn’t have to be done on big stuff. I guess this all ties into our golden rule: Be creative. It will get you noticed and you will develop a following. Most importantly, it will force you to be a better skateboarder.
6. Forget that list of tricks
As a matter of fact, if the first thing you do is start spouting off a list of tricks – 99% of the time you have already ended your chances right there. Team managers don’t care about what tricks you can do. They don’t care about how many stairs you can do tricks down. All they need to see is a video with no music and just skating. The video should have about 10 to 15 tricks AND runs. No tricks should be repeated, and of course it should be a video of your best skating.