Ryan Sheckler, interviewed Monday, June 21, 2010, while at home in L.A.

What’s up, Ryan?

What’s up, man.

Not a whole lot. Where are you today?

I just got done with a bike ride and a little beach swim. Just kind of at home in San Clemente.

Nice. Thanks for doing this, man.

No worries.

Let’s get started with X-Games. You have that coming up next month and you’ve pretty much owned it since you were young. How do you approach that type of competition where you know you’re going up against the best in the world?

It’s pretty awesome actually to be in a contest of that nature with your Chris Cole’s and your P-Rod’s and Muska, the guys that, in a way I looked up to when I started skateboarding. Also, I had a real early opportunity to skate with all of these guys. When I go out and I see these guys, I don’t look at them as ‘Oh, these guys are the gnarliest competition,’ which they are, but the way that I’ve grown up with them I’m like ‘Ah, cool, I’m at another contest with my homies and we’re about to have some serious fun.’ It’s just been cool. I started going on tour when I was eight years old and I got to skate with most of these guys so it’s been a great ride.

Does it ever feel different in your head to prepare for an X-Games as opposed to a normal tour where you’re just having fun?

Oh yeah, totally. I try and go into a contest like a warrior, man. Like a complete soldier. I love competing. Competing has always been one of the most fun things for me to do and when I do compete, I get into a different mode. It might seem like I’m a little quiet, a little bit to myself but that’s just me. Focused and ready to attack.

I imagine when an NBA player does a slam-dunk contest, they think a lot in the days before, they wanna bust something out that no one’s ever seen before. Do you ever get in that frame of mind where you’re like ‘When this particular moment arrives, I’m gonna bust this out.”

Yeah, in a way. I don’t wanna be caught training out my part just trying one trick ‘cause these contests have changed from a best trick format, which they never really are best trick format. It’s how many tricks you can land and how consistent you can be doing your hardest tricks. Yeah, there’s tricks that I work on that I know when my adrenaline level gets to a certain point that I can just throw it down and I have no worries about that. As with training, I guess you can say, I keep it mellow. I do all my tricks. I try to do every trick I know how to do when I go skate and just keep everything polished up to be consistent and be enjoyable to watch, I guess.

In your opinion, who’s the best out there right now in 2010?

In my opinion, all I’ve seen so far are the contests and a couple things like that. I’m saying Torey Pudwill. He’s our newest rider on Plan B and I grew up skating with the kid and I’m just very impressed with his skating, his pop, his attitude towards skateboarding and we actually have him in a couple of contests this year. I’m excited to skate with Torey Pudwill this year, see what he can accomplish.

A few months ago, I talked to Tony Alva right around when he was inducted into the hall of fame and he told me ‘Some of the really famous skateboarders in today’s society aren’t based on skill. It shouldn’t be a popularity contest.’ Then he said ‘Sheckler is a super-versatile and good skateboarder.’ First off, how does it feel to know that a stud like Alva respects you so much and second, describe that generational gap between today’s professional skateboarders and the guys who started all this.

There’s definitely a sense of … I just got the chills when you said that. I recently saw Tony Alva at the airport and it was just really cool because I had my back kind of turned and I was going to the baggage claim and he saw me first and was like ‘Ryan,’ I was like ‘Damn, what’s up Tony? How you doing?’ and we just talked for a little bit and it’s just so cool that the first generation of skateboarding, the ones that made it possible for us to do what we can do today and get paid and actually live a great life from skateboarding, those dudes are legends. Absolute legends and the fact that they are still so involved in the way skateboarding goes, they have a huge say in everything. Tony Alva, Tony Hawk, all these dudes, Danny Way. It’s awesome to even be recognized by those dudes.

It seemed like 10 or 15 years ago, skating was fading from the map and now it’s thriving thanks to guys like yourself and P-Rod and even Dyrdek. Talk about being a key part of this rejuvenation of skateboarding.

I don’t consider myself a key part of the rejuvenation. I think maybe we brought kids into it or maybe kids realized that they could skate and they could do something outside of their normal basketball, baseball, football world. When you look at skateboarding at a whole, it’s always thrived. Skateboarders have always stuck together. I think if anything, me and P-Rod and Rob are just a few names who have done a lot for skateboarding. We kind of just look at it as we’re just working to keep skateboarding cool and keep it awesome. I don’t wanna be credited for having tried to make skateboarding better. I’m just living my life, doing what god wants me to do – skating my skateboard.

Right. That’s good. You’re not giving yourself credit but you know other people are gonna do it. A lot of young kids are super energetic about the sport these days and you’re one of the guys that encouraged them to do it. You’re definitely one of the key parts of this rejuvenation.

Thanks, man. I appreciate that. The kids have a mind of their own and if they pick up a skateboard, no matter who’s doing it, they’re gonna do whatever they wanna do. The youth is amazing. I love doing everything I can to help kids and kind of mentor our kids into anything they wanna do whether it’s school or skateboarding or riding bikes, it doesn’t really matter. Anything a kid wants to do, they should be able to do. That’s what our future is.

Who are some of the guys you looked up to growing up as far as the sport goes?

As far as this sport goes, Paul Rodriguez, I always looked up to Paul because he was close to my age and he was so skilled and so advanced that I wanted to be like P-Rod. I looked up to Danny Way and Tony Hawk and I really looked up to Rodney Mullen and I still do. I really look up to Rodney Mullen and since I don’t get to see him that much. He’s the one dude I still get a little nervous around when I’m around him. It’s pretty awesome.

Is there anyone in the business that turns you into a fanboy?

No. Not really, man. Everyone’s pretty mellow. The whole skating scene, especially nowadays. I get excited to go skate with Chris Cole, I get excited to skate with P-Rod, especially competing against those guys ‘cause they bring a whole new level of energy that will make you do tricks you haven’t even landed before and you’ll land it first try in a competition. Those guys really definitely bring the energy and it’s fun to skate with them. Yeah, I guess I get nervous around them. For sure.

Professional skateboarding has followed this mold set by golf in terms of taking advantage of sponsorships. As far as building your empire from an early age with sponsors and signing with Plan B and launching your own clothing line, how exciting is that aspect of your career?

It’s great. Seriously, it’s such a blessing to be a professional skateboarder and to have ventures like that and to have my own foundation and the Plan B thing and RS by Sheckler and JC Penney. It’s crazy because I never expected all this. I never asked for all this. It was back in the day when I was skating, I was just skating because it was fun and that’s how I’m skating today just because it’s so fun and so exciting to learn a new trick and skating with your boys and homies land some tricks, it’s a feeling that you can’t match. It’s hard to explain. Having all these business ventures is great. I’m super psyched and I wanna just keep it going.

Informed that they’re killing RS to focus on Plan B because he’s become an owner of Plan B. It’s a bigger company.

How much do trends in the industry affect the sales of clothes and gear? Do styles come and go pretty quickly in the industry or do they stay pretty steady?

It totally depends. It goes back to who the kids are looking at in the magazines and who they want to copy their style off of or come up with a completely new style. I think that the style is pretty open. You can really do whatever you want in the skateboard world. Yeah, trends come and go, they have forever. I think the kids that are comfortable with their style and know what they like will continue to buy the same product and that’s kind of how that goes.

What was the hardest stunt you ever tried to pull off?

Hardest stunt I’ve ever had to try and pull off is not breaking bones. It’s still a stunt and it’s still hard to not and I’m just trying not to do that. As for skateboarding, anything I didn’t try, I don’t limit myself. I plan on learning as many tricks as I can in the years I have left in skateboarding and whatever I do with those tricks, that’s what it is. I don’t have any plans to do anything crazy. I’m just kind of living and just skating and doing my thing.

What’ s the worst injury you’ve ever suffered?

The worst injury was the one I got at X-Games last year. I tore some ligaments in my foot and I had to get screws in there for six months. I didn’t get to skate any contests last year. I never skated any contests last year, I only got to skate Tampa this year. I’m finally 100-percent healed and I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in and I’m ready to get back in there and go to war.

What kind of rehabs involved in something like that?

A lot of swimming. A lot of cardio. A lot of physical therapy. I do the cold laser therapy. Taking the right vitamins, eating the right food. I rode my bike a lot to get the extra cardio. I don’t know, basically being on the skateboard trying to spend as much time on my board as absolutely possible, which has been a lot lately. I don’t know, man everything feels good. It feels like it’s gonna be a great year.

Having accomplished so much at 20, what are your goals as far as changing the game and expanding your legacy?

My plans have included getting the Thrasher Skater of the Year, which is pretty much the dopest award you can get in skateboarding. It means you put in the most work on the streets. That’s been a goal for awhile, whether that happens this year, next year, three years from now, it doesn’t really matter to me, just as long as in my career I can get Thrasher skater of the year. That’s my main goal, I think. Other than that, just keep coming out to my great foundation events for the kids and for the hurt athletes. Just kind of trying to live the same program. Whatever business opportunities that come at us, we’ll take into consideration. Other than that, we’re trying to blow Plan B up and live.

I live here in Great Falls, Montana and you wouldn’t believe the skate scene out here.

Ah, man. Everywhere.

We have a new skatepark in town that fills with snow every year and there’s kids skating the streets and Ryan Simonetti just opened an indoor park out here.

Tight.

It’s been weird watching it evolve in Montana of all places.

We’re taking over, man. Skateboarders are taking over.

Alright, Ryan. I appreciate you taking the time.

No worries, brother.

Take care.