What you got going on today?

I’m doing some school stuff, trying to register for a last minute class before the spring semester starts.

Where are you from?

Houston, Texas.

You like living in Texas?

Yeah, it’s cool. I like living in Houston because it’s one of the most diverse cities. So you get like a little bit of everything. Texas gets kinda crazy once you get out of the big cities. Austin is cool. San Antonio is cool. Houston’s cool. And then like, you always have those like small towns that are like sometimes sketchy, or there’s nothing to do there.

Have you always skated like a lot of transition?

Yeah, I actually grew up across the street from one of the biggest skate parks in Texas, Lee and Joe Jamail skate park. One day i was bored so my mom told me to go skate across the street. So that’s how I got into skating, just going across the street to the skate park. I would go to the bowls because you first start skating, you don’t want to get in anyone’s way and the bowls would be empty. Eventually I met like my roommate and my best friend now, we call him Sleeves, and he skated a bunch of transition. I’m really glad I started skating transition because I never see like black people skating it, so I’m always rare wherever I go. I always get people thinking I’m Zion when I pull up to some random park, I’m like, what the heck?

Do you remember learning to drop in or did you just do it right away?

I remember I dropped in first on this little mini ramp at the park. Actually, I have the video. After that I just dropped everywhere in the park. That was probably like week two of skating.

What’s up with that biggest vert ramp in Texas that you skate?

It’s on my friend Scott property. He’s been trying to get that done for years. I probably met Scott in 2014 and he was talking about it, but he finally got it built last year. It’s really putting Houston on the map and vert skateboarding on the map. He had the Banger in the Hangar event, It was a really good turnout, even though we’ve got Covid going on. Tony Hawk made it, Christian Hosoi, Tony Magnusson, a lot of the old school came through. Skating vert on concrete skating and on wood are two different things. I was messing up my knees so bad for so many years.

Parks to street skating? What’s your ratio?

Now it’s more like 50/50. Usually I’m in the park during the week and then I’m in the streets on the weekend. I’ll say that like Friday, Saturday, Sunday, I’m probably in the streets filming. When I was younger, it was more like 80/20. If I take a trip, then I’m like a hundred percent in the streets.

Have you ever made or helped with a mini ramp DIY?

Oh yeah. With the HVR ramp, I put up a couple panels on the vert ramp and I got fired on my first day because I accidentally dropped one of the panels when we were trying to set it. There were two people underneath so I kind of dropped it on them, me and my roommates Sleeves. I’ve helped out with a couple of DIYs, this past summer living in Kansas City. I was out there on an internship and I helped out with Harrison street DIY. There’s a pretty big DIY scene in Houston too.

What’s up with your last did a video part Gem?

I put out a video part named Gem in October with my friend Dylan Berg. I was interning in Kansas City because I’m an engineering student at A&M and I met the Escapist team and was hanging out with them and filming with them every weekend. Dylan asked if I wanted to do something with all the footage so the last weeks we just went hard to get the final bangers. I came back to Houston in August and we put it on in October. I called it Gem because like my experience in Kansas city was way better than I expected it to be, so I thought it was like a hidden gem. It’s a beautiful city with beautiful people. The people of the Midwest, they have real hospitality, real manners in that area. That was like probably my first video part where I felt like it was real, you know? I picked up a couple of sponsors from it. And so now I’m like filming another one to come out this year before I graduate.

Do you wrestle?

I wrestle for Texas A&M. I’ve been wrestling since I was in middle school actually. I got a scholarship to wrestle and I’ve won nationals the past two years. It’s opened a lot of doors. I started wrestling and skating at the same time. I encourage everybody to wrestle, just like I encouraged everyone to skateboard. You can learn so much from it. Honestly it’s a beautiful sport.

Do you get shit from your coach for skating?

All my coaches try to get me to chill out on skateboarding during the season. Eventually they realize okay, he’s never going to stop skating, at least it’s helps to can cut weight. I would go to practice and then at night I would go skate and lose like another pound or two. Then I come back the next day, lighter than I was.

Who are some of your favorite people to watch skate right now?

GT always. I still watch like old Ben Raybourn videos. This year I really liked Pedro Delfino, he just barges everything. Those are like my top three right now. If I had to throw in another one it’d be Oski.

What about women you like watching skate?

I like watching Nora, she has crazy good style. And usually in the videos they show her personality, she’s a good person as well. And then that one girl that skates mega ramp, she’s been going crazy, Sky Brown.

What do you think about street grabs?

That’s a no go. Although I recently just got a clip of a boneless over a rail into a bank. I feel like it was acceptable, especially the way I did it. But street grabs down like stair sets nah, nah.

You ever skate contests?

Not really, maybe one a year. This ditch contest that goes on in Houston, it’s like jam session and that’s always hella fun. But usually I just film.

Got any plans for after you graduate?

I got a couple of job offers lined up but I plan to travel a bunch though. I want to travel and just learn a lot about the world and people, the different perspectives and different geographical locations. So I want to continue learning in skateboarding, but also learning in life as a person before I really settle down. I want to leave my city, go somewhere else, and then I want to come back to Houston and chill.