Intro and interview by Oliver Nermerich
First of all, congrats for taking the AM comp at the Chaz Sands Invite 2011! This was your first international title, right?
Thank you! Yeah this was my first international comp that I won. Definitely hope it won’t be the last one.
So you just got back to Amsterdam. This was a hell of a short but worthy trip. Did you have enough time to celebrate the win of the contest in Liverpool appropriately?
The trip was pretty short, that’s right. But it was worth it! Exactly, I didn’t have a lot of time to celebrate it. But we had a good after party at the Aloha bar in Liverpool.
We at Be-Mag have been following your skating career for quite a long time now. We know you have been practicing hard in the last couple years to get better and better. How hard did you work in the last months?
Well, every time I go out skating I try to put the level of my skating to a higher level. I have been training more over the last two years. Been doing that by expanding the field a little. I have been practicing a little vert skating and I try to skate more launch ramps to keep up with everybody that do all those crazy flips. I can tell that’s pretty hard sometimes.
Is it true that you often skate by yourself to learn and practice new tricks?
Yeah, that’s true. I do skate alot by myself witch is boring sometimes but sometimes very helpful, too because this way I train myself that I don’t need other people to help me get hyped to do a crazy spot. Then I only need my filmer to put my mind right.
What kind of tricks are you working on currently? And did you get a chance to try it during the Chaz Sands Contest 2011?
Well, I always try to keep my spin tricks to a good level to be able to do it first try at a comp. Also I have been practicing my switch ups. I’m trying to make them more difficult and more special. At the comp I was able to do some tricks I have been practicing on. On the rail that goes over the grind box I did true top porn on the straight part to fullcab true porn down for example. And I was able to do 540 tts and 540 true top acid on the A-box first try during the comp.
Chaz Sands Invite 2011: Official Be-Mag Edit #2 by Jordan Maders
I also heard you quit your job at the restaurant in Amsterdam? Is that correct? So now you fully concentrate on your skating career? Or what are you doing right now? What’s your plan?
Yeah, I did quit my job in Amsterdam but I had to start another job again, but no worries because I can adjust my training time really good to my work so I am able to skate around 5 days a week.
What kind of job is this new one? What are you doing right now?
Right now I work in a 4 star hotel. The thing I do is waiting the quests and make sure that they get good wine and food combinations. The good thing about the job is that I can combine my work and my skating really good.
You have been to a lot of contests in the last couple years. Which contest was the best one you have visited so far? And why?
Actually pretty much every comp I have been to was a lot of fun because you see a lot of friends that you don’t see that often. One of the comps that is always super fun for me to go to is the Burnside Open Championship. This is because there are always many good friends of mine up there and always a really good atmosphere during the comp. Then after the comp there always is a BBQ so everybody can chill and drink a beer with each other.
Nowadays, most of the big contests are taking place at an indoor skatepark. Real street contests – especially in Europe – are becoming less frequent. What do you think about this trend?
The indoor comps make the level of rollerblading so much higher, I think. But I don’t like that the real street comps are disappearing because at a real street comp you can always show your raw and special street skills. And you never know what someone will put up on a rail. So I would like to see some more real street contests and I think it’s coming up a little right now to with the Chosen Few street comps.
In 2005 you had one of the biggest Real Street Contests almost in front of your house, the IMYTA in Amsterdam. What do we have to do to get a contest like this back to Amsterdam?
I don’t really know what it would take to get it back. Probably a lot of talking to the authorities because the rules would be getting tighter another time. But I would like to see a new real street somewhere in Holland!
What else is on your agenda for this year? Are you filming for any videos? What other contests are you going to visit this year?
For this year I will visit the comp in Bulle, Switzerland and the one in San Marino, Italy. I’m also trying to make it to the NASS and the Slamm Jamm. So it will be a busy year. For the moment I’m also filming for the new Razors AM video and have been able to shoot some good clips so far.
The 11th of June 2011 was probably one of the coolest days in your life because of your win in the AM division at the Chaz Invite. What was one of the worst days in your life?
Yeah, that was really one of my best moments in rollerblading for me. I don’t really know what the worst day of my life must have been. I must say I live a pretty happy life.
Chaz Sands Invite 2011: Official Be-Mag Edit #1 by Richard Johnson
