Tony Hawk

Tony Hawk at the Vert Jam NYChttps://jacob.breinholt.nyc/2011/09/tony-hawk-vert-jam-nyc/Tony Hawk, one of the best skateboarders in the world, had won seventy-three out of one hundred and three professional skateboard competitions before the age of 25, a record that nobody has ever been able to beat to this day (Home.Official). It’s not easy winning a skateboard competition, let alone seventy-three of them. To get that good at skateboarding would take years and years of practice, something that Hawk did. Tony Hawk, as a young child, was filled with energy all the time and he was able to let it out through skateboarding when he started at the age of nine years old (Britannica). He grew up in San Diego and entered his first competition at eleven years old, but like any normal person before competing, he was nervous (Hawk,Tony). Progressing fast, he was already winning in amateur skate competitions as a twelve year old (Home.Official). Entering into these competitions, Tony was making a big impression through his daring tricks and creativity (Britannica). One of his most impressive tricks was the 900 twist at the 1999 X-Games, which was the first time that trick had ever been done (Britannica). In 1984, Tony Hawk was considered the best skateboarder in the world (Tony Hawk.Noteable). Hawk has continued to skate for his whole life, being seen as one of the greatest skateboarders in the world, the face of skateboarding, and as the person to change skateboarding from nothing but a kids toy to a legitimate,worldwide famous sport (Tony Hawk. Newsmakers).Tony hawk had to work extremely hard to become one of the best skateboarders in the world. He worked on tricks that challenged him for years until he had landed the trick or until it hurt him too badly to keep trying. A hero, to me, shows bravery and dedication, just like what Tony Hawk portrayed throughout his whole career. The most recognized Action Sports figure in the world, Tony Hawk, was not only one of the most famous skateboarders of all time, but was also an inspiration to everyone, particularly skaters and athletes, through his brave actions in the sport and his dedication to skateboarding and his tricks which made him bring legitimacy and respectability to skateboarding.

Tony Hawk at 1999 X-Games before doing the 900https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQEcKzpQO9UTony Hawk’s bravery has been shown through his ability to do some of the most intense and impressive tricks in the sport of skateboarding and is also shown in the way he stuck to skateboarding, putting everything he had into it, even when it was a very uncertain career path.Tony knew that to make it in skateboarding, you had to do impressive tricks that were better than the competition to stand out. So he worked and tried tricks that were thought to be impossible at the time. “Among the other challenges that he had set for himself--and subsequently met--were the Ollie 540, Kickflip 540, and Varial 720. Of Hawk's accomplishment in doing the 900, an ESPN analyst told ESPN Magazine: ‘This is the biggest thing to happen in the history of alternative sports.’” (Tony Hawk. Newsmakers). Hawk accomplished some of the biggest and scariest tricks in the history of skateboarding. Although the tricks were high risk and unthinkable for others, Tony pushed his own limits and managed to land these unthinkable tricks. While nobody else was brave enough at the time to attempt the tricks that Tony did, Tony landed the tricks that nobody could even imagine doing and proved to everyone that if you work hard at something, you can do the unthinkable. Through his own bravery, Tony Hawk inspired others to always push their limits and to always try to be the best that they could be. Not only did he portray his bravery through his physical actions in skateboarding, but also in his crucial decisions that he made during a rough time in skateboarding history. As skateboarding’s popularity decreased drastically in 1991, Tony Hawk had to make a big decision on whether he wanted to stick with his passion in life or change to a more secure job position (Home.Official).  “Confident that skating would rebound, Tony refinanced his first house and with a friend launched his own skateboard company, Birdhouse Projects. The first few years were rough: Birdhouse wasn't making money, and Tony’s future was sketchy. But, almost as abruptly as it died, skating’s popularity surged skyward, and the Hawk became the Phoenix” (Home.Official). When skateboarding died in 1991, Tony Hawk decided that instead of getting a normal and boring job, he would continue his career in skating and put everything he had into the sport. His decision to stick with skateboarding was a great choice because almost as quickly as it died out, skateboarding blew up and Tony Hawk was the main face of skating. Throughout the rough times in his career, he showed bravery by putting his all into his passion in life and it turned out great for him. He inspires everyone to never give up on what you love through his brave decisions and shows the true characteristics of a hero. If he gave up on skateboarding when he was forced to make that decision, skateboarding would never be as big as it is today, and he wouldn't have ever been as successful as he is now. Tony Hawk is shown as a hero through his bravery with his ability to land some of the biggest tricks ever done in skateboarding history, and through the way he has had to make huge, life changing decisions throughout his career that could have changed everything.

Tony Hawk as a kid in San Diegohttps://twitter.com/tonyhawkTony Hawk, along with being brave, is also seen as a hero for his trait of being dedicated. He shows dedication to his tricks and to the sport of skateboarding. Skaters have to have dedication to be able to land hard tricks in skateboarding. Frustration is common for people who skate and try tricks that they have never done before and you have to show a little dedication to keep working at a trick until you get it. But for Tony, his dedication was on a different level. Tony talks about his mindset after landing a trick that has challenged him for a long time. He says, “Then I realized, a little after the fact, that I was rolling across the flat bottom and up the other side of the ramp. After thirteen years of trying unsuccessfully to land the 9, all I could think was, Finally!”( Hawk, Tony). Tony Hawk, after thirteen years of attempts, finally landed the 900, a very difficult trick to land, in front of 50,000 people at the 1999 X games. He showed dedication to his tricks and even after 13 year of failure, he kept trying and finally landed it. For Tony to try the same trick for thirteen years without ever giving up, it shows the amount of dedication that he puts into improving and landing tricks that seem impossible. He proves to everyone that if you are determined enough and are dedicated to your goals, that you can achieve them, no matter how long it takes. When Tony Hawk was a little boy, he was, at times, too dedicated to his tricks. He would attempt tricks that his body physically wouldn’t allow him to do and when he couldn’t do them, he would end up getting so frustrated that he would lock himself up in his room all alone (Tony Hawk. Newsmaker). “Hawk still demanded more of himself than his young body could deliver at times. And he still had difficulty dealing with defeat--or even performing below the very high standards he set for himself” (Tony Hawk. Newsmakers). Tony had dedicated his life to being the best that he could be. He did it with every sport he played and he did it with skateboarding. If he felt like he could do better, then it would frustrate him until he did as much that was possible for his body. He was dedicated to being the best skater he could be. This dedication to skateboarding is one the the main reasons he was able to go so far with the sport. He would keep trying and trying tricks until he finally got it and he would always set out to be a better skater then he was the day before and this made him get extremely good at skating. Through Tony Hawk’s pure dedication to progressing and landing new tricks, he showed the trait of a true hero, and has inspired everyone to never give up on their goals and to always keep pushing until they accomplish what they want.

Tony Hawk doing a McTwist in Londonhttps://www.leosharp.uk/nass-2015By Tony Hawk showing his bravery and dedication to the sport of skateboarding in different ways, he was able to make skateboarding a world famous sport that was respected, and has inspired skaters and people across the world to push their limits, never give up on what they want to do, and to work hard at everything that they do. Tony Hawk throughout his career portrayed bravery and dedication, the traits of a hero. Tony showed his bravery while he competed as a pro skater, doing some of the biggest and toughest tricks in skateboarding, like the McTwist, and was one of the only ones to be doing such flashy tricks at that time (Tony Hawk. Noteable). He also showed bravery when he put everything he had into skateboarding, even when the sport was at its lowest, because he never gave up on his passion in life. Not only was he brave, but Tony also showed dedication. He showed dedication with all of his tricks by never giving up on trying to land tricks that were hard for him, even when it would frustrate him. For normal people, if it took too long to land a trick or do something, they would give up. But not Tony. He was so dedicated to being the best skater that he could possibly be, that he would try tricks for years until he landed them, and drive all over California to try and find new spots for him to push his limits on (Tony Hawk.Noteable). Tony Hawk inspires everyone to never give up on their passion in life and to always be the best that they can be. I love almost all action sports including skateboarding, surfing, skimboarding, scootering, and longboarding so Tony Hawk has  inspired me to go out everytime I skate and work to improve myself and learn something new. He is my hero because he has a similar passion as I do and makes me want to try something that puts me out of my comfort zone and to not give up on tricks that I try, no matter how hard they might be for me. His bravery and dedication to skateboarding while he was in his prime years are some of the main reasons why he has been able to make it this far in skateboarding and has been an inspiration to so many people across the world. Now that Tony is older and wealthy, he inspires kids to skate and helps them have spots to skateboard through the Tony Hawk foundation. “The Tony Hawk Foundation fosters lasting improvements in society with an emphasis on supporting youth in low income communities through skateboarding programs and the creation of skateparks” ( Tony Hawk Foundation). He funds the projects to create skateparks in places that otherwise wouldn’t be wealthy enough to create one on their own and gives kids a chance to get good at skating and inspires them to go down the same path that he did. Tony Hawk is not only my hero, but he is also a hero to so many skaters who look up to him and wish to be as good as he is at skateboarding someday. He has inspired people everywhere to never give up on their dreams, to work hard for what they want, and to always be the best that they can be. He has done this through his own bravery and dedication to his passion, skateboarding.

Works Cited

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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 30 Mar. 2017,

www.britannica.com/biography/Tony-Hawk.     

Hawk, Tony, and Sean Mortimer. Hawk: Occupation Skateboarder. HarperCollinsWillow, 2009.

“Home.” Official Tony Hawk, www.tonyhawk.com/#front.     

"Tony Hawk." Newsmakers, Gale, 2001. Student Resources In Context,

https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/K1618003373/SUIC?u=powa9245&sid=SUIC&xid=

c7bf9fcd. Accessed 7 May 2018.

"Tony Hawk." Notable Sports Figures, edited by Dana R. Barnes, Gale, 2004. Biography In

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