Tony Hawk! The World’s famous skateboarder!

Everyone knows Tony Hawk because of his Pro Skater video games. He is the world’s most famous skateboarder. Tony wasn’t a perfect child. He argued with his brother and took his games away. When he was 9, Tony’s brother bought him a skateboard so that he could get his Pac man game back. Tony loved it and he spent all of his free time practising on his skateboard. His family knew that he was very talented, so they helped him. His dad made skate ramps in the garden and drove Tony across California to enter competitions. When Tony was 12, he got his first sponsorship from a skateboarding company. Tony started skateboarding professionally when he was 14. People loved to watch him because he was very good at skateboard tricks. He invented over 50 new tricks. When Tony was 16, he was the most famous skateboarder in the world. In his career, he entered over 100 competitions and won 73 of them. He stopped skateboarding professionally in 1999 after he became the first person to do a trick called 900 (two and a half spins in the air). Tony still loves skateboarding and now he has a skateboarding company called Birdhouse. His Pro Skater video games are very popular. Tony has now got his own website too. The website has information about his life, skateboard tricks and special events. You can use the website to ask Tony skateboarding questions.

Adapted from In Crown, nº3, January-February 2002, Mary Glasgow Magazines