I believe I can be a pro skater I've achieved it because I was believing it enough to let it change how I thought let it change how I talk let it change how I showed up at the skate park the first year what were you doing on Natural Circus I was skating with Bob Burnquist out there in Australia and proved myself enough that they invited me to come on the European tour and I've basically been traveling with them ever since Nitro Circus if you don't know what it is it's like you pack all the best of the best in action sports into an arena and everyone's just throwing down the best tricks they have every night we have a show something happens that has never been done before yeah oh that's cool it's insane you always been a positive person from a young age I've just always felt like Life's a gift I think it's a beautiful opportunity to create whatever you want out of it and like that in itself there's always something to be grateful for I always say feel great by being grateful life is happening for you not to you Beaver Fleming welcome to the podcast what's up Ed thanks for having us out man thanks for coming so uh I'm really excited to talk to you your story's pretty wild you're a professional skateboarder uh toured with uh Travis Pastrana on the Nitro Circus y uh from Knoxville own Reliance skateboard gave me a skateboard I really appreciate that and it's a christian-based Skateboarding company Y and uh you've basically been the first to do multiple tricks yep um so uh yeah man thanks so much for coming down absolutely man stoked to be here it's an honor and uh just appreciate you having me here yeah thanks so uh you're from Knoxville yes sir uh Knoxville Tennessee so John T black made the intro thanks John T he's he's been very supportive of of bringing awesome guests so how did how did you meet John so I met him it's a crazy story I had just been uh the Knoxville skate park just opened up so that's a whole story in itself I'm sure we'll talk about my journey with skateboarding uh but he would ride his mountain bike there's a bike trail that comes through and he would see me skating and I remember because I would see him quite often and it took one time I was really like in a heavy session and he just kind of came up to me and was like keep doing what you're doing it was just like that small little word of encouragement like what you're doing is working keep it up kind of thing and then we started connecting more and more and he kind of started getting me into the physical aspect of training to build endurance and stamina so that I could skate better and stuff um cuz that really still didn't translate over to the Action Sports World at that time so um yeah we just developed the relationship that way and he helped me get connections and different things going on and he's just always been a I would say just a great encouragement and supporter of uh everything that I'm doing that's awesome and and you when you moved to California so you started skateboarding in in Knoxville but then you moved to California when uh 17 you were 17 years old 17 years old senior year of high school what was what was that like that was wild it was a crazy transition it was kind of like really that was like the turning point for me of okay skateboarding is fun it's a hobby to I want to make a career in this I want to build a life in into this and uh really push myself and see if that would be possible I knew I knew I could only be so good in Knoxville because the industry is out in California and so yeah at that time it was like pivotal with high school senior and High School Woodward it's an action sports camp they mainly focus in summer camps but they had it's crazy because the school only existed literally for my senior year so they had a boarding school at the camp and then they were like it's way too hard to run a school and a summer camp we got to stay in our lane um but yeah for for me I'm the only graduate from Woodward U and uh had my graduation on the mega ramp they had there um but yeah that was really that turning point for me to take this thing and uh build a career out of it so uh how did you start like what what how old were you when you started skateboarding I was somewhere around like 9 or 10 years old and I mean you know Knoxville back then no one knew what a skateboard was the only reason I found out what skateboarding was my brother got the video game Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 and being the older brother he's three years older he's a cool kid wouldn't let me play the game but I was allowed to watch him play right so I'm watching him play and I always equate it to like I think when you're a kid every kid thinks it'd be the coolest thing in the world to fly right like how can I fly so I'm watching my brother use this skater hit the ramp and it's like he's flying in the air he's doing flips he's doing spins he's manipulating the board to do something crazy I'm like that's it that's how I can learn to fly is by skateboarding and so my neighbor had a board and um basically he gave me that and I've pretty much been skating every day since nice so when you started uh were you good no not at all how did that progression go that progression just took and I I think it taught me a lot of life lessons like cause and effect reaping and sewing like if I would sew time in on the board I'd get more comfortable on it I'd learn new tricks but it was up to me I always loved the idea of being an athlete and playing team sports you know I played baseball basketball played all the things but I didn't always like relying if I was all in and wanting to do well in the game I had to rely on 10 other people to be in that same mentality but skating is like if I want to learn a kickflip it's on me I got to put my time in I got to work on this thing figure out how to do it and so um it took a few years to really get comfortable on it but I I just had that passion for it and and that persistence to continue doing it and yeah it's I mean skateboarding is really difficult it wants to go each every way but straight it doesn't want to do what you want it to do so you really have to like figure out how to find that Harmony and Rhythm within it and it'll throw you on the ground more than you'll land on your wheels but I think those times you do land on your wheels make it all worth it yeah what was what was the first uh trick you did first trick I did was probably an oy I I'd have to go back but I remember one of the things I love to do I would set up the little plastic ramp and put the rail behind it and ride onto the rail cuz I couldn't quite jump onto the rail properly but man yeah little things like that were so much fun yeah and those those first wins I can imagine you know you get your you do your first trick you're like yes yeah you know it's a it's a confidence thing I I can share the the idea of you know team sports and individual sports I started wrestling when I was 11 and so I learned how to lose really quick you know there nobody else's fault but you know not say fault but nobody else out there but yourself right and uh you know it's it's a little different you know doing an individual type sport than a it can be annoying to think of it that way too right you're like no one else to blame I guess I got to point the finger right in the mirror at me that's right well builds character man 100% I think there's a lot of victim kind of mentality out there right now where we blame others and this is you know it's crippling it is then you know if you learn too it's okay to lose it's okay to fail I got to keep trying because that's ultimately what determines success that that's a A Life Lesson absolutely yeah so um when did when did you see John T held were you when you saw jont T on the track I was probably 14 or 15 okay so yeah I was pretty yeah like I said in that in that time of all right getting ready to transition into W like going to Woodward and making a career out of it that was kind of like the couple years prior where it was like he's encouraging me take this thing seriously I start competing at the national level at amateur events and and doing pretty well like placing top three in these contests and I'm like man I don't even live with the best facilities in the world for what I'm doing and I'm doing pretty well at this what happens if I can get into an environment where I can really push myself to succeed and and learn all these tricks that I need and what was that like you know you go out to California when you're 17 uh you do that one circuit and uh you know what was it like when you were first skating with I'm going to say you know the best on a on a regular basis it was amazing it was just kind of like everything started to click for me I was like uh because the thing was I I went to Traditional High School too up until that point and then it was online school and what I realized at that point was awesome was the way the structure was if I got my work done I had all day to skate so I would bang out all the school workor from like 9:00 a. till 11: and then had the rest of the day to just skate and do whatever I wanted and work on my craft and what I really was passionate about and so that taught me this cool discipline of like man if I can figure out how to get the things done that I don't necessarily want to do like who loves boring school work but if I can get that done it opens a door for me to have opportunity to do what I want to do and developing the discipline and what I didn't like doing unlocked a whole new level of passion for me and so I mean how was skating like 8 hours a day every single day Woodward's incredible it's got all the different foam pits it's resi mat so it's like you can take a gnarly risk but you're going to land softer than concrete right so you have more ability to learn these tricks at a higher rate because you're not taking the beating all the time and so yeah it was Monumental and truly helped me progress and accelerate to the point of where that's ended up I know I'm probably speaking too far but that was where I got connected with Travis Pastrana and he invited me to join Nitra was right there coming to the tail end of my senior year high school oh so you were you were invited at the the end of your senior high school to to do the Nitro Circus yeah so uh the Woodward the Woodward facility it's this action sports camp and his wife is a pro skater so he was up there's like a crazy um off-road course so he was testing cars up there and his wife Lindsay came up to skate and I had no idea they were coming someone kind of rumored it and a lot of friends were going out to like go into town go watch a movie or something but I like heard he might be coming so I was like I'm going to stay and see what happens and crazy enough like yeah sure enough he shows up I'm all amped to see him because he's like you know the reason people make a living in action sports you know double backflip all the crazy things he's done on his dirt bike and before I even meet him he's already filming me skating and then I start trying these tricks into the foam pit that no one had ever done tricks that I was really working on that would be cool to land one day and he he was like dude I've never seen anyone skate the way you skate we've got to have you a part of Nitro Circus that's awesome it was so crazy cuz here I am just a huge fan like I watch Nitro as a kid here in Tennessee like man like that's everyone's dream just to have fun with your friends and push yourself and that's what they were doing and and skateboarding hadn't really translated into Nitro Circus at that point and so to be invited by the man himself that started the whole thing was just truly incredible and so my 18th birthday I'm on a flight to Australia for my first tour oh that's awesome what was that like you know what the first year what were you doing on Nitro Circus yeah so the first year it it was crazy because like I said I was competing at the amateur level wasn't quite ready to go to the professional but was really looking like all right I don't want to go back to Tennessee I want to stay in California I want to make moves I just need something to open up for me in the action sports industry and then when we got involved with Nitro Circus it was crazy um had my first tour I was skating with Bob Burnquist out there in Australia and proved myself enough that they invited me to come on the European tour and I've basically been traveling with them ever since and it it was just a whole new world to me because Nitro circus if you don't know what it is it's like you pack all the best of the best in action sports into an arena we have the mega ramp they have these big freestyle Motocross ramps that are jumping 75 fet in the air probably 60 feet up in the air and everyone's just throwing down the best tricks they have and it was just like a amazing place for me to get catapulted in because it was like all right here you go you're good but now is an opportunity to be great and here you go and every night you're able to try something every night we have a show something happens that has never been done before really yeah oh that's cool it's insane yeah so you got uh he says it's a lot of motorcycles it's a lot of uh what all um uh sports do they have in there so we have uh freestyle Motocross skateboarding scootering BMX bikes and then the cool part is they have all the Contraptions so they have like a little kid trike they got a garbage can that goes down the ramp a kayak a little VW bus like Power Wheels thing um so that's what keeps it fun too it's like obviously fun is at the core of everything Nitro circuits yeah we want to push ourselves yeah we want to do things that have never been done but also we just want to have a good time and so we'll we have this kind of saying you ride it you jump it and so if anyone has a crazy idea or this contraption is what we call them um bring it to the ramp and there's only one way to find out if it's going to work yeah and you you uh pulled off certain tricks first time like what's uh what what are some of the tricks that you you did first time yeah so the first trick that I invented I guess you could say was uh the Fleming flip I got to name it after I invented it um and it was like a back flip and I flip my board while I'm flipping so I do a finger Flip Flip the board do a back flip and then catch it and put it back on and R away so that was cool CU that was one of the tricks Travis saw in the foam pit that had never been done and basically got on invited on to do and pulled it in my first tour oh nice yeah yeah what was that what was it like the first time you you pulled it off were they going crazy oh it was insane yeah it was it was just wild and and that's what's so cool about it as well the action sports camaraderie is like everyone knows how long you've been trying something or that you're putting yourself on the line to see if it's possible and yeah just sharing that moment with some of your best friends is is what we live for yeah so you've been touring with them now for like 12 years then right about right yeah crazy so uh how many shows do you have a year it kind of depends on the Year this year's been a little light we had one show in Costa Rica but it just got announced we got a show next month with Harley-Davidson filming um for their 100-year anniversary which is going to be really fun that's in Milwaukee we got a tour coming up in Colombia and then it sounds like a US tour here at the end of the year too okay um but on average we probably do anywhere from I would say 30 to 50 shows a year so yeah keep pretty busy that's a lot for for 12 years yeah um so you you were in California uh at 17 did you meet there by yourself yep yeah it was a boarding school at the camp yeah thankfully the parents supported that and uh sent me out there and what did you do after that so you have a job uh touring with Nitro Circus um are you living out there by yourself yeah I stayed out there in between tours at that point we were touring quite a bit um between Australia New Zealand Europe and then in between I had worked out a deal with Woodward that they let me kind of stay there and hang out in the Summers like I said it's a action sports camp so which was really fun I'd get to skate with all the kids through throughout the summer and get to hang out there and it was amazing yeah so uh you know 18 192 what are what are you doing you're you have kind of a routine like what are your goals within you know at that time for yourself yeah the goals at that time were just to really have as much fun as possible we're traveling all over the world we lived in Australia for like 3 months and so I was just hungry to keep skating keep progressing with Nitro I mean I continued to learn new tricks and push the limits in that that was really kind of mainly what the goals were around was just being in the moment and um and taking that all in and so for like the the pro skateboarding circuit what the what have you done within that yeah so within the pro skating circuit like competing in X Games um different stuff like that uh Nitro had a contest as well called world games did a couple of the Olympic qualifying events and um that's the thing that's interesting with skateboarding there's so many different disciplines and I was kind of really specializing in the mega ramp but unfortunately there haven't been that many events around that so I tried to adapt my skating to the park style for the Olympic stuff and um that's a whole Beast Within itself and and I realized I just wasn't as committed to the competitive side as I was to The Innovation side right with Nitro it's like what has never been done before rather than be the best in the arena that's already built yeah what outside of the box that has never been built can we build to see if that works and and that just kind of Drew me a little bit it just kind of opened up a new door within myself that I felt felt called to um and yeah I mean skateboarding is so cool because there's just Endless Possibilities with it yeah you get to trailblaze exactly what's uh what tricks are you working on right now that haven't been done I mean right now um I haven't really I kind of let rest be be a priority because I just did one of the biggest ones I was chasing for shoot over well over 10 years from the time first time I ever threw it into a foam pit to Landing last year on the Nitro tour I ended up Landing the first ever double back flip on a skateboard double backflip wa had never been done so and you worked on that for for 10 years over 10 years yeah so when did you know that you could actually pull it off possibly once the ramps got better I see yeah that's kind of the thing with Innovation and everything too it's like can it be done the hardest part honestly was really just slowing down the rotation enough to land because it's easy to get the rotation around but how do you stop yourself from continuing to keep flipping you know skateboard you don't have handlebars you don't have brakes a lot of the BMX guys they'll do a double flip and then they'll tag The Brak so that they don't don't Loop out um but skating it was like one of the things that shifted with the ramps was rather than going like 50 feet in distance we shortened the Gap but made the height in the trajectory higher so rather than going 50 ft this way I was going about 253 ft up and about 20t in distance and so that was really I mean the mechanics that helped make that trick possible yeah I mean when when you're you're doing that for the first time yeah I mean there's got to be some fear in there right like the the crash could be bad oh yeah absolutely and I've had every crash imaginable on that thing and um I mean yeah the determination just to continue persevering I mean Tony Hawk with his 900 took him over 10 years to do that as well and it's just one of those things like it's cool to experience that as much as I would have loved to have gotten it a lot sooner it's like it makes you appreciate and what builds within allowing the process of time right it it just builds some sort of resilience that like I think is attractive and what we need is like is it possible there's again one way to find out are you willing to go through it are you willing to endure it especially I think our culture is so I want it all I want it now I call it the microwave mentality but to have the discipline to keep going land on your face land on your back get wrecked for 10 years before you ever land it it's it's wild but I think it makes you appr appreciate it that much more yeah well you know with culture the way it is as you're saying the the microwave mentality um you know what made you different what made you say hey that's not going to be the road that I go on I think just not wanting to give up I I truly believe that all things are possible like if you can see something in your mind if you have a vision for it you can achieve it in your life but it takes time and no one knows how long or short that's going to be and you've got to be willing to because I believe because I trust this is possible I'm going to work as if it's so I'm going to show up as if it's so and I think that's really what kind of separated me same thing like growing up as a a kid in a small town in Knoxville you know with that big dream I didn't want to just show up at the skate park just like all my friends did I wanted to show up with I believe I can be a pro skater one day I'm going to show up with passion I'm going to show up with purpose I'm gonna while you guys are going you know to get a drink or go chill and we're at the skate park for 5 hours I'm going to skate for all those 5 hours and uh you know it it pays off over time yeah absolutely did you uh you said you have a brother do you have any other siblings uh just an older brother he old is he a skater as well no he's actually a aerospace engineer oh cool so yeah totally different path it is a little different yeah yeah yeah skateboard in space maybe yeah I know yeah maybe one day we'll collaborate together you never know first time um yeah cuz you know culture is really teaching we talk a lot about culture on the on the podcast you know it it really is to me teaches a a victim mentality right now so be a victim to your circumstances rather than seeing circumstances as an opportunity to grow and get better yeah um I'm sure you know over those 10 years as you're practicing that double backflip uh you know it would have been easy to say oh I'm never going to be able to do this yeah you know um after the second year or fifth year or seventh year heck maybe even the the ninth year right you're like you know been completely reasonable to say I'm not going to ever pull this off right but uh you know the idea that no you know I can I'm not going to quit and give up yeah I'm going to kind of you know go above the the adversity of of those obstacles um you know it's it's it's something people can learn from yeah because a lot of people fail most people fail because they give up too soon 100% yeah where do you think that you you got that mentality though was it your parents was it just something that in you as a child I think it was just yeah same thing like as a kid my parents always believed and supported what I did however I mean I know they had a lot of kind of adverse parents like why are you letting your son go to California why are you letting your son skateboard is there really anything and I think I'd just proven track record like okay I was able to moveed to California I was able to get on Nitro Circus I kind of stacked up and utilized the things that I had done in the past to really kind of encouraged me like man just don't give up on this thing something's there and I'd set that trick aside for a time or two as well and I was joke I was like man I've gone up those set of stairs with every emotion Under the Sun I've gone up there like so motivated so confident this is the one hyped up let's go I've walked up there like crying I've walked up there like so frustrated like if this one doesn't happen you know I I've gone up the stairs with that mentality and if it's it's kind of like I think that was part of the process I needed to learn in that too was like every sphere of it what's going to happen and then also letting it go like realizing it wasn't going to make or break who I was as a person either too I think sometimes we can have our goal and it's on this pedestal right like oh I will be happy when I'll achieve success when but it's really like man just being grateful for where you're at and again I I kind of took the whatever pedestal I had the trick on is like you know what it is going to be awesome but it's not going to be my everything and that shifted as well and I think was something important too um to just really keep myself motivated to go after it but for a different reason I think and that helped as well yeah I think uh you know what you just said like being grateful yeah that's another thing is is that I think that you know in ways jealousy and envy or uh you know a feeling of just entitlement yeah really hurts people being successful as well but if you can go into it I mean cuz you got a lot to be grateful for I mean you've worked your butt off to get to where you are you're living your dream you know you get to go and skate every day which is you know one of the things that you love the most yeah um but you know I think a lot of times in the microwave mentality uh you know we lose track of that we almost have it so good that a lot of people don't look at it as a uh something to be great ful for when we you know we have it good like that mentality where did you have you always been a positive person and and you know looked at things from a a gratitude standpoint I think so yeah I mean from a young age I've just always I just felt like Life's a gift I think it's a beautiful opportunity to create whatever you want out of it and like that in itself there's always something to be grateful for I always say feel great by being grateful like a lot of people aren't feeling great I'm like start being grateful and then you'll realize like it's just one of those laws of nature that is there for us like life is happening for you not to you and if you can really dive in find things to be appreciative of you're going to have more of that in your life there's going to be more to be grateful for and overall you're going to enjoy your experience more yeah I think life is just it's not a means to get by it's an opportunity to thrive and enjoy it best thing we can do is enjoy our life and and skateboarding like you said that that's a gift that I get to skateboard every day and I've just chosen to continue to appreciate that gift I believe when you take a gift when you treat a gift with complacency you remove its value there's no value in it take whatever gift it is right like my wife if I treat her with complacency then she's not going to feel valued I'm not going to appreciate her as much our marriage isn't going to be that much fun but she's a gift right she is a gift to me if I treat her as that gift if I cherish her as that gift our relationship is going to be more beautiful think of it like when you're a kid and you get a gift for Christmas you're so amped on that gift because it's new it's fresh over time you forget what gift you even got come summertime but again if you can appreciate it and it takes time it takes in intentionality to appreciate those gifts but when you do it makes them more beautiful and and you enjoy that experience even more yeah that's that's awesome yeah I I can imagine too growing up you have your heroes in the sport yeah you know now you're you're a hero to a lot of these kids too they're looking at you the same way but you know what was it like or what is it like being able to to where all your Heroes now know you yeah and they're your friends yeah and uh getting to kind of live out that dream what does that what does that feel like it's honestly it's I don't even know if I have the words to convey it because I was playing my heroes in a video game yeah Tony Hawk Pro Skater I was playing these guys I was at an event last weekend in Salt Lake City Tony Hawk vert alert and Tony is commentating on my runs and it was just so cool I was actually watching the tape back last night of the contest and just hearing the things Tony was speaking about me and it was just like cool it it's so cool because I was that kid you know I was that kid from that small town wanting this dream and now I'm living it and that's why I just have a passion to go and do a lot of different Outreach to the youth and stuff because I'm like all things are possible if it's worked in my life it can work in yours whatever it is you're passionate about trust that there is a plan and a purpose for your life and then work like it so and and you'll never know what doors are going to open up for you and and skateboarding is so cool because it is such a tight-knit community to where we are able to meet our favorite Heroes our people that pave the way but it's just so cool that they're one still skating but also putting on events for us to continue to have a platform and a place to do what we love when you were in the uh Olympic Training uh center with Shawn White too what was that like it was really cool sea is amazing and just learning so much from that mentality of what it takes to be a champion and and the way he would show up it was it was powerful it was crazy it's like one of those guys like you see on TV you know but then you like get into their world and just see what they're all about and had so many awesome sessions with him and just hanging out but kind of was cool it was in a transitional phase for his life too because he was like am I going to go all in for the skating or am I going to get another one in snowboarding and he obviously he chose to go for the snowboarding um but just getting to understand that Dynamic too of like making decisions committing to them and and building a part of the process yeah what did you learn from sea White's uh mentality I just learned it's it's kind of that never give up that same thing of just like show up do the hard things so much that they become easy and that's kind of like the approach that I've taken now as I'm getting back more into the competitive like at Tony Hawks event was the contest the vert the halfpipe it's like get your hard tricks down to where they become easy and um that's what he all about that was kind of his secret weapon was just forcing himself whether he felt like it or not right it's like some days oh I'm not feeling it well Champions don't decide based on how they feel it's by what they choose and and he showed up with that I learned that from him for sure that's awesome do the hard things until they come easy that's a that's a that's a great quote right there yeah um how about injuries so you know obviously skateboarding uh there's a ton of injuries it's really rough on on the body oh it's brutal morning man I got smoked this morning skating a handrail downtown I ripped my hand back open from a crash a couple weeks ago it's great I love it well what's the what's the worst injury you've got the worst injury was definitely I blew out my knee did my ACL ripped the meniscus off the bone actually which I didn't even know you could do till they told me it was funny cuz I didn't even realize what had happened um it and it wasn't anything crazy like I've taken some gnarly hits and the one that did my knee was I would just didn't feel right so I kicked my board out and went to run and my knee just buckled fully gave out I didn't even realize what had happened there wasn't that much pain initially either it was just it wasn't working so I tried to stand up tried to walk out of the bowl but it just kept crumbling and I'm like all right something ain't right here what's going on here so um but kind of took like a week tried to get the swelling down it wasn't going down tried to move it and had no idea and then ended up getting the MRI the crazy thing was this was the day before our first Nitro tour in Australia so we were just get back into a big tour and it happened right then so no tour for me I had to fly home and Doc was like yeah you did an amazing job on this KN so yeah that set me off my board for about five to six months total um you had surgery on your uh ACL and Miss miniscus yeah full reconstruction ACL MCL meniscus and yeah that was a brutal Road dude when I tore my KN LCL PCL miniscus uh it hurt really bad when it happened but I was actually in the ring and I didn't was like ah just give me like walked it off yeah and yeah kept training and then it hurt bad but I was like there's no way it's that bad I wouldn't be able to even walk yeah and then sure enough I went in the doctor got the MRI and they're like yeah you completely blew your knee yeah and uh your stomach just drops in that moment huh I know man you're just like no way yeah you don't want to believe it you don't and uh you know yeah the life stops for a moment and you got got to take in and then you especially if you're you know competitive yeah you realize you've got to stop your training and you there's you know I was talking to do you know uh Dominick Cruz the MMA fighter yeah she's in San Diego actually but um Dom's one of my best friends and you know he lost the title uh the first time not because he lost it in a fight but because of injuries oh and he had six surgeries I believe it was on his knees in three years and so um and then he came back and he won the title again which is wild but um he would talk about that you know as a as a fighter that his whole life was so wrapped up in just fighting and training that when he didn't have that he was going into like uh you know deep depression and it was really difficult did did you experience any of that when you had your six months off for sure I mean you come out of the surgery I couldn't even lift my leg off the table and all these dark heavy thoughts come in like I'm a I'm a pro skateboarder this is what I do this is who I am right that's your identity is in it and you're like am I ever going to be able to one walk again am I ever going to be able to skate again am I ever going to be able to skate the same again and it's just again it's kind of comes back to that belief like what are you going to choose to believe because some people they'll let that be a career-ending injury and some people will rise up and and I just chose to all right I'm gonna heal this thing we're gonna figure out how to get over this and and it really opened up just new a new awareness in my head like it always tried to be pretty decently healthy in what I ate and consumed and things like that but at a higher level I'm like all right I want to see how we can heal this thing and so I know we talked a little bit about your opioid situation and so that was one of the things going in I was like all right no pain block no nerve block on the thing and the doc was like really I'm like just Shred the prescription because I want nothing to do with it because I'm like my body knows if there's pain it needs to heal like our body's smarter than we think it is cut knows blood cut um so same thing when something's torn or messed up you get the surgery all right now it's time for the body to heal itself and so um yeah just chose to endure whatever pain would happen as much as it sucked for those first couple weeks it was like I think that helped my recovery time massively because I wasn't delaying it right and looking for that later and um and then also just got connected with was um I I stayed with one of the guys that did Medical on our tour and he was in Thousand Oaks they had an incredible it was amazing like when he wasn't working on me someone was working on me so I would go there for like eight hours a day and they just had the technology and then also got connected with the guys that um started bulletproof uh upgrade labs in Santa Monica I literally showed up there in an Uber on crutches and I'm like hey I heard your modalities like red light therapy PF these do something I I just did my kn you guys want to see if it'll work and we worked out a trade deal that they were like yeah come in basically every day and sit on the machines go in the red light bed and um it's crazy and so just opening myself up to that world of Health Nutrition and and just kind of the biohacking world um was amazing and I learned so much that it was like as much as that injury sucked I wouldn't trade it because of the people I met the things I got to experience and and yeah it's just continued I think to help me have longevity in my career now yeah it's cool that you're doing some of the biohacking stuff um I've got a five and a half foot Red Light Panel oh awesome that that rolls over the bed it's about two2 ft wide so it's full body I've got one here and uh in Mexico amazing uh we've got three uh pmf 120s oh wow um so the you know the probably the one or a similar one that that you were using yeah um pmfs do incredible for pain did you have I mean it's just like uh for some of our cancer patients uh that have like let's say they with a tin pain it doesn't work the same for everybody but a lot of people we can get on that machine and it'll bring it down to like a two within 15 or 20 minutes those things are amazing yeah what was your yeah what was your experience like the did did uh was your knee aching when you first started using it did you experience like the pain relief instantly um pretty quickly yeah I mean I had a really traumatic incident so like the all the trauma from the surgery I noticed big time the swelling went way down way faster than they expected the scars from the red light that healed up the scars like you almost can't even notice them anymore which is crazy like we went on for like I think it was the three Monon checkup with the doctor and he's like I don't know what you've been doing but whatever it is it's working for you awes you know how doctors are they're so stuck in their 20 years ago whenever they went to school mentality so it's like all this technolog is coming out and so that's where I was like okay it's not by the book but maybe we ride a new one that's right the red light's incredible yeah I mean I I love red light um I kind of got on to it it was over covid okay my business partner Scotty uh we bought one of those uh fat freezers those things that can freeze your fat you know oh yeah yeah yeah and so we bought one and he had some kind of love handles a Scotty's a wild dude so he kept it on one side like twice as long as it was supposed to be well he ended up getting um uh oh gosh what is it called when your um skin dyes uh from cold he had getting frostbite on his love handle and he kept it was kind of funny because he kept uh he did one side longer than the other uh and so he had like no level handle on one side so he was trying to get caught up on the other side because he wanted to see if it worked it's pretty funny uh but so he gets this frostbite and it was bad we're like dude you you know might need to really get this checked out and so somebody gave us a red light panel and 30 minutes after the first red light session it looked better than he started 30 minutes ago we could tell it difference no way and dude he just stayed on that red light he had it healed up in like a month seriously yeah you could just tell like every time he would use it aming yeah frostbite he like rotting skin man it's like it was it was awful um and uh so that's kind of what got us you know onto the red light we read about it and now you can I mean there's a lot of great studies you know on its effects for sure but uh yeah I mean I kind of like I said I got the panel over there in the in the uh pool house and I have one in in me meico and it's great for sunburns too if you ever get a sunburn go into a red light really and it'll you know drastically drop that sunburn interesting that's amazing yeah so are you still still using it yeah I have like a pad at home pmf red light pad and then yeah the other ones are sauna and ice bath those are the best but do you like the uh dry sauna or infrared dry dry yeah me too D way better we're building one uh part of the uh renovation at the house um it's going to have a a steam room yeah but I'm also getting a it's a dry sauna infrared sauna combo we're going to build it like uh you know original it's got Himalayan salt on the walls and I've got a 5 foot Red Red Light Panel in there as well so my idea is you're getting all I can sit and get the infrared I can get the dry I can get the red light and get the Himalayan salt walls that's aming it's going to be like a 4 in one or whatever let's go but um yeah I'm totally uh into all that stuff too man it's like it's incredible it is yeah it is and people you ever do like NAD IVs I haven't done that no you got to try NAD okay if you want to come down to Mexico will drive you down and they're pretty expensive in the US they're probably between $500 to $1,000 in IV okay and uh we make it in our lab so it's all uh it's all fresh oh wow and um it's uh it's really good for ATP you know the energy in your c um it resets your circadium Rhythm sleep so it's just fresh you'll go to bed a little earlier but you'll wake up earlier too and you know it's it'll light you up so that's amazing have you heard of NAD I haven't no oh man yeah so we'll get you on some NAD and uh yeah I mean because we're right there dude I know you can just come down and uh we we'll take care of you and you know kind of get you all set up sounds amazing yeah I love that whole work especially I think too we're talking just about culture a little bit like the health of our culture the mental health little things like that go a long way too like SAA ice like I think Expos yourself to those stressful environments we're very like I mean talk about entitlement but also we're just so coddled in our world yeah you know they made our latte wrong like that's that entitlement right like what they put the wrong milk in it's like I think that goes a long way for why we're having so many issues culturally too and that it's like just putting yourself exposing like sauna ice bath it's like yeah you got to do the work you got to endure the heat no one enjoys it in the moment it's like no but you push through it no one enjoys just going into the ice like you kind of start to Crave it after a while but initially it's like man you got to sit in here and endure but like little again little winds like that stacking those Winds of pushing yourself making a commitment right commitments they're not convenient but when you honor a commitment builds trust within yourself so it's like you can do those little things that are difficult it'll help you in in whatever way and just I think give you that mental stability that a lot of people are searching for well Society is really raising kind of weak people yeah and like you said coddle that's exactly what's is that every yeah just I think it is by Design unfor everybody gets a trophy you know it's like I dude I would have never wanted a trophy if I didn't win something yeah what like yeah yeah you know everybody doesn't get a trophy and and life isn't fair that's that's kind of the fun part about it it's not fair so we get to create our own uh you know success um and you know I was reading a study the other day it said 49% of kids uh in school have a mental illness oh my goodness and if you think about that there's no way it's that High I mean they're over diagnosing over medicating it's like take a pill for this yeah exactly they don't want kids or people to actually have to deal with life and overcome those adversities so we're we're we're being coddled and weak 100% And I mean as a kid too it's like thankfully my parents never took me a doctor to get ADHD pills but it's like once I got like I said in my senior high school to Woodward and I'm only doing school work for 2 hours a day and I'm skating for eight shifted everything right it's like yeah young men kids teenagers boys are going to have some testosterone they can't be locked in a chair for eight hours a day and expecting to use their brain in that way it's like we got to use our brain in the creative way of skateboarding okay I want to learn a new trick I'm going to put my time and focus that energy there it's actually really healthy for me whether the Specialists professionals or whatever think so or not tell me I need to be in a classroom it was like once that door opened it it like I said that's what developed self-discipline at a higher frequency in my personal life and and again I think when you're trying to everyone learns different when you're trying to teach you know thousands of kids the exact same way it's just not the way to do it like you've got to everyone's unique everyone's different how are they going to thrive I chose a skateboard other people choose fighting other people choose you know Endurance Sports everyone chooses something different Arts creativity music is it you're choosing and then put that discipline in yeah no that's that's what it is and you just think like both of us probably could have been I give the air quotes put on Aderall exactly in school and especially with how I mean it seems like they just want to give it to all the kids now yeah you know he's got there there are some kids I'm not saying that you know it's bad across the board but uh I think it's pretty undeniable that it's uh you know it's it's definitely overprescribed and let's look at something else first let's get the kid outside for a few hours let's get him running let's get him uncomfortable and and then we'll see yeah yeah I mean so you had problem sitting through eight hours of school too oh yeah bro it was so bad so bad I mean just like you're sitting there and you've got a and you can't even talk no I know yeah you got all this energy and you're just trying to suppress it and it's like yeah I mean no wonder people have mental illness at that point you're like not able to do what you need to yeah well and you think too like talking about coddling people so is it by Design well when you lock kids up for 8 to 10 hours for for school and you tell them that they are oppressed or marginalized or have a disadvantage yeah and you allow them to then feel sorry for themselves and their perceived situation um you know it's it's no wonder and then you know and I'm all for therapy and those type of things I I to a point but then you tell them to talk about all the bad things and let's keep repeating all these things that are going on with me you're creating these you know very unhappy unhealthy yeah people yeah I mean it's it's it's pretty wild it's like it's almost like they want people to be they do failur for sure and uh I have a pastor friend that says it like this you n it curse it and rehearse it that's what they do they're nursing the situation then they're cursing it because they're repeating it and saying oh I am I am I am and then that's just going to be your reality that you keep rehearsing day in and day out these kids are depressed that's a good way to good way to put it and so you're a Christian as well yes sir absolutely so um how how did uh like how has that worked within the skateboarding Community have you been a Christian your whole life I grew up in a Christian Home grew up Southern Baptist good old boy but it's funny because I always talk about like two and part of sharing my faith it's like that was kind of the the church situation I had an incredible parents like my dad always had the Bible on his desk and and would be in the word and then my mom would pray with us before dinner before bed kind of thing so got instilled those values and then when it came to the church setting though I really didn't like the hyp hypocrisy I saw just because I mean I'm the reason there's still to this day a no skateboarding sign at the church and I'm like this is what I want to do like you're blocking people from coming here a lot of my friends stopped coming to church because they're told they can't skate And getting yelled at by the old people you know that are just again kind of outdated in the religious ways of it when it's like you know and that's what I truly like to dispel as well it's like people always say oh you're religious and I'm like I had conversation with someone not too long ago and they're like oh but you're religious and I'm like no I just I have a relationship with God and then they said oh but you're practicing and I'm like well I'm in a marriage with my wife I'm not practicing marriage right I have a Rel reltionship with my wife same thing with God I have a relationship with God I have have encounters with him I pray to him it's like you know I I seek him as my heavenly father and and that just changes the game it's not about doing the right thing and that's what I saw a lot growing up was people would go there say the right things or whatever but then throughout the week they're living totally different and that kind of turned me off to that style of it thankfully it didn't turn me away from God cuz I was reading the Bible for myself and God has a plan to prosper you not to harm you to give you a hope in a future to do more than you could ask or imagine and I'm like man if I really believe God has a plan for me with my skating then I've got to trust it I got to go and that's one of the biggest prayers when I was moving to California I was terrified to leave everything that was comfortable and that's kind of when it shifted from just maybe living on my parents Faith um to my own like all right God I need to do life with you I need to have that relationship with you and started believing started praying and just really developing and building that relationship uh with God for myself and and you know some days you're you have a great relationship some days you don't but ultimately he's always there and seeking you when you turn back to him and um it's kept me grounded it's kept me passionate and and really keeps me going a lot of people like even at this last event like whether they believe or not I think at first it came off like kind of oh he's just one of those Christians and you kind of get put in a box but it's like over time you see who's the person there that's showing up and and and more so than anything it's like I don't want to prach anything I'm not personally practicing I'm not trying to yell at people and tell them they need to believe this or that it's like I'm there to love on people to encourage people to build people up that's what I feel you know Jesus calls us to be the salt and to be the light and that's what I feel I'm called to do in my industry of influence in skateboarding I'm there to be the salt I'm there to pull out the flavor right you put salt on a steak it's pulling flavor out of that thing to where it tastes so good your mouth is watering so what are those experiences that I can come into and bring more flavor out of just by showing up my presence being there as a Believer and same to be the light people are oppressed people are depressed they are walking in darkness and if I can bring just a word of encouragement to be the light or help pull them out of that Darkness that's what I'm there to do and so it's been cool to see that transition and people respect it again whether they believe it or not they respect it and that's that's what matters how how often uh do you pray um all the time all the time yeah absolutely yeah me too man yeah it's uh it's interesting because so I was raised Church of Christ okay A little little different than S Baptist but not not that much yeah and uh kind of strict and you know I kind of moved away from my faith in my 20s okay uh got say further from God but uh you know as as my 30s hit now I'm I'll be 43 next month uh you the last couple years actually Co was a a turning point too because yeah it it was pretty obvious to me that a bunch of was going on and we weren't being told the truth and it it was really I mean and I think this is why you're seeing more and more people kind of talk about God and not be afraid to talk about Christianity yeah is because it's obvious there's good versus evil right now 100% I mean we know it's evil man we just we just know it now someone doesn't have to be religious or uh believe in Jesus to uh to see that right and they're like huh and so you know and as you start kind of digging in yeah you see a lot of this stuff uh was talked about in the Bible yeah um and we're seeing a lot of these things and and people could say well throughout history they've always thought this was the time blah blah blah but I mean that aside there's a lot of evil yeah out there right now and we're calling evil good as a culture that's right man and we're calling evil good um and and they're trying to convince us that us calling the E the evil evil we're actually the the evil ones we're the evil ones yeah you're you're just trying to you know put people down or you have Hate in Your Heart you're like no I don't judge I'm not going to judge that person at all but I don't have to agree with what they're what they're doing and I for instance I mean I don't think that men can get pregnant I think it's pretty obvious men can't get pregnant biologically right but they try to suggest that somehow I hate trans people because of this like no I I don't I'm just stay a fact right biological fact biological fact um yeah have you seen that the entire time you've been you know a Christian or you seing it more and more now the the good versus evil um I think I'm seeing it more now I think like you said Co woke a lot of people up and I think what it did more than anything which is beautiful it weeded out those who say they believe from those who actually do and you had to put your faith in something real because you'd see people that were like just obeying whatever they were told and you're like wait but don't you believe believe in in the higher power in God in in his truth in his word and and you're settling to the patterns of the world right and it's like I love that verse don't conform to the patterns of the world be transformed by the renewing of your mind and that you're asking how much I pray that's every day because man I need a renew mind you know if we're living in this world I don't want to be conformed to the patterns of it Conformity and this is what they're doing Conformity will isolate you but transformation will liberate you true transformation from the inside out and again that's what's so different about Christianity from other religions it doesn't say oh put on this suit and now you're accepted into the kingdom it says hey no let's change your heart you have a broken heart let's heal that thing up and because you believe it changes how you behave where every other religion they want to change the behavior to show that you believe it's like no let's get you believing in good in faith in truth in hope in love and that's going to change how you behave and that's what's really shifted it in my own personal life um through my journey you know following Jesus and and experiencing that um but yeah I think that Conformity that you're seeing people just bow to people are more isolated than ever from that Conformity but those that are awake and believing and passionate about their life that are transformed by A Renewed mind of what's going on being able to see that good and evil I think yeah Co heightened that massively just because of the oppression they were trying to do and all the other things too it wasn't even just Co there's just so much that's been going on that you're like like there's a different authority over this it's it's it's not just you know the physical there's some demonic stuff Happ oppression happening and and you're seeing people just you know take that pill left and right and it's at their detriment because those people unfortunately that are calling you so oppressive for the way you think right they don't have any contentment in their heart no and that's what's really harsh they want you to agree with everything they say if you disagree with one little thing it's like you're out yeah you get you get put put in this box as a you know homophobe or transphobe or yeah and it's like you and we saw it actually throughout cuz you know for black lives matters came along and if and of course I support black people in like it's like it's ridiculous to think that that we wouldn't but if you don't support black lives matters because you've looked into the organization realize it's a communist organization then somehow you're a racist it's like either or if you don't think that biolog men should play in female sports yeah you're a transphobe if you don't think I mean it's it's wild and it's not true but that's where it really is um you know good versus evil we can see it every single day and there is this you know even in politics man and you know you can see you know they're pushing an evil agenda yeah and they're wanting you to believe that you're the evil one and anyone that doesn't agree with them is the evil one and that's that's where it is it's by designed yeah you know what was that um Warren what was the uh fashion company that I yeah so oh yeah did you hear about the Balenciaga thing with the uh pictures of the children and the yeah my wife was showing me some of that talking about that yeah so I launched that okay it went viral I screenshotted a bunch of pictures and uh of their Executives Instagram page like torturing kids like it's art it's you know um and then showing that uh you know they they basically had a ruling about pornography from the Supreme Court in a picture uh promoting um Balenciaga but with children so that it's this documents on the table oh and um it went super super viral and uh I got I got death threats and all sorts of things but you know that is good versus evil yeah you I prayed about it a lot like hey God I'm going up against Satan right now please protect me and it was kind of scary I'm not going to lie but I can imagine I mean you got to like you know if we have a chance to expose the evil especially towards children I think it's our job to do that 100% absolutely God bless you for doing that man that's incredible seriously and it's at the end of the day you're like it's you know it's worth it absolutely absolutely and yeah I mean the sexualization of children right now just yeah do you have any kids I have yeah a son 14-month old okay so you got a you got a a new kid and you know teaching our children you know how to stand up for what's right even when the mob might come after you right I think it's our duty 100% absolutely what are like you know what are your thoughts about raising a a child right now in the the way kind of society is um in the way a society is I just I feel called we actually named him Oliver Knox and uh his name actually has more of a prophetic meaning than I even realized Knox from obviously Knoxville Tennessee always love the name Oliver but if you look at Oliver it means the Olive Branch bringer of peace and then Knox is like of the mountains and is kind of like one of those people that would sit at the top of the mountain and watch and protect and so you know peace from protection and and I feel called just to one lead by example I think again the generation my parents did amazing with what they did and the only thing that I wish maybe I had more of was just time with my dad you know and um we see each other still now and then like thankfully parents are still together they're still half healthy and happy but I just realized with my son the thing I can do most is lead by example but bring him along for the ride so I made that conscious decision I think the first two weeks he was born I had um we were doing a shoot for Nitro Circus and I was like well all right gab get in the car little men let's go and and you just bring them along and I want to do that as much as possible I try and bring them traveling as much as possible and and again just leading by example showing vulnerability through I don't have it all figured out I'm not a perfect dad and I had that Revelation in prayer I don't need to be a perfect Dad I just need to be a present dad and really be present with my son with my family and um and eventually that's going to you know the values that I have I I believe that the values that we carry are just so powerful and really knowing what those core values are I want to be a man of faith I want to be man of hope I want to be a faithful man I want to be an honest man I want to be a man of integrity of discipline because what I realized in my personal life and this translates into how I want to raise my son it's like what I do is going to change on a daily basis some days I skate some days I speak every day I'm a husband every day I'm a father but who I am will influence how I skate who I am will influence how I am in my marriage it'll influence how I carry a conversation it'll encourage you know when I'm speaking to students at schools it'll it'll show up in how I speak who I am will not what I do and again to that identity Point everyone puts their identity and what they do but that's going to be a short window and it's not long so really decide who it is that you want to become and that'll influence everything that you're doing CU who wouldn't want to be honest in their job disciplined in their job disciplined in their marriage it it just shifts that whole culture and I think that's what's going to make a shift in our culture is once we have these ideas of who we truly are what that identity is and again I look at the Bible who's God calling me to be time and time again it says Be Strong be courageous he wouldn't be telling us to be strong and courageous if there was nothing scary that we're looking at in our life but he's reminding you over and over be strong be courageous what is strength look like well strength means being honest it means telling the truth all right I need to be strong all right what does courage look like it means going in the face of adversity not knowing for 10 years if that Trick's going to work or not be courageous to give it another go and again that's how I want to lead by example and just pursue the passions in my life so I can show him hey little man it was not easy but look at this beautiful Journey yeah you know one of the things with Christian I think Christianity that I think is kind of under underappreciated is at least for me the relief of being able to pray and just trust God's going to do whatever he really wants yeah it to me it takes a lot of stress out of a lot of these heavier things do you experience that absolutely yeah you kind of relieves it and it's like a lot of people are hanging on and they don't know where to go and it's like yeah prayer is so powerful because man at the end of the day it's like yeah I'm believing for this God but once you get to that point of I trust whatever you have is going to be better and you and you just release into that trust and again it's not a passive trust either though I think a lot of people oh I'm just trust in the Lord but you're eating McDonald's you're trusting the Lord to heal your health but you're eating McDonald's you're drinking diet coke okay it's like no God because I trust in you I'm going to go eat a nutrient-dense meal you know I'm not going to drink a sugar drink I'm going to drink you know water and and I think that's where again we've got to align that Faith with our works and and actions yeah absolutely um you got married a few years ago right yep so how did you meet your how did you meet your wife that's a crazy story um and and again I just got to bring it back to God because God's so good it was kind of spoken over me that the Lord is going to bring you your wife I didn't really know what that meant um but again one of the things I felt in a time of prayer was God was asking me all right you're believing me for your wife but are you who do you want to be as a husband I felt that gut check oh who do I want to be as a husband what do you mean I want I want this I had my list right I'm praying for my list of wife and then I was like okay well I guess it's on me to become the man I need to be to meet her and again it's like the Law of Attraction everyone says it's really just reaping and sewing you know if I sew the man I need to be I'm going to reap the Harvest of the woman of my dreams and so just started sewing into that building that faithfulness you know building that Honesty more Integrity in my life and then ended up it was during covid so I'm not traveling like I normally do and usually I'm traveling more than I'm home so it was hard to date at that time in season um so I had no choice but to be there um moved into the house and it had a back property and had no idea I had a neighbor so there's all these fruit trees in the backyard and I just walk out one day to grab an orange and see her under the avocado tree oh take taking the wax off her surfboard and she's just like howdy neighbor and again I'm like what I have a neighbor and she's like good to meet you and I we we joke and say we had love at first conversation cuz she said in that first conversation everything happen I just believe everything happens for a reason you're in my life for a reason I just don't know why yet and then I think a few years later now we know why she was there that's awesome so uh she's a surfer yeah yeah yeah so did she know about you before you started uh that's that's the crazy thing so she's actually cousins with Lindsay who's Travis's wife oh okay so in the Nitro world but somehow our paths never crossed wow that's awesome Yep and so that was what what year did you you meet her 2020 okay and then you got married April 2020 we got married uh 2021 September yep that's awesome man yeah that's awesome yeah it's it's uh funny how things kind of work out like that you walk out the back door and you know there your wife is who you've been praying about praying and believing for yeah it's crazy it's amazing now you you also have a skateboard company yeah um tell me about the skateboard company yeah so Reliance skateboards that's the brand that I'm riding for we're partnered up all our boards are made in the US which is awesome too um just believe in that as much as we can build our own economy rather than others but um whole another combo there yeah that company actually started in 2003 and I was riding for him and then um the opportunity came in 16 to kind of partner and and buy into the company and so it's been it's been rad and kind of that's just the mission of the brand is to be the light in the industry you know the skate industry there's a lot of I mean your graphic on your skateboard says a lot about the person right and so for me as a Believer one of my favorite Graphics I have is the lighthouse it's got the cross in it and it's just like a storm all around it but the light's always going to shine no matter what Storms Come and so again it's not just to kind of Bible bump you but it's just to like this is what I believe this is who I am and you know we got one with a lion on it which is awesome and again just the lion shows strength it shows courage and so how can we influence through our products and Graphics yeah how's the company kind of grown since you've been a part of it it's been awesome just seeing it grow and kind of one of the things that we have as well is like an ambassadorship program so where we're able to kind of give one of the cool things is like we have a guy in Texas who runs a skate night every week and he's bringing pizza to the park and we basically have a deal with him where he gets the boards at cost and whatever proceeds he makes goes back into sewing into drinks and food so he can go be a blessing at his skate park and do a Bible study with the kids and so that's kind of been a really cool thing that we helped launch and then we also have a campaign boards Beyond borders where we'll take certain times of the year we'll take a portion portion of the percentages and get them back into product so we're you know taking boards down to Nicaragua Costa Rica and all over and just blessing kids oh that's awesome so you've gotten to travel a lot obviously with with the Nitro Circus and now yeah and and so do you take kind of of your uh you take your skateboard kind of company or uh stuff along with you to pass out flyers and stuff is that always yeah we've always got stuff going on I'm actually heading to Big Sky Montana tomorrow for it's go skateboarding day for an event and so yeah we got a whole bunch of gear we're going to stoke out the community and do a little demo and I love that stuff like as cool as it is to be like we did Bridgestone Arena a few years ago with Nitro and be in these big arena venues I love again just meeting people where they are going to the local parks cuz I was at that I was that kid at the local park and I remember Tony Hawk came to Knoxville skate park and and just what an impact that left on me getting to skate with him see him skate what I got to skate every day and I try and do that as much as I can on tour so as cool as the big arena moments are it's like those moments are just just as cool yeah it's awesome um what uh what are some of your goals in the future because you think about you know from 18 to 30 yeah in skateboarding you've accomplished as as much as you know just about any can yeah I mean you're at the top uh of the industry you've met all your Heroes they respect you your friends with them um you know you got a great family now you know what are the next 10e goals for you yeah the next goals are I I really feel just that drive of um I want to squeeze as much juice as I can out of this body while it's in its prime in its peak of competitive skateboarding so trying to hit as many competitions as I can continue to push the limits with Nitro I have definitely a couple of new skateboarding goals like never been DS or world records that I want to achieve so just kind of looking for the right Partnerships to come in to help fund all those projects and and make them possible and then um yeah just kind of continue what I'm doing it's been really cool just partnering up as well with the I really feel that impact in the schools and the local youth groups to go encourage this message because they're being they're being told a lot of stuff all day long and I really feel like I can bring in truth to help set those people free and you know we were in Maui a couple weeks ago and there's such a hunger on Maui for truth right now um because I mean everything that happened last year from the fire and just deception there's such a hunger and I actually got to speak in the school and the kids were fired up yeah nice and I'm like that's where we need to be what what do you say like so when you're going to the different schools and speaking what's your what's your message messages uh I mean as as much as I can some schools limit you from speaking about faith that one I had the open door so I just really spoke into that that Conformity cuz when you're a kid all you want to do is be accepted right but again Conformity will isolate you transformation liberates you who is it that you're called to become and who is it you want to be so I really speak about like what are those values you want like this is your time right now to build and so I use how I integrated those values in my life and I'm like that's what that's how we can truly see a change in this world is by that Young Generation believing in themselves believing in the dream like you said the system right now is telling them to be oppressed to be entitled but to be like there's no way out I'm going to be a victim no not at all you're the Creator you're the director of your movie your life it's the movie go direct it however you want you know it took me being passionate about skateboarding to create the life I wanted to live but man it's possible was it easy heck no was it worth it thousand million times yes 100% And I want to share that with them because it's like man it is possible for you and that I I believe if we see more people truly passionate about life a lot of these problems going to just go away yeah man absolutely that's that's it it's like we've got to bring passion into people's lives you know the messaging you know we have to be really careful what we allow ourselves to hear yeah because the messaging to me even by well-intended people I feel like most of the people that are you know saying oh we got to take care of these oppressed groups the marginalized I think they mean well right but they're imagine you're cuz I wasn't raed with a lot of money mhm and if I would have believed that I was oppressed or that I couldn't work hard to succeed if I would have believe that uh I would I wouldn't be successful so my concern is now it's so prevalent in society that we keep telling people that oh you know the the world is against you yeah my my concern is that people actually those kids believe it right yeah yeah well that's the thing too and they're Pro they're trying to prove their point more too with inflation and things right like oh it really is against you because now you're not able to get ahead of it right you know and so they're they're they're systematically doing it they're trying to poison the brain first the belief system and then on the other side they're doing all this stuff you know and it's it's really making it hard but again it's like you all things are possible and again as a Believer I got faith that the favor of God is going to Shadow me like a shield it says the favor surrounds you like a shield that Shield doesn't only protect and provide it also forges a path in front so once you live under that and it's again you're not conforming to whatever this world is saying what is that word in your heart what God what is God speaking to you go after that thing and again you know time and time again you're going to go through those dark Seasons but you're going to enjoy the ride a lot more and it's it's going to be worth it to try and I think that's a thing with a lot of kids they don't want to try right now but it's like just give it a go you'll probably surprise yourself and again like my story I was surprised by the time I was able to move out to Woodward surprised when I got on Nitro Circus it's just continuing to surprise myself in these cool ways and I think that's what life's all about no for sure um why do you think you know you talk about the truth a lot why do you think people are being I'm going to call it programmed into thinking in a negative way that doesn't serve them what do you think like what's what's the plan what's the the goal of all that of the negativity yeah the goal of the negativity is to keep people powerless it's to keep people from living in passion pursuing their dream so others have more power over them they want you to be oppressed they want you to be depressed they want you on all kinds of things but again and and that's where they're they're super smart with how they do it the system the way it is and it's unfortunate but people I think offense a lot of times has to do with that too right it's like people are offended in the way you think about you know a biological male competing in a women's event yeah they're offended by that right but here's the thing the truth is only offensive when you're lying to yourself when you know what's true but you're lying to yourself that it's not you've bitten that lie you're calling evil good you're calling this lie truth if you believe a lie long enough it becomes the truth to you that's why you hear everyone saying oh I'm just living my truth that's why Jesus is so rad I am the way the truth the life what a bold Proclamation what an offensive Proclamation and even the religious people at that time they were so offended by that Proclamation wait you're the way the truth the life what yeah it's like that's offensive to hear but again the truth it's only going to be offensive if you're lying within yourself and with what you know the way you're perceiving the world and so I always joke and say well if you have the material to build a fence because that's what a fence does it puts a fence between me and you we're not going to connect anymore because I'm offended by the way you think so I'm not connected with you but if you have the material to build a fence why not build a bridge you know transform that thing you've got the materials right there okay what can we agree on and they don't want you to agree on anything that's why they're causing so much division to the point where our country is unrecognizable it is man it's happened pretty fast too fast five years five years ago so um I'm on the board of uh an antix trafficking nonprofit and uh I was on the board of another one about a year ago and uh when we started there was no way that I could ever imagine people would call that a conspiracy or look down upon it as you know it's crazy crazy right-wingers um and all of these things but it became a political issue where now you have one group saying that anybody who believes in that as a q andon supporter I didn't I don't even know how to find Q andon I don't really even know what it is yeah but you know and that kind of shows you how far society's come to where you know those that are trying we we uh my partners I funded a documentary called it's happening right here showing what's happening in the United States so we've been you know passionate about stopping this or at least shining a light on those type of things for a long time but somehow along the way that even became political right and um it just happened so fast I feel like we've lost uh in many ways the our way as a country really fast yeah has that been been you know your experience what do you think is what do you think's going on like who's behind this I definitely don't know who's I mean I do know who's behind it's demonic agendas honestly it's like division right Bible says where there is Unity God commands his Blessing when we're United when we're all of One sound Harmony man there's a blessing and we've seen it in our country we've lived through some beautiful seasons of Harmony and unity and we've been blessed because of that but again too much comfort can cause that complacency I think the church got silent they didn't speak on things they should have been and holding true to the values of Good and Evil start to blur the lines again you believe a lie long enough it becomes truth to you so you're seeing these people fall not have that backbone and standing on truth but we got to defend the truth even if it is offensive yeah some people might be offended but man on the other side of the offense once they get over themselves once they get over that it opens up the opportunity the truth will set you free so I believe for the people that are out there seeking what the truth really is you will be set free from it and um again I think it's just powerful and that's that's what we can do on the daily basis is to just one seek to live the truth know the truth be the truth honor the truth speak the truth and and be okay with however that's approach but I think in this time I I think we need to come together as a country yeah set aside the differences but really look inward of like what's going on like let the light come in to shine what these issues really are yeah and and that way we can you know build something more beautiful and get back to you know the country we all want to be proud of proud to be an American you know I am and that's why it's cool like one of my biggest Partnerships and sponsorships is this company called Public Square not sure if you're familiar but it's um America's Marketplace basically it was birthed out of Co if you wanted to go get a coffee go grab dinner and not be judged on whether you could or couldn't based on you know some sort of document you had or didn't have yeah so that's how it got birthed but then it really turned into okay where are all these corporations where's their money going wait we're buying Starbucks all day long but what are they doing with the money so now one it's supporting mom and pop coffee shops you know real diversity is like we're going to go get coffee here we're going to go get a burrito there because they crush the coffee they they crush the burrito you know like supporting those that support you and your country and really just now trying to like vote with your dollar is what it's about so it's Public Square America's Marketplace and it's kind of really become an awesome platform and you know they support everything I'm doing they supported the Nitro Circus tour they just signed Bethany Hamilton as well so when she kind of spoke out she got dropped from her biggest sponsor for not wanting biological men to compete in surfing and so her biggest sponsor dropped her and uh they came in and stepped up so it's cool to see them supporting you know and that's my thing it's like people see you passionately living your dream it's going to inspire them and that's what we're trying to do with Public Square and our partnership is tell the story of living that dream and you know encourage the Next Generation yeah no that that's awesome well I mean I I think more and more people are starting to stand up against it because you know four years ago when it first came out like a lot of the stuff was really starting to snowball with Co you know people were afraid to kind of get put in a box you because nobody wants to be seen for instance with black lives matters no one wants to be seen as racist because we're not racist like we're adamantly against that but you know if you don't support this you're you're that yeah and you know now I that's why I speak about it so openly I I don't care I know you know who I am right I know well now you're seeing what they did with the funds too yeah exactly yeah they bought their mansions and and all of those things yeah and that's just one one example out of many you know even the the biological men in female sport things um at first uh they were saying well you're not following the science so they try to said scientifically there's no difference you know between a biological man and a a biological woman if the biological man that's wanting to be a woman takes these hormone suppressors like no no you still have bone density you know hand size you know for fighting there was a female fighter that broke a woman's face you know it's like how is it fair I mean We've joked before I thought about making a comeback as a female fighter i' would be the greatest female fighter of all time I at 43 years old I think I could come back and be the UFC woman's Champion yeah you know and if they don't like it if if uh you know it's offensive if someone doesn't agree that I should be able to do that you know but that's how ridiculous it is you know there is a difference between men and women yeah and uh but that's the that's that is the evil that's why it's that's the evil I mean there is and there is I just have to say there's that indoctrination to it as well like I mean even within the gay community it's like if you're a kid and this is what they're telling kids now oh have you had a fun experience with a boy to another boy oh well maybe you're gay no we just had fun playing at Park together we don't even need to think about that we're s years old you know I shouldn't even know what that means at that age but that's what the level you know teachers are IND like being paid to indoctrinate that now and it's it that is a crime and I but I believe like the truth will set you free and it will set people free eventually people are going to have to pay for what they've done can't hide it forever and yeah when we just you know got to keep telling the truth as we see it you know courageously speak the truth yeah every day that's part of my my prayer is that God allows me to courageously speak the truth please let me courageously speak the truth and speaking the truth in love because that's where people have that hard time and they've used it against in the past well the church is so you know uh oppressive or the church is so judgmental and it's like we're not doing it to judge you we're doing it because we love and care about you and we know you're not content or happy with yourself this is what we found to find contentment and peace within ourselves this is what we want to bring because man and again it's like there's too many rules to keep up with how many different groups do I have to support for you guys to accept me yeah you just you get too tired of that well yeah you know another thing is I always ask God to help me do the right thing yeah what is the right thing because I don't know sometimes like there I'm dealing with something right now I'm like okay what is the right thing to do how do I do it in the right way where it makes sense right and um you know in instead of you know we're Society you know it's what's politically correct is right or what's you know what's the image of it is right it's like doing the right thing uh to me it brings happiness because in the end I know that I'm always trying to do the right thing yeah and from a relationship standpoint which to me relationships are one of the most important things how many relationships do you have like do people trust you yeah if you're always trying to do the right thing you know the amount of trust and good will that you bring by that even if sometimes doing the right thing doesn't benefit you at the moment it's not that instant gratification the long run long trust if people trust you I mean you you can get anything done uh you know that that you want if you build trust with people it's like oh they trust you to do X Y and Z I trust them we can you know together we can build whatever there is yeah and um I think people are afraid sometimes you know to do the right thing yeah you know as much as possible yeah and that's where like you're saying it comes with that praying for God for the strength for that the Holy Spirit to give you that conviction and and just it's amazing when you open yourself up to it like even today like I said I was skating around the streets of Nashville and I normally skate ramps I'm not really a street skater but it was fun to like push myself in that limit and hit this little rail that was there and I had this encounter with a man it was kind of in the park and I don't know if he was homeless or not but you could tell he was definitely struggling with something and he's watching me do this and I'm you know rolling on the ground struggling to get this trick and then after I landed it I went and T knuckle touched him prayed with him and just got to encourage him so it's it's like just being available to believe in people and I think what people need now more than ever it was like I just started speaking and I kind of heard this man's story and I was just like dude I trust you're a man of faith I know it's in there somewhere but God's going to show up in radical ways in this next season of your life and you're going to you're going to be unrecognizable in six months and just speaking that life into somebody to and just loving on them right speak the truth in love like don't coddle the situation like call that because they're because they have more on theide of them and they're living what God's called them to Ru over it's like we are called to that Spirit of self-control we have that ability within to control ourselves to a higher level so that we can experience the life that we're intended for and again sometimes you need someone to be that person to speak that out of you man I'm offended by that but I needed to hear that yeah like no offense unless that offense will cause you to change yeah man you know cuz that's what again we need change in our country we need to be offended yeah I love getting offended cuz it causes me to grow you know and again that entitlement of our country we get offended but then we get bitter yeah absolutely well that's where we have it so good for so long so good yeah I mean it's like you know when when you're upset about the latte you know you have a pretty good country yeah because that's what you're really getting upset about there's people all over the world that are they never even had a lot they never even had a l dealing with war they're dealing with the the you know being in camps they're dealing with um you know starvation and all these things we have it so good in America and um even the whole racial thing because you know I've lived in four different countries and the United States is by far the least racist country uh I've been to wow I mean dude we have such a diverse country uh I mean it's extremely diverse and you know if you were around someone who is a racist you wouldn't want to be around you like hey I we stay away from those type of things yeah we don't it's not okay it's not okay but you know a lot of other countries I mean Colombia and my my girlfriend's from Columbia you know they don't like black people there wow I it's very kind it's very open um Mexico same way Brazil same way um and so you know we don't know that because people grow up here and they get used to uh Living in America and being told oh well this is racist and it's the patriarchy that's causing this and you know you have all of these these things but the reality is the United States is probably the least racist country in the world yeah it's not it's it's not a big thing are they racist yes sure but we want to stay away from those people I I don't surround myself I don't even hear it anymore it's not my group by any means um and but if you were to ask you know kids going to school right now it's like oh it's the white patriarchy or oh it's the you know it's and then you got to feel bad about yourself for the way you were born yeah that's no way to live dude it's such BS there's no way that's the thing that's exactly right but once you see it you can start pointing it out like what you just said then you got to feel bad about for the way like no way there's way too many things they're trying to make me feel bad about I'm actually just going to choose to feel good you know and that's what they don't want that's it so um that's awesome that you see that man because that's what it is yeah that's exactly what it is and um well man I've Loved getting to know you man I appreciate you coming on here and yeah chatting with me for a while um absolutely anything you want to kind of say in closing I think we're I mean we covered a lot man yeah you have any other questions pretty good yeah I mean I think we had a good talked about the skating talked about the family I mean yeah I think if if there's anything I could leave with it's just yeah again kind of what I'd already said said about just encouraging people to whatever that dream is even if others think it's crazy cuz that's something I maybe didn't tell like like I said being that kid at the church wanting to be a pro skater people asking what are you actually going to do with your life no I believe I can be a pro skater I believed in it and I've achieved it because I was believing it enough to let it change how I thought let it change how I talk let it change how I showed up at the skate park and I would just want to encourage you with that to whatever that dream is go after it Bible says commit to the Lord whatever you do your plan will succeed it's found in the Book of Proverbs so apply those spiritual principles for your life and just open yourself up to see what's possible and um everyone's got a little bit more in them than they think I think as well that we've got a little more gas in the tank we're more capable than we even realize and so start to challenge yourself in that grow be encouraged to grow and build something beautiful with your life awesome Beaver thanks for coming on thank you man appreciate you thanks