Skateboarding
Skateboarding
Five facts about... Ryan Sheckler
Youngest X-Games winner of all time, MTV superstar, sober alcoholic, devout Christian - it all comes together in the CV of skateboard superstar Ryan Sheckler!
From action sports heaven to rehab and back. Ryan Sheckler has been grinding to the extremes for 33 years. It went way down in 2018 on a huge stage set in Pomona, where he had to take a horror slam. The left one was shattered and the first of five lumbar vertebrae fractured.
“I don't like to talk about that fall because it was so traumatic. But he also encouraged me to delve deep into myself.”
47 min
Rolling Away
Pushing boundaries and defying expectations – it's all a normal part of Ryan Sheckler's epic skateboarding journey.
In the end, this slam changed his life for the better and that's why the documentary "Rolling Away" begins with it. We'll set you up with five facts about his exciting life.
„Rolling Away“, das Filmprojekt Shecklers, wird dieser Tage veröffentlicht.
© Atiba Jefferson
01
Child star
Ryan Allen Sheckler first skateboarded when he was 18 in San Clemente, California. Sounds like a late bloomer? Well, it wasn't 18 years, it was months. It still took about four more years until the first kickflip, but you have to find other preschoolers who can imitate him. Even Tony Hawk came to the party for his 6th birthday and a year later he had his first sponsors.
So it was clear pretty quickly that someone had a special talent and it first became apparent on the big stage when he won an X-Games gold medal at the age of thirteen. He was the youngest X-Games winner and catapulted himself into the public limelight. Six more medals at the most important action sports event in the world were to follow - and a CV that is second to none. Who can look back on a 20-year professional career at the age of 33?
His unexpected breakthrough was followed by a lightning start in the Skateboard Olympus. Big sponsorships lined up for the child prodigy, he was sent on tours around the world, was on thrashers “King of the Road” at 14, still obediently doing his homework in the hotel room in the mornings while his adult teammates cured their hangovers. Well, there was a little party for Ryan too. After all, he was allowed to do the kissing challenge with a 24-year-old at KOTR. His sunny boy image caught on and he got a taste of what it's like to live out private life in public.
That's why skaters across the planet have opinions about Sheckler. Just like the German skater Fabian Lang, who met the superstar for an interview in 2017: "Ryan Sheckler was the first star for my generation that you could compare and identify with based on age, in contrast to a Tony Hawk or Chad Muska, who were much more mature and established."
Fun fact: Not only Tony Hawk was a guest at one of his birthday parties, on his 20th birthday Vanilla Ice performed "Ice Ice Baby" for him, Barry Bonds played beer pong in his garage and Travis Pastrana did a burn out on a Harley in the house
02
Life of Ryan
Avril Lavigne had released her single "Sk8er Boi" a year before Ryan's first X-Games win, but she could have written it for him as well. He was the perfect mix of cute Cali boy and ripping skater. The Justin Bieber of skateboarding, as he was later called, somewhat disrespectfully.
However, it was precisely this mixture that gave its popularity an enormous boost. He was caught on MTV and, at 17, made him the star of the show Life of Ryan, making him, despite his undeniable skill, a precursor to the modern reality star: he's also famous for his fame. The most important moments of his youth took place in front of the camera.
All his life he was exposed in public, everyone watched him grow up.
The reality show garnered TV commercials, A-listers, and millions of dollars. To do this, he won contest after contest and released crazy video clips, flew private jets and collected supercars, partied wildly and polarized the scene. As a pubescent child star, his life was a wild adventure with no mentors and no signposts. And without limits.
While millions of viewers watched intently what was going on in his teenage life, he was laughed at in the core scene. In an interview around 2011, he threw the following sentence at the purist skate fans:
I want to give them more reasons not to like me.
Crying over his parents' divorce (which he found out about on camera) on TV earned him the nickname "Cryin' Ryan." The "double pits to chesty" Ax commercial was a laughingstock among skaters, the back tattoo of his last name as a sign of self-absorbed hubris, and the lie to the late thrasher editor-in-chief Jake Phelps that he backside flipped the legendary El Toro steps really bad. Small consolation for Ryan: he was able to earn Phelps' respect with his uncompromising skating.
And not just that. Fabian Lang says about his Sheckler memories: "Ryan had the bar with his Achievements on the board taken to a whole new level."
Back then, like so many of his generation, he had seen Ryan on MTV. "Life od Ryan" provided a noticeable boost in awareness of skateboarding.
We were no longer just in our faces in the eyes of our peers, we were suddenly also (local) stars who could achieve anything.
Sheckler scheut sich nicht, ehrlich über seine Probleme zu sprechen.
© Atiba Jefferson
03
Alcohol & Withdrawal
What goes up, must come down and if you jet around the world like a rock star in party mode, you are of course exposed to temptations that can quickly lead you into the dark. Looking back, Sheckler doesn't find it embarrassing or awkward to talk about his battle with alcohol abuse -- even if skate culture likes to party and talk about abstinence can quickly become uncool.
I've lived such a fast life, now I'm learning to slow down.
“For a long time, I was obsessed with partying. And when I was hurt, I felt bad and turned to alcohol for a solution. But alcohol is a depressant, and I fell into an even deeper hole. And it caused concern for the people I love. That wasn't fair to me or to them. Finally, I realised that I had to change something. I had to admit that I wasn't in control of my life and my drinking.”
The end finally came on a skate trip in Oslo, and his drinking got out of control. He called his closest friend — his mother, that is — and shortly thereafter she dropped him off at the entrance to a rehab facility. But not only his family supported him, even the swimmer Michael Phelps, who is the most successful Olympian of all time, motivated him to fight against his addiction.
„Da war ich womöglich verkatert“, sagt Sheckler über das Cover von 2014.
© TRB
Ryan was sober for nearly four years after that rehab, but alcohol is treacherous and a sober alcoholic is still an alcoholic. When he embarked on one of his annual skate trips, he thought he could sip again, but that ended up being five months that catapulted him back into addiction. But again he could count on his family and friends to come to his home for an intervention and persuaded him to go to the clinic one more time. He managed to get dry a second time and is now fitter and happier than ever.
Really Ryan? Tail Drop-In in Taiwan.
© Kenji Haruta / Red Bull Content Pool
Injuries & Work Ethic
"I've had 12 broken bones, six major surgeries, a few concussions and more torn ligaments than I can remember - pain of all kinds. I've spent about five years of my life in rehab," Ryan said of the physical wear and tear he puts on on the skateboard over the years. Anyone else would probably back down and slow down after a fraction of the injuries, but not like Ryan.
„Sein heutiges Niveau ist komplett irre“, so Ira Ingram, Kameramann.
© Atiba Jefferson
He only knows one speed: full throttle. Whether on the board or on the way back onto the board. His fitness trainer gets to the point when he says that athletes like Ryan no longer have to work hard or live disciplined lives. You have enough money to party every day. But Ryan broke a sweat to get back to the point of skating spots that give him an adrenaline rush.
Fabian Lang can understand that well. And he is certain: "Within the skate scene, everyone secretly knew "Action speaks louder than words" - and Shecks has proven that for two decades."
7 min
Ryan Sheckler – raw edit
Watch previously unreleased footage of attempts, slams, makes and throwaway clips from Ryan Sheckler's part.
Like the Costco Gap he made famous, which he conquered in 2008 with one of the biggest kickflips ever done. Or the legendary spot at a tunnel exit in the middle of a Taiwanese highway. You drop from a three-meter-high wall into a natural transition that is not even one meter wide. The spot is so huge that a passerby called the police, thinking it was a suicide attempt! But even the police, fire brigade, and ambulance (and the threat of being put in jail if he tried again) didn't put Ryan off, came back and stomped the thing first try!
His mental strength is certainly as great as his physical one. The workout and his knowledge of wrestling helped him skate those huge spots. But even that couldn't save him from his worst injury. At the Face Melters event, broadcast live by ETN, he bailed off an oversized hubba and hit harder than ever. But after that, as cliche as it sounds came his resurrection.
Egal wo - Ryan gibt immer alles.
© Seu Trinh / Red Bull Content Pool
04
A Chill Girl
Ryan Sheckler mit Frau und Freunden - und trotzdem ganz bei sich selbst.
© Ysanya Perez / Red Bull Content Pool
14 months of hard rehab work and his second rehab brought him back to the point of being able to film his new part from 2020 (which he did for a couple of weeks with a torn cruciate ligament. Another story…). But not only that: According to Sheckler, it was primarily his wife Abigail, whom he married in November 2021 and with whom he found the Christian faith, who was responsible for his new beginning.
After he had to break up with his then-girlfriend in front of the camera on Life of Ryan, he describes himself as "borderline traumatized" and for a long time not able to relate because he didn't want to go through the pain of a breakup again. In "Life of Ryan" there is also the statement that has become a dictum, "all I wanna do is have fun, and have a chill girl" - and he has now finally found it. Just like his belief in God.
Sheckler mit seiner Tochter Olive, als sie erst ein paar Tage alt ist.
© Atiba Jefferson
After the wedding on March 3, 2022, their daughter Olive Oleta was born exactly one year later. And otherwise things are going well for Ryan, who has grown up. He is involved in charitable work with his Sheckler Foundation, established in 2008, founded his own skateboard company Sandlot Times and owns a private indoor skate park, which he named The Sandlot (sandpit) in reference to his company. After twenty exciting years, Ryan seems to have finally arrived. Let's hope this peace of mind will help him film some more parts.
Ryan Sheckler hat etwas Großartiges gefunden: sich selbst.
© Atiba Jefferson
