Move over Tony Hawk, the kids have arrived

A lot has changed since Hawk landed a 900 25 years ago

Twenty-five years ago at the X Games in San Francisco, Tony Hawk rocked the skateboard world when he landed a 900, the holy grail of skateboard tricks. Hawk was 27.

Two weeks ago, Ema Kawakami of Japan landed the 900—three times in the same run— with Hawk cheering him on. Kawakami is nine.

It’s hard to imagine a sport that’s changed as much as skateboarding has since that day at the X Games 25 years ago. (It’s also hard to imagine that the X Games have been around that long. In fact, next year will be the 30^th anniversary of the competition.)

Thanks largely to Hawk, the popularity of skateboarding has soared. And many of the world’s best skaters are young.

My son Sam and his wife Kelsey went to this year’s X Games and were amazed by the poise and talent of the kids. Check out this amazing video Kelsey caught of a dog skating!

The eight finalists in the “women’s skateboard park” competition were all under 18. And the winner, Arisa Trew of Australia, was 14. In “women's skateboard vert best trick,” the gold medal was won by nine-year-old Mia Kretzer, a fellow Aussie.

On the men’s side, 15-year-old Gui Khury of Brazil won in “vert best trick” and landed a 900 in the process. It was his ninth X Games gold.

By today’s standards, Hawk would have been an old timer when he successfully did a 900 for the first time at age 27. He says he had attempted the 900 hundreds of times in practice without success. In the process, he suffered a concussion, broken ribs, a hurt back and lost several teeth. 

Hawk wasn’t planning to attempt a 900 at the 1999 X Games, but urged on by the announcer, a raucous crowd and even his competitors, he decided to give it a try. After 10 failed attempts, Hawk landed the trick and was mobbed by the other skaters who hoisted him in the air.

“Something inside of me said you’re either going to make this or they’re going to cart you off the ramp to the hospital,” Hawk told National Geographic. “Those were the only two endings that night for me.”

Eight years ago, Hawk showed that skateboarding isn’t just a kids’ game: He landed a 900 at age 48—on the 17^th anniversary of his X Games triumph.