Skateboarding is one of the most recently added games in the Olympics and that already show how popular it has become over the years, it is an acquired skill but at the same time a skill that requires undying efforts, and that is to just be good at it now, imagine the amount of effort you need to put in to become a pro at it. But nothing is too hard if you are passionate about it. Here, we’ll know How much do pro skateboarders generate?
To start on a basic note any skateboarder who makes money through competitions is normally considered a pro skateboarder, anyone who lives off on skateboarding is a pro, now they are paid on a range of 1000 to 10,000 US dollars per month. Some of the professional skateboarders’ salaries also range from 19,910 to 187,200 US dollars per year, with most of them earning an average of around 40,000 or 45,000 US dollars per year. But that isn’t the case for all of them. Some are sponsored by other people and are paid daily or sometimes on an hourly basis too.
A survey suggests that 75 percent of the professionals earn a normal amount of around 28,000 US dollars and the other 25 percent are the top-notch skaters who earn large amounts like 190,000 US dollars. To be more precisely detailed, the top earners, that is the top 5 percent who are exclusively good get paid around 31,500 US dollars annually which is 605 US dollars per week. The average skaters that are 75 percent earn around 24,500 US dollars which are around 471 US dollars per week, and the people who are sponsored by big named companies are the only people who earn in six or seven figures.
Skateboarding has become a universal interest in just a matter of years due to the fast development of the game over those years, it is also one of the recent games to be added to the Olympics. It has transformed from just being a small Californian interest to a worldwide valued skill. But not every person with the skill gets paid a huge amount of money, there is a lot that has to be taken care of to get a regular or standard earning off of skateboarding.
How does skateboarding a career workout?
When you observe things you might notice how at events like the X games or some of the popular events for this sport, the camera keeps panning over one or two people for the majority of the time and some of them hold up their skateboards to show off their sponsor because they know that they are being well paid and that they should do justice to their company.
When you think about it sponsorships can make things complicated for the other people in the same stream trying to live up to their original talent, but at the same time if no one sponsored these people majority of them would not probably be able to afford traveling and skating, so it does its perks but they come with a cost of their own.
This particular topic of sponsorships for skateboarders has a lot of room for arguments and debates, it is not all horrible when you do your fair share of research but it is not a piece of cake either, the elite take up the top of the tower and the top is comparatively small, which makes it harder for the people trying to reach to the top, although the sportsmanship is very alive in skateboarding sometimes competitiveness does ugly things.
What are the basic things to be done if you aim at becoming a pro skateboarder:
- Start Young: One of the most common things to be done to ace any kind of sport is to start as young as possible, only then you will grow up with it and have the consistency that will help you perform well, but this shouldn’t let you down if you really are passionate about it and didn’t start early. It’s never too late if you feel like you can do it.
- Be a Regular: Keep in your mind that you need to be consistent to be good at what you want to do, remind yourself that you need to skate for at least a little bit every day just so you don’t lose your interest, people are really into skateboarding over the last few years that there is even a skateboarding high school in Norway, so imagine the things you have to do just to cope with the level of competition.
- Don’t Skip Any Opportunities: To shine in anything you should leave out a chance to compete, despite winning or losing the opportunity is always good to assess yourself because the people you compete against are at the same level as you in what you are doing. You should try to stay humble when you win so that it doesn’t make you overconfident and take over your consistency, you should not lose your spirit when you lose either, consider it a chance to judge yourself and do better for the next time.
- Build Yourself a Social Life: These days people have begun to appreciate others with skill and support them if they can. So you can do what you do and build yourself a social media following with that you gain yourself a core group of people who really will support you and spread your talent if they feel like you deserve it, it helps solidify your career and inspires you to do better. It is also possible to attract brands or sponsors and give you a chance at what you really wanna do.
- Be Physically Fit: Try your best to be fit because skateboarding requires twisting your body, keeping balance, breaking your body points in seconds, it is easy if for you to do so when your body is in shape, this will truly help you perform your best, always push yourself to do as much as you can rather than backing off just because you don’t feel like doing what you know you can. Finally don’t forget to believe in yourself no matter what, in the end, that is the one thing that can keep you going.
A few of the most known skateboarders you should have a look at:
- Jay Adams from Venice, California. The USA.
He is known for his low to the ground surf style and unorthodox approach to the sport, when questioned about it in a newspaper interview he said “I just morphed or tried to transform my chaotic energy in something I consider beautiful and thankfully it worked”
- Tony Hawk from Carlsbad, California. The USA.
If there is one person everyone knows when talking about skateboarding it is probably Tony Hawk, he reached the professional level of skateboarding at just the age of 14 and won in over 60 competitions all around the world. He has created himself a trademark in what he does.
- Nyjah Huston from Davis, California. The USA.
Many say he grew up in front of our eyes and is now one of the most talked-about skaters, when someone is usually discussing potential skateboarding Nyjah would for sure make an appearance in the conversation, at just age 11 he won the 2005 Tampa am and in 2008 became a pro at what he did, he would from then on usually win every contest he got into or get placed.
- Elissa Steamer from Fort Myers, Florida. The USA.
Almost everyone who does skateboarding knows how she contributed to the sport and it is also very obvious to imagine how many people she has inspired to lay a foot on the skateboard. She earned her fame through one of her best skating moments in the toy machine – welcome to hell, in 1996.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Countries with the most number of skateboarders?
Even if the sport originated in the United States, China is known to have a large number of people who are skateboarding since it first was introduced there in the early ’80s. Reportedly there were around 50,000 skaters in the nation, it doesn’t come by as a surprise with China’s population but comparatively, it is the country with the most of them. - Is skateboarding an Olympic sport?
Yes, as of June 1, 2016, the Olympic committee decided to add new sports to the 2021 Olympics that are going to be held in Tokyo and skateboarding was one of the new games to debut along with baseball, soft ball, karate, sport climbing, and surfing. - Who is the richest skateboard on the planet?
It isn’t shocking to know Tony Hawk is not only one of the most famous but also the wealthiest skateboarder at the moment with a net worth of approximately 140 million US dollars. He was the first-ever public representative or spokesman of professional skateboarding. He got very popular for his aerial maneuver in the X games in 1999.
