One of the living skateboarding legends Jamie Thomas tells how you can become a professional skateboarder.
The chief has long been candid about his thoughts in skateboarding and to his riders. In The Nine Club interview, he said, "You need to have boxes checked in order for you to be a pro in skateboarding."
There were rumors that Jamie Thomas was ruthless with his riders on how their tricks needed to look and it's maybe because of his infamous "One More Try" frontside 5-0 Clip in his Mislead Youth skateboarding video part. But in reality, he throws it as an incentive to the skater to land the trick when someone’s been trying a trick for a long time and starting to doubt themselves to the point of giving up.
Thomas told the Nine Club Podcast host Chris Roberts that for him it's probably different than it would be from someone else. He says. "Dylan has already got the Instagram box checked, sometimes the guys do the interview and make video parts but their Instagram is lacking and they need to figure that one out."
These days it's also about building social media followers because it will result in more sales and as a company, they should also stay in business. Building an audience takes time especially if you are just starting but if you have been active skating the streets, you should post more skate video clips online.
If Thomas were to promote a rider to his skate team, he would also utilize covers in a magazine which is the most integral part of skateboarding - he would put an advertisement on the most popular skate mag in the business.
"The next obvious steps would get some coverage with the only magazine that matters in our era which in this time period is Thrasher. Thomas told Roberts. "That's not always easy but get some coverage and film a video part in the streets and see what the rider is into and also if touring becomes a thing, it's also good to get out to be seen."
Back then skate tours are well embraced by team managers to make sure that the skaters in the team are exposed to the kids for more exposure. The demos and skate shop meet and greet were imperative back then until the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
"As they check those boxes, they grow as a person and experiences and they grow in their humility and they become more ready to become pro in all those different ways," Thomas said.
"I think that those all are like positive exercises that in my opinion a skateboarder should experience and should have to navigate in order to be considered as a professional."
According to Thomas, the skater will grow as a well-experienced pro because, in his opinion, if the skateboarder can navigate contests, Instagram following, real-life or personal interaction with the kids and not be a weirdo. Then you can do all those things well and if you can keep up doing the good work in a couple of years in a row then, everybody is going to notice that you are ready to become a professional skateboarder.