Many years ago, I worked with a 14-year-old kid who was always asking me about spots, tricks, who did what, when and where. That kid is now a 27-year-old man with the same questions every week. He still eats like a 14-year-old, skates with the passion of a 14-year-old, and has his own trick list at the level of some of today’s pros.
Sam will avoid a vegetable at any cost, but he will never avoid a skate session. With a smile bigger than some of the flip outs he’s done on many ledges in many video parts over the years, he’s sure to surprise anyone that stumbles across his mini ramp skills as he drops into some sort of nollie-heelvarial-decker combo to revert as a warm-up. Dangle a fizzer seltzer in front of him and he’s bound to bust out any trick you suggest, while thinking over Christmas trade rosters for 140 staff at the same time as planning his next spot-check Saturday bike adventure with his Gooch Street crew. Feast your eyes on the photos showcased here. These are only a taste of what Sam has in store for the skateboarding world in the coming months.
Sam, what have you been up to lately?
I’ve been working a bunch at Fast Times, which has been a pretty crazy time. Then I’ve been skating a bunch with Tony [Woodward] and skating with Jezza [Corea] for his new video, Harlow Factor 2. We’ve been working on that and then we’ve been playing heaps of ping pong. We’ve been going down to this little park, just off Chapel Street, next to Windsor train station – me and Wadeos [McLaughlin] and all the boys. And now that we’re out of lockdown, we’ve been going to The [Yellow] Bird a little bit.
With lockdown over, have you been venturing out a bit further?
We’ve been trying to venture out, but now that all the restrictions have eased, we can think of less spots. When we were skating in the five-k radius, we couldn’t wait for the five-k radius to go away, but now that it has, we’re like, “Where do we go?”
Too many options. You’re from Mornington Peninsula, a beach town called Hastings. What was it like growing up there and becoming a skateboarder?
I originally tried to start surfing but it was super tough. Then I went around to my cousin’s house and he introduced me to Tony Hawk, which was my first exposure to skating.
Wow, Tony Hawk was at his house?
[Laughs] No, they were playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and that was my
