A Richmond man is celebrating a national win in his sport of choice - skateboarding.
Connor Burke has been skateboarding since the age of 8, and this year - at 22 - he won the acclaim he’s been hoping for, taking top honors in the national freestyle skateboard championships. Unlike others who speed, bump and spin down city streets and stairways, freestylers skate on flat surfaces but do tricks with the board.
“Rather than street, where you’re using a handrail or stairs or something like that as your obstacle. There’s rail tricks, where you’re using the edge of your board, and then there’s a trick call the Casper, where you have your back foot on the tail of your board and one foot under your board.”
You really do have to see it, which is why Burke has made and posted more than 150 videos on YouTube. He shows off a series of tricks he developed himself - with names like “the impossible,” and the “360 flip,” in which the board rotates 360 degrees while its rider hangs in the air. It’s the kind of move that might terrify a typical mom, but Burke insists it’s pretty safe:
“It’s really not as dangerous as other things, like jumping off cliffs with parachutes and stuff like that.”
In fact, he adds, the more serious injuries he’s suffered in life - a broken toe and dislocated collar bone, had nothing to do with skating.
“I think I’m more comfortable on my board. I’m pretty clumsy when I’m walking around.”
He beat a ten-time world champion to take this year’s title, a trophy, a skateboard and $350. Clearly, he can’t make a living at this, but he does have a sponsor to supply him with boards, and since he goes through about one a month, that’s good. What’s more, after years of recording his own routines and majoring in film at VCU, he’s landed a job in video production.