There have been plenty of preternatural young freaks in the world of athletics. Neymar's currently blowing minds in International soccer at the ripe old age of 20 after 4 years at a pro (going pro at 16). In womens' gymnastics it almost seems a prerequisite that you be a teenager as your body is still bendy, your joints haven't completely been reduced to goo, and it's easier to flip a shorty than a runway model. But skateboarding seems to be the sport that, more than any other, is pumping out better and better athletes at younger and younger ages, pre-pubescent boys doing tricks that a few years ago only Tony Hawk could do - and even more, kids doing moves that NOBODY else in the world can do now. Arguments can be made that if the people pushing the sport are getting younger and younger, the sport itself is pretty far from maturing, its evolution in fact just beginning. Yesterday, in the elimination round of X Games Skateboard Big Air the first ever 900's ever landed on the Big Air quarterpipe were stuck perfectly by two skaters. Neither of whom can drive.
The first one was stuck by an older kid who's been heralded as one of the skaters to watch this X Games. His name's Mitchie Brusco and at the ripe old age of 14, he boosted a big 360 (1 full rotation, for you non-boardsport-inclined folks) followed by a 10+ foot 900 (2 and a half rotations) on the quarterpipe, essentially a several-story wall of wood with a small transition to flat at the bottom. That's right. The trick that just a few years ago Tony Hawk landed for the first time and the whole skate world creamed itself was just stuck for the first time in this new event - while being commentated by the Hawkman himself - by a 14-year-old.
Not to be outdone, next comes 12-year-old Tom Schaar, 6th grader and star of his own web series leading up to the Games, "My First X." Check out this 1st episode in which he works on his 1080, which, by the way, he's already landed in competition (the first time anybody's done anything even close to that).
So Schaar drops into the first run of the eliminations, just after Brusco and sure enough he two sticks a 900 on the quarterpipe too, boosting to, like, 3 or 4 times his height and landing as if it's nothing. Seriously, these new kids are freaks of nature. This is why these sports are so exciting. Because skaters only get better as they get older. And if these kids are already sticking 9's (and 1080's), just imagine what freaking shit they'll be doing when they get really old. Like, when they graduate from Elementary School and shit.
And just to show he's still in it, little Jagger Eaton busted a backflip across the big air - he's 11.
Seriously, look at these bastards, "Dream Come True to be here" and they haven't even hit puberty yet. I sometimes like to relate age difference to how old they were when I was 18. Like, if you're 30 and dating an 18 year old, you have to frame it by realizing when you were 18 she was 6 which helps understand why she has no idea what you're talking about when you mention things like grunge music and the 90's. When I was 18, Jagger Eaton was -2. Jesus.
Just watch this little EXPN excerpt about these sub-15-year-old bastards. Think back to when you were their age. Remember, it was cool to play flashlight tag. Maybe pick up basketball at the neighborhood pool. Skate around your friends working on kickflips if that was your thing. Possibly, if you were one of us B-more derelicts you'd drink some stolen beers and stumble around hammered thinking you were the shit, dreaming of copping a feel in the heat of the moment.
Well these kids are being cheered by thousands of fans, vying for purses up to 50 grand, and getting profiled by ESPN.
Yeah. Makes me feel like kind of a slacker. Or just extremely far behind - far behind a 12-year-old, that is.
- Ryan
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