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bigdog111
Respected Member
Joined: 04 Jun 2009
Posts: 40
Location: Mumbai
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 Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 9:01 am Post subject: An Interview with a legend a Pro Skater : Chris Haffey |
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| Quote: | | http://stabyourselfintheface.com |
Here is the interview from an renowned skater...
Chris Haffey as been skating for a long time now... and is very good at it too.... here are his thoughts on life, skating and the industry...
SHOCKING INTERVIEW: CHRIS HAFFEY
What do you think about the current state of blading “culture”? In what ways could we make it more robust and interesting to the outside world?
That’s a hard question. I don’t think we need to change much at all. Its not that it needs to be more interesting, but that the outside world just needs to be shown how interesting it already is. The thing is you can’t force feed it to people. I think something as simple as having events with the right format and the right courses (to keep it impressive to an outside eye) in the right places would help a lot. Places like Venice beach or any boardwalk of any beach for that matter. Places with a stupid amount of foot traffic. They see how tight skating is, and I think you can get a good sense of the culture from an event like that. Especially if its less of a contest and more of just a showcase of tight blading. If its relaxed and all the skaters are having a good time it will come across to all the people that walk by. I know when I used to go to NISS at Venice Beach I always wanted to get better just so I could be hanging out with everyone cause it looked like they were all having a good time on and off the course.
Do you think blading was a lot more about personality when it first started out, and less about how good the skating was? It seems that after 1996 as time went on blading progressed as a sport and reached new heights as far as magnitude, style and technicality were concerned and that it became less and less about personality as far as the overall skater is concerned. How do you feel about the validity of this statement?
I would definitely agree with it. Back in the day the filming was terrible, the tricks weren’t super hard, there wasn’t a lot of variety, and yet they are still much more entertaining than a lot of recent videos. It got to a point where it was all about progression and craziness. It seems like we are starting to get it back to a healty balance. If its all tricks it sucks, but if its all personality, that kind of sucks too. I suppose we will see what happens, but I think we are moving in the right direction.
Do you feel that if pro’s more people were getting paid, that rollerblading would be better? Are the economics of rollerblading its greatest obstacle as far as the overall progression of the sport is concerned or is it more about the skaters and their internal motivation? Maybe both?
I don’t think that it would change much in terms of the progression of the sport because it keeps getting crazier and I don’t see any extra money flowing anywhere. At the end of the day what is going to push someone hard enough to push an entire sport is love. Ill continue to challenge myself with new tricks in until I can’t skate anymore. Even if I stop getting paid to skate I will never stop pushing myself. That is just what I do. I skate and I love it. I suppose I can’t speak for everyone, but I think most people would agree.
In chestboarding pros skate through their mid-30’s. They have lifers…that is people that skate for life and never quit. Granted our lifestyle participants are younger generationally speaking but it seems that a lot of pros in rollerblading fade away and dont really have that “4 Life” mentality. Do you think this is true and why do you think this is the case if yes?
I think this is what would really be affected by more money in skating and in turn would make it better. Its really sad to see people getting dropped from rosters due to budgets. I understand that every company wants to have a team that skates at a highly competitive level, or is putting out progressive sections, but at the same time we are losing too many icons. The problem is after a company is paying their top riders their budget is gone. There is not a lot of room to pay older pros that we NEED around or even the up and coming pros of tomorrow. Its a big problem and hopefully rollerblading will get some more money flowing through it so we can do something about it. I think everyone has the “for life” mentality about skating itself, just not being a paid pro. I know I do. At some point I might “disappear” from skating too, but I will never not be skating.
What do you think about wearing ridiculous outfits while death blading? You’ve always been more into the basic apparel and less concerned about dressing trendy or fashion blading. Why is this?
It doesn’t really bother me much unless its just over the top ridiculous and making rollerblading look terrible. I don’t see that too often, but there has been a few times I remember wanting to tell people to quit rollerblading or stop making it look so fucking stupid. My personal style (or lack of it) is pretty basic. I just wear what’s comfortable. I don’t like drawing any unnecessary attention to myself. I just like blending in, rather than standing out when it comes to fashion.
Do you think rollerblading needs the kind of people who simply act ridiculous because they want to live the antiestablishment mentality i.e. get drunk at competitions, break shit and get kicked out? Is this bad for the sport or simply an inherent biproduct of our lifestyle? Should we celebrate and promote this absurd behavior for the sake of keeping rollerblading and its associated image exciting?
Its hard to say. I think there is a time and place for everything. I think that includes a drunk dude breaking stuff and getting kicked out. However I also think right now we need to make the most of every opportunity we get to blow this blading thing back up, and we have to be professional in certain situations if we have the chance to get some serious backing or TV coverage. If blading was big enough that people would shrug off some stupid shit and continue to throw money at us anyway then I would say people like that would make rolleblading and its image more exciting for sure. Unfortunately its not there yet, so when vitamin water comes knocking, just get a little less drunk, and don’t break anything right in front of them.[/quote] |
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bigdog111
Respected Member
Joined: 04 Jun 2009
Posts: 40
Location: Mumbai
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| Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 11:25 pm Post subject: Heres Part Two of the interview |
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CHRIS HAFFEY INTERVIEW PART 2: SKATE LIFE
| Quote: | http://stabyourselfintheface.com/
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INTERVIEW BY WOLFMAN
I have heard that you are a nomad these days. What prompted you to pick up your things and go everywhere and stay nowhere? What are some pros and cons to being a nomadic wandering professional rollerblader?
Yea, I am actually looking for a place at this point, but for the last 6 months I have been on the move. The motivation behind the lifestyle came from my constant travel. I had been gone so much, and knew I would be going on so many trips in the coming months that paying 800 bucks a month for a place a was never at didn’t make sense anymore. The main pro to that lifestyle is the lack of rent. It is really nice for the first to roll around and not give away about half my check. It was fun to cruise around responsibility free, always hanging out with new people, and not really feeling something pulling you back to one place. As fun as it is, there are a few things I don’t like. My car is constantly packed to the brim. Sometimes it was weird to come home from a long trip and be at the airport trying to figure out where to go instead of having your own space to go back to. Other than those things though it was pretty nice.
Where does your ‘100% motivation’ come from? What inspires you to keep pushing skating to new levels?
Umm. It comes from a lot of different places. Music, friends, family, and sometimes just from within. I can’t say though I have ever been inspired to “push skating to a new level.” I get motivated to push myself as far as I can, and I guess somewhere along the way that ended up pushing skating? I don’t know. The thought of me pushing skating is weird to me. I think its more that I am part of a group of people that have had a big effect on the sport.
Do you naturally push your skating further and further in terms of magnitude and technicality? Or do you wake up everyday and think, ‘How can today’s Chris Haffey shred even harder than yesterday’s Chris Haffey?’
Well like I said in the last question its all personal achievement. I think if I started trying to push myself for the sake of impressing other people, or to make my new shit better than my old shit it would fail horribly. I only skate good when I am feeling it. If my motivation was to continue to get better just so people won’t say I fell off, I think that is when I would start to fall off.
What’s the story behind the Drip Drop gap that you didn’t land? How long did you plan for that trick? How did you feel the next day? Will you ever try it again?
That effing gap haha. I think everywhere I go now the question I hear most is “Did you ever land that?” or “Are you going to try it again?” haha. The story is we were at the school and I rolled up on it and was like…dude…its possible. I was going to try it that day, but the sun was going down and it was all overcast. It was the end of the day and I was tired so I decided to come back. I got a crew together to film, and we went back a few weeks later. I tried it once, and basically landed on my knees. (a try that wasn’t in the video) At the time I didn’t have knee pads on. Wrecked my knees. I couldn’t skate for like two weeks. Fast forward like 11 months. The deadline for the video was coming up, and I had a lot of footage, and I wanted to get that gap for my ender. So i got a crew together and went back. I tried it once and came soo close. I kept my feet under me but the impact just bounced me up and back. I knew it wasn’t a good idea,
but I thought I had it and the adrenaline was pumping, so I tried it again. The first time I tried it I had stretched the cores on my wheels a bit so when I hit the second time I just stopped and flew straight back. It felt like a car accident. I couldn’t really feel my legs from my knees down. My legs were shaking, and I thought I had broken at least one of my ankles. Sure it would be sweet to land, but its not worth it anymore. Both days I tried it, I couldn’t skate for 2 weeks afterwards. I am not planning on ever trying it again.
You film street section after street section while also competing at the major skatepark competitions. What do you find more fun? And from which do you make more money?
It depends. Sometimes I have a lot of fun skating contests, and sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I have a lot of fun filming, and sometimes its the most frustrating thing in the world. The contests are fun because a lot of times I get to travel and see the world in the process of getting to and from them. Filming is fun cause its around home, and I can choose how I want to portray myself to the viewer. In terms of money, contests are FAR more lucrative. The last few years I have matched or come very close to matching my yearly salary in contest winnings. I suppose I would be getting my salary anyway if I quit making street sections so filming sections doesn’t really make me any money at all. Its just something I enjoy doing, and will continue to do in the future.
You are clearly one of the great athletes of our culture. How do you care for your body? Do you work out, maintain a specific diet, or stretch? How has your body changed from when you were 18 to now?
The world athlete kind of makes me laugh. I drink on a pretty regular basis, I eat pretty shitty, I don’t work out other than skating, and I don’t “train.” I do stretch before and after skating, but that is one of the only good things I do for myself. I should be better, and I am trying to get better about it, but its hard to get motivated to do things for no reason. I just love to be active, so even if I am not skating I am golfing, or playing basketball or something. My body has changed a lot. When I was 18 I would bounce. Now I don’t. Instead of getting up after a really hard fall and doing it again, I go home. I get sore easier, and sometimes I wake up with pain in my back if I have been doing high impact stuff recently. I need to start taking better care of myself before I start really falling apart.
What is more important to you with regard to your own blading—the style of the trick or the trick itself?—and why?
Umm. Its both. I think style is incredibly important, but I like seeing hard ass tricks done with good style. Only certain people can pull off doing easy stuff super steezy and getting away with it. I am not really one of them haha. I just do what is fun to me. I have the most fun skating when I am pushing myself the hardest, or going the biggest. When I land a trick I am really scared of that is when skating is the most fun. That is the feeling that keeps me in love with skating. Thats why I tend to skate really hard or really big on a pretty regular basis.
Who is your favorite blader and what is your favorite blade video?
Man thats a hard one. I think aaron fienberg is the best rollerblader in the world. He did the most ruthless tricks ever. He could skate street and park equally as dominating. Any of his parts are on my favorite list for sure. I also always have and still love shimas blading. Dude has always held it down, and still does. One time I ordered a medium shirt from the hotel because I saw him wearing it at NISS in phoenix. That has nothing to do with anything. haha. Coup de tat is up there. That team at that time would still be untouchable today. that video was awesome.
What advice do you have for younger rollerbladers who are just getting into blading and trying to ‘come up’?
Only do it if you love it, and you are having fun. You won’t ever make a shit ton of money. It probably won’t get you a bunch of girls. A lot of people will hate on your sport. However, if you love it, and you have fun blading it is the best life ever.
What can we expect from you in the future?—In terms of blading and as a person.
Umm. I don’t know? Something fresh. I try to constantly evolve, so hopefully its something you haven’t really seen from me before. Or something similar, but with a new twist on it I guess? I don’t know really haha. I never even know what to expect from myself…I just kind of go with the flow. So I guess you can expect to see whatever the flow leads me to. |
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