Additional Information
No, as fun as it would be, universities do not offer a degree in skateboarding.
This is one career that really involves just learning things on your own.
However, if you plan on entering another aspect of the skateboarding industry
after your pro career comes to an end, as many pros do, education can help.
Skateboarding is an industry that is famous for "looking out for its own,"
and will usually hire someone with a pro skateboarding background over a non-skater.
Education never hurts. Business classes would be a great idea if you plan
on opening your own skateboard shop or working for a skateboarding products
company, for example.
"The skateboarding industry is really run by a lot of old pros who own
their own companies," says pro skateboarder Kristian Svitak. "I started my
own company two years ago and am just in the midst of launching a wheel company
as well, so hopefully I'll be doing that when I'm old. The industry is very
welcoming to hire old pros or old sponsored guys to work positions in skateboarding.
"That's what's really cool about it. There might be an opening at a skateboard
company for some position and some guy could walk in off the street who just
came from Harvard, and he knows this and that, but he doesn't understand skateboarding
at all.
"Then you could have some guy [without that education] but he's 100 percent
skateboarder, he knows skateboarding frontward and backwards, and he's probably
going to get that job. Unless it's a position for an accountant," he laughs.
"Skateboarding is very welcoming to keep their own running the industry,
so there's a lot of potential out there to work in different parts of skateboarding
after your career is done."