| Tony
Hawk turned pro when he was just fourteen years old. Now he is a PlayStation
figure, has his own company, and gets more than a million dollars a year
in product endorsements... all because he is a great skateboarder. He has
invented almost 80 skateboard tricks, won more than 70 contests, and is
the first person ever to land a 900 (2 ½ rotations) in competition
during the 1999 X-Games.
His book HAWK: OCCUPATION:
SKATEBOARDER, tells about his life skateboarding in the years since the
1980's. He give details about getting knocked unconscious, the broken bones
and teeth, stitches, cuts and scrapes he's endured as a skinny out-of-step
teenager who liked a sport other kids didn't get. Tony started out so little
that he couldn't keep his speed up to transition into the next move. He
eventually found friends and allies in the legendary Del Mar skate venue
"Oasis." Tony admits that he was rough on his parents as a kid - too much
energy, too easily frustrated, and he didn't like the things the other
kids liked. But once he got hooked on skateboarding, he channeled his energy
and determination into learning (and inventing) tricks, entering competitions,
and bonding with a cat named Zorro he found that really didn't like anyone
but him.
He writes about life in the
sport before skateboarding was popular to what it is like to be an athletic
legend during the meteoric rise of extreme sports. And he writes about
the down side of being a famous sports figure (he was booed and jeered
for not performing at an event because he was sick.) There's a section
called, "Look Ma, I'm a Video Game" where Tony describes how he worked
with the Activision to create one of the best selling PlayStation video
game series.
This is a very honest look
at a rise to fame for an unlikely kid in a sport whose time had finally
come. Read it and wonder what the next big thing might be and if you might
be already doing it!
(Jan Knauer, Colorado
Blue Spruce YA Book Award, 2003) |
