NICK TUCKER PROFILE — From The Skateboard Mag Issue 133
_Words: _Kevin Wilkins
Photography: Herman Jimenez
Portraits: Atiba Jefferson
The hardest thing in the world is figuring out what you want.
The doing mostly takes care of itself, but seeing your way through a life of everything between here and there can prove to be annoying at best … and impossible at worst.
So when you woke up on that fateful day and knew “I want to skateboard,” you suddenly found yourself at the front of the line, lifetimes ahead of the rest of the planet’s sheeple. But you know who was already there, waiting for you with a bag full of bigger flips, inward heels, and lateflips? Nick Tucker, that’s who.
Switch Frontside Flip Manual Backside Flip Out. Santa Monica, California.
Early on, while the rest of us were figuring out stuff like haircuts and weekend plans, Tucker was shredding in the front row. But the ripping sound you heard wasn’t just natural steez, sure-footed confidence, or a smoothness so innate that it infects everyone around him, it was the clean tear of the universe getting out of the way for someone who knew that all he wanted was a life in skateboarding.
And the rest—as you can see here—is easy.
Switch Double Heelflip. Long Beach, California.
“When your parents say, ‘Trust me. You gotta do this. You’re gonna thank me when you’re older.’ You’re like, ‘F that. No way.’ But now you’re like, ‘Oh, shit. I should have listened.’”
Nosegrind Nollie Heelflip Out. Guangzhou, China.
“The hardest thing in the world is figuring out what you want.”
Switch Ollie. Pasadena, California.
“Every time I get in the van with Paul Rodriguez I kinda have to tell myself, “All right, man. You just gotta act like you’re supposed to be here and this is meant to be.”
Nollie Double Heelflip. Azusa, California.
“You’re never entitled and skateboarding doesn’t ever owe you anything.”
