Tyler Jeremy: Never Stop Pushing

When Tyler Jeremy Peterson was 15 he tagged me in a video he posted to his instagram. First thing I noticed was his funny blue helmet which made him look like a kid, mostly because he was a kid. The second thing I noticed was that even the best pros weren’t doing the tricks in his video so casually. Third thing I noticed was that he was from St. Louis. Now, many of you think I’m from Nebraska and I am, to a degree, but before Nebraska there was St. Louis. I lived there until I was 13 then spent every summer there until I moved to California at 18 and turned pro. There is no place on Earth I love more than St. Louis. So, when I saw that Tyler was from there I couldn’t help but take an interest in what he was doing. Two years later he made it out to California to pursue his dream of skateboarding. But after his dad’s cancer came back, he quickly found himself in St. Louis once again to do what any decent human being would do: take care of him.

Out of all the videos I’ve made personally, and all the videos we’ve made and posted on the Berrics over the past 12 years, this is probably the most personal one to me. Off and on, over the last three months, I spent time with Tyler shooting this video and I can tell you that I have never been so singularly inspired by someone in my entire life. Despite all that’s happened in his life the past year and a half, he’s continued to stay strong and move forward and never stop pushing.

When the Japanese clothing brand, Tatras, approached us about doing a collaboration I was hesitant as they are a fashion brand and sometimes when fashion brands get involved with skateboarding it never quite turns out right. You know what I’m talking about—the skaters looking not like skaters in photos obviously not shot by skate photographers. Anyhow, I expressed to them my trepidation and told them that the only way we could collaborate is if they let us do what we wanted with the campaign. We would have to make content that went with the drop of the capsule collection that all skateboarders could be proud of. Not skate videos because everyone makes skate videos, but stories about real skateboarders like you that all human beings could understand and tell them from a skateboarder’s perspective. What happened next was a big surprise. Their answer was simple: “Ok, we agree.” And there it was. So, thank you to Tatras for not only making a really high-quality capsule of product with us but allowing us to represent ourselves and skateboarding in a way that makes us proud. This video is the first in a series and like I said, it’s probably the most personal one I’ve made to date. It’s short and sweet and I hope that you love it and are as inspired by Tyler as I am. #NeverStopPushing —Steve Berra