As a young skater you always have the dream of getting sponsored, getting a bunch of free stuff and eventually going pro. How cool would it be to make a living based on how good you skate, right? It’s been a few years since I have been in the skateboard scene and was even sponsored myself by a local skateshop at one time. I would like to share the following five tips I learned along the way that may help you gain sponsorship.
Tip#1 – Go To Skateboarding Events
If you go to skateboarding events you are naturally going to run into people that take skateboarding seriously and will meet people that treat skateboarding as their career. These events, whether it be a demo or a competition, are a great way to meet important people. In addition, most skate demos open up the obstacles to the full audience for certain time periods, so you may be able to show off some skills to get the attention of a future sponsor right then and there.
Tip #2 – Create a sponsor me video
The old fashioned way to get sponsored is to bring in your skate video and tell them to watch it. This is actually how I got sponsored by the local skateshop Hanger94. This takes a lot of work to film your best tricks and edit the footage together, but it is surely worth your time if it lands you a sponsor.
Tip #3 – Hang out with other sponsored skaters
If you now that the local skate team always go to the nearby skatepark then it may be smart to hang out and skate there as well. The better team managers and team riders get to know you, the better the chances you will have getting sponsored by them. Also, skating around others that are as good as or better than you is great motivation!
Tip #4 – Take skateboarding seriously
Skateboarding evolves everyday, in order to keep up with the direction this sport is heading, you need to stay on top of your game. If skateboarding is what is truly important to you, than you may consider laying off on the boozing and blazing. You are not going to make the same progress and improvement on tricks if you are always trying to recover from the night before.
Tip #5 – Understand what being sponsored means
Getting sponsored is more than simply getting a bunch of free stuff because you are a good skateboarder. It is a business investment for the company sponsoring you, and they are expecting you to properly promote their products. Understanding the benefits for a business can help you realize if it makes sense for you to be sponsored or not.
I hope this helps you gain some great sponsors and I would love to hear any stories have. Good luck and remember to have fun out there!