Issue 10 P-Rod

Paul Rodriguez: Golden Child

Words by Retrokid

Photography by Steve Mullholand

2005 was quite a year for Paul Rodriguez: A repeat gold medal at the X Games, first place at Slam City Jam in Vancouver, signature shoe at Nike, joining the Plan B skateboard team, a spot on the new game Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland and flying all over the world doing what he loves: skateboarding. With the kind of year Rodriguez is having, it would definitely be tough to top. No worries, though, he’s young with boundless energy and enthusiasm. Rodriguez may be young, but the way kids are growing up these days, you’d never believe that he is only twenty years old. The way he skates, the way he talks, the way he handles himself in a throng of crazy fans. His actions mask his young age, especially with the spotlight shone directly on him as one of skateboarding’s ambassadors. He handles the pressure well in contests, in crowds and in life in general.

Sole Collector got to spend some time with Rodriguez between skate gigs, and I was impressed by his demeanor and maturity. He has what it takes to be one of the best: the talent for skateboarding, the “look” that advertisers want and the right attitude to handle it all. Rodriguez is a good kid… but more on that later. Let’s recount the day and a half I got to hang with the golden child known as P-Rod.

San Jose, CaliforniaSeptember 11, 2005 - Mountain Dew Action Sports Tour 4:30pm

You could hear—and smell—the excitement in the air at the Mountain Dew Action Sports Tour in San Jose. The four-day event was full of action sports goodness with superstars in tow: Dave Mirra and Ryan Guettler in BMX, Jeremy Stenberg and the Metal Mulisha in FMX, Bucky Lasek, PLG and Burnquist in skate vert. But I was there for only one reason, and it was to watch Rodriguez skate. My main man Adam hooked up some media passes, so I got to enjoy the skating from an excellent vantage point in the photo pit. Making my way through the heavy crowds, my five senses were assaulted with the sounds of Freestyle Moto-X, the smell and taste of BBQ burgers, the sight of the giant half-pipe… and the touch of the crazy girl standing next to me. Well, more like she was crowding me out in the photo area, trying to get the attention of one skater. Every time he rolled by, I got jostled and elbowed. “PAUL! PAUL! PAUL! PAULLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!” The girl would raise her voice two decibel levels every time Rodriguez skated by during the practice runs, trying to catch his attention with shrill bursts of sudden shrieks, much to the dismay of my eardrums. No matter; I was determined to stand my ground and watch Rodriguez pull off the smooth tricks that I had heretofore only witnessed in his video parts. Trying to filter out the crowd noise and piercing shrieks, I started thinking about this article and how to best present Rodriguez the skater. Maybe take it from the beginning? Rodriguez has been skating for roughly nine years, and his beginnings are not that much different from other young kids with an interest in skateboarding. In the seventh grade, he’d sit with his best friend watching the skateboarders after school; every now and again, they were nice enough to let him try an ollie. Having a taste for skateboarding along with a growing interest, Rodriguez saved up his Christmas money and went out and bought his first skateboard—a Powell blank deck with Venture trucks, Rat Bones wheels and Bones Swiss bearings.

Simply by watching classmates do their skate tricks, P-Rod entered the world of skateboarding, populated by people of all ages, races, styles…the list goes on. The only aspect that may stir a difference of opinion among skaters is the current state of skateboarding. Rodriguez comments that there are many skaters who feel that their sport should remain as far from the mainstream of organized competitions and television as possible; however, he enjoys the resurgence skateboarding has seen in recent years. He hopes one day skateboarding and its athletes will receive enough attention so that people who have never even touched a skateboard can understand what it is they love so much and why they do it.

“Right now, sometimes we’re looked at as just like, whatever; just kids vandalizing this and that, but we want to show people the art of our sport,” he says. That may sound a bit ambitious, but with Paul’s help, that goal seems a little less daunting. So is it work, or what? We sometimes forget that professional athletes have a job, and like all types of work, there are parts we love, and parts we hate. When we talked about his job, I already knew he loved skating, but I wanted to know about the parts he despised. Expecting an answer like he hated doing demos or appearances, Rodriguez surprised me when he told me that he doesn’t dwell at all on things like that. He finds that doing so is worthless because it’s such a small price to pay for living his greatest dream of being a professional skater. He gets to wake up whenever he wants and the only thing on the agenda is to do what he loves to do, and what he’d be doing anyway. “I really don’t try and nitpick at how this kind of sucks, that kind of sucks,” he says, “so I just try and keep it on the positive, because it’s way too much of a blessing, the life I live, to be finding the little bad things,” he explains. Doing research for this interview, I discovered that his skate crew goes by the initials SHS, but I couldn’t find out any information on what the letters stood for. Hoping to be the first to unmask the hidden meaning, I asked about the origins of his secret skate crew. “I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you,” he laughs. Apparently, no one but the four members of the SHS crew (Daniel Abadi, Kevin “Spanky” Long, Scuba Steve Chalme, and P-Rod) knows exactly what it means. One interesting story, though, was when Rodriguez reminisced about when he met his buddy Spanky at skate camp. Whoa now, skate camp? Yessir, that was during his first year of skating, and it was so much fun, that he returned the following year. Imagine that. Rodriguez going to skate camp. Actually, I think that’s kind of awesome—sign me up! From skate camp to X Games, Slam City Jam and the Mountain Dew Action Sports Tour, Paul’s gone from skating during his free time with friends for fun and camaraderie to a schedule of professional competitions and repeat gold medals—Basically, work. So Rodriguez has to combine his work and vacations together. Let’s face it, if he was on vacation, he’d probably be skating anyway and being busy affords him many opportunities. “Man, I’m blessed. As long as God can put opportunities in front of me, I’m going to try and take advantage of them. I’m going to see what I can do with them because it’s not like these opportunities are going to be knocking at me forever,” says Paul. His work ethic is rewarded with the opportunities he’s always dreamed about. So maybe the story of how Rodriguez started skateboarding is the same as many others, but the difference is that he’s living his dream, and it hasn’t ended yet. “PAUL!!!! PAULLLLLL!!!” I was snapped back to reality when the girl next to me started shrieking again when the Dew Action Sports Tour finally got underway. I was excited to see all the skaters pull off some gnarly tricks, but my main focus was on Paul. On his first run, he pulled off some switch tricks off the hip and hit some of the rails on the course. What struck me right off the bat was that Paul’s skating is really a sight to behold, he skates so fluidly and effortlessly. I know it’s always clichéd to say someone made something look so easy, but damn. Rodriguez really does make skating look that easy.
Zipping around the street course, I snapped a few pics of Rodriguez in action, and even got a nice shot of Rodriguez and Jereme Rogers chilling between rounds. The crowd was into it and the skating was top notch, including some gnarly tricks by TNT Tony Trujillo (frontside boneless off the big quarter ramp) and Austen Seaholm (360 flip footplant). But at the end of the day, wunderkind Ryan Sheckler walked away with first place, while Rodriguez had a great showing in fifth place. Satisfied, the crowd made its way to the autograph line, where hundreds of kids lined up to catch a glimpse at their skateboarding heroes. I wanted to wait, but the line was just too long and I had a big day tomorrow. I was flying to Los Angeles to interview Mr. Rodriguez himself, so I had to get my questions ready.

Chatsworth, CaliforniaSeptember 12, 2005 Paul Rodriguez house1:00pm

Arriving at Paul’s house was pretty surreal. I had just seen it on TV about a week before on ESPN’s It’s the Shoes. Rodriguez answered the door in a hot lime-green BRS tee and white on white Air Force 1s and we rolled inside. He was very hospitable as we exchanged theusual amiable greetings. His pad is quaint and comfortable, with just enough to live comfortably when actually at home (Rodriguez spends a lot of time on the road for demos and contests). His roommate Nigel was working on the computer editing some skate footage, and Rodriguez was just sitting down to eat a Subway sandwich. Before he ate, Rodriguez brought down a box of assorted P-Rods, and I flipped through the box and looked at the amazing Artist Series custom P-Rods. The Marco Hernandez joints are just so nice in person, and the Stash and Futura ones are always easy on the eyes. While he ate, we all huddled around the computer to watch skate footage, and Rodriguez was perpetually stoked to see his buddies’ footage. After he ate, we did a few photos in the house, and then I got to sit down with him in his garage for an in-depth interview while he put together a board. We talked about everything, from his roots in skateboarding to the current state of skating to the ever dreaded talk of selling out (and yes, his favorite skaters…which include Mr. Koston, Tom Penny, Guy Mariano, Andrew Reynolds and others). First thing—and it’s something you may or may not know—Rodriguez the skater is the son of Paul Rodriguez the comedian/actor. When I first researched Paul, I thought it was funny that the comedian/actor had the same name (turns out they have the same name for a reason). Having a famous father actually helped Rodriguez deal with some of the media attention and money management. “It’s definitely a blessing to have my dad around, and on top of that, since my dad’s been in the entertainment industry for so long, it’s good to get advice. Skating and the entertainment industry have a lot of similarities; you have managers, agents, contracts, this and that. My dad has been through it like twenty-five-some years, so he’s always got real good business advice… just how to handle myself in public or this and that; Pops is there to give me good tips,” says Paul. Switching topics, we touched on how skateboarders go from being amateurs to pros, and how every skater always dreams of having his/her own pro shoe and pro deck. In Paul’s case, he got the best of both worlds. “When I started skating, I didn’t see a pro shoe being on Nike and I didn’t see a pro board being on Plan B,” explains Paul. But timing changed everything, as now Rodriguez has his own pro shoe on Nike Skateboarding and is on the legendary Plan B skateboard team. Being on Nike is a big responsibility, but Rodriguez sees it as an honor. “It’s ridiculous to me, because my hero growing up, my ultimate favorite athlete was Michael Jordan. So to be affiliated with Nike is such a blessing, I couldn’t be happier,” gushes Paul, who genuinely seemed excited to ride for such a prestigious company. “They don’t make me feel as though I’m lost in the mix; I really feel like they are taking care of me. They’re really concernedabout what I think or what I feel on my shoes or my product,” says Paul, excited to be not only on the Nike stable of athletes, but one of the guys on the skate team.

Being on the Nike skateboarding roster, Rodriguez didn’t know if he would mesh in with the rest of the team. “I love the team, man. We’re a huge family,” says Paul. He admitted when he first got on he didn’t know if he would be able to get to know them or not, but they’ve definitely meshed. “We’re all good friends and just hang out together. I never knew I had so much in common with, say, a guy like Chet Childress. It’s awesome!” That’s the great thing with skateboarding; everyone is so different, but yet we’re all in a way the same, and that’s really what skateboarding is in general. Rodriguez agrees: “That’s what I love about this sport, you can express who you are as an individual but you also got that common bond in skateboarding.” There was no animosity among the team, with Rodriguez getting his own pro model. Going in, he was afraid that some of the guys would feel weird, Rodriguez being the new kid and getting his own shoe already. That wasn’t the case at all: “There were no, like, weird vibes or nothing, all the guys were cool.” Working with designer Michael Hernandez, the first Air Zoom Rodriguez Low was created, with future shoes coming down the pipeline. Rodriguez has as much (or as little) input into his shoes as he wants, but usually he’ll consult with Michael Hernandez first. “I’ll tell him what I’m interested in, what I want. He’ll also give me feedback as far as like, letting me know what the newest technology is, or what new materials they have, or show me drawings of what he’s been working on, and then we’ll just collaborate. I really do try and have input in my product,” explains Paul. “It’s crazy to me because I didn’t know how it would feel, it’s just a real surreal feeling,” Rodriguez says, explaining what its like to have his own sneaker. “I know that shoe has my name on it, but at the same time it almost doesn’t fully hit me. You know how sometimes things hit you later on in life or what not, but it’s almost like it still hasn’t fully sunk in yet.”

Rolling along in the interview, Nigel popped his head in the garage, and mentioned that they were going to hit a skate spot in a few, and asked if we wanted to tag along. I had completely lost track of time, but how can you turn down a chance to watch Rodriguez in his true element? I wrapped up talking about Nike and skating, saving the dreaded big question for last: selling out. Not wanting to talk about that just yet, Rodriguez broke out some goodies right before we left, his X Games gold medals and the shoes he wore when he won. We packed everything up and Paul’s buddies rolled up in different cars and then we hit the SoCal traffic en route to East Los Angeles.

East Los Angeles, CaliforniaSeptember 12, 2005 Abandoned warehouse 4:28pm

I’ve said this about Los Angeles before, and I’ll say it again here: TRAFFIC SUCKS. Barely moving on the I-5 is almost as bad as barely moving on the I-10, but today was actually tolerable because I got to chat with Rodriguez some more. We rolled up to the secret spot, located somewhere in East Los Angeles in a row of abandoned warehouses. The spot is pretty famous. You can see it in a few different skate videos, but today was just a private session. Rodriguez and his buddies pushed around and did a few ledges and I sat down to observe.

Again, like I stated earlier, Rodriguez is just so fluid with his skating. Not even warming up that long, he was pulling 50-50 grinds, crooked grinds and smith grinds like they were nothing. As I sat there watching Rodriguez and his buddies skate, I started compiling more notes in my notebook, writing the word “sellout?” on top of a blank page. I was a little wary to ask, but I really wanted to know his thoughts about selling out. “The way I see it is, I’m only a sellout if I’m not acting myself, if I’m not being myself for money. I’m still me, a skater.” They say that money is the root of all evil, but if that’s true, then we all take our turn in earning this evil because the fact is everyone needs money to survive. We need money to buy food, and clothes, and wait… you didn’t steal this magazine, did you? That’s how Rodriguez makes his living. It is part of his job, and he’s lucky that he has landed a sponsorship with a company that produces top shelf products in conjunction with their athletes. By that, I mean that every signature product results from a collaboration and communication between Nike and the athlete. Paul’s decision to join the Nike SB team produces breakthrough product in the interest of his fellow skaters. His colleagues who switch shoe companies don’t get this kind of “sellout” malediction because they moved amongst shoe companies whose main focus is making skate shoes. Anytime an athlete changes sponsors, the question of money is always an issue. Did he do it for the money? That’s the easy answer. What’s his motivation? His other change in sponsorship that raises a “sellout” flag is his move from Girl Skateboards to Plan B. Briefly, Girl Skateboards was started by two former Plan B skaters (Mike Carroll and Rick Howard) in 1993. Plan B skateboards were put on hold for a while after founder Mike Ternasky’s death in a car accident in 1997. Rodriguez landed his Girl sponsor in 2002 shortly after turning pro. In 2005, Danny Way and Colin McKay are restarting Plan B’s business ventures with an all new team consisting of Colin McKay, Danny Way, Ryan Gallant, PJ Ladd, and the newly signed P-Rod. Was there money involved? Of course, but what we tend to forget is the brand name that comes with it. So athletes who sign with Nike are sellouts? I don’t think so. Rodriguez talked about how every skateboarder, when they’re just starting out, has that dream of their own signature shoe, and their own signature deck. Those are good indicators that you’re doing pretty well. As I mentioned earlier, everyone associates that swoosh with a big company that has lots of money, but we forget about the effect that the swoosh itself has on us. Seeing that logo on a product not only tells us that it is a performance product, but we associate that logo with legendary athletes like MJ, Michael Vick, Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong. Without these athletes, we wouldn’t have such performance products. These are core athletes, and so is Paul.

“I still can’t imagine that I’m actually affiliated with the company who is responsible for MJ being who he is, and just even to be able to talk to Danny Way on the phone, or just go hang out with him is ridiculous, man,” he says. For those who feel Rodriguez moved to Plan B for the money, “Plan B, you can’t get more core skateboarding than Plan B—are you kidding me?” exclaims Paul. “The guy’s jumping the Great Wall of China; he’s a legend of our sport. To be asked to ride for a company with that guy and Colin McKay, that is as core as you get in skateboarding.” If anything, this young athlete is exhibiting all the traits of a smart professional athlete. Pro athletes constantly put themselves at risk for injury and must depend on their performance ability. Even if he or she avoids serious injury throughout their career, their abilities will begin to taper, and they must think about life after skateboarding or basketball or football. That’s why securing your future is so key early in your career. “I don’t want to be 30, 40 years old and be done with my skate career and have nothing to show for it. I devoted all this, a couple decades of my life to this, and now, I can’t even raise a family.” So what does Rodriguez really think of those people who’ve already labeled him a sellout? “Everyone has their opinions, and they’re entitled. I’m not going to be upset at anyone that decides to think that way of me, that’s fine. … As far as all that sellout talk, it doesn’t bother me. I mean, you can’t change everyone’s opinion, some people may feel that I did, or some people may not feel that way.” His decision strangely parallels the two skaters who initially left Plan B to start Girl Skateboards. He says, “Carroll, Howard, like for where they are in their lives, I think that was their best move to leave Plan B and start Girl because look where they are now, they’re good. I saw that move and I felt like that would be my best move in my career to do the Plan B thing… It’s an honor, it’s a blessing.” When it comes down to the wire, Rodriguez is a skater who skates for the love of his art, and the motivations for the decisions concerning his skating career will always reflect his interests and those of the skating community.

Let’s also remember that Paul’s not the only skater to see mainstream attention. Stevie Williams is just starting his affiliation with Rbk; Bam Margera now stars in commercials and continues his success on MTV. Paul’s another skating icon who will do his best to see that skating will always have its place in the action sports world. “Hopefully, the things I’m doing, the things Stevie’s doing, the things Bam are doing, are opening it up for the rest of us.” We can hope that the revival of skateboarding to the mainstream doesn’t stop until the sport and its athletes get the recognition it so rightly deserves. With that, I closed my notebook and looked at my watch. Damn. Had to catch a flight out of Los Angeles, and with traffic, that means I had to leave three hours early. I thanked Rodriguez for all the time he took out of his day to talk, and also thanked him for just letting me watch him skate. He was very gracious and said goodbye, then went back to skating. Thinking about what he said, I had to agree with him. Selling out is such a subjective term. One person’s definition might not be someone else’s at all. Rodriguez a sellout? I just didn’t see it, not with his passion for skateboarding and his positive outlook on being on Nike and Plan B.

On the plane, I thought of one question in particular I asked Paul, and the answer I got. Rodriguez has a tattoo of Jesus on his right arm, and I asked him to explain why he got it: “Well, Jesus means everything to me. My belief in him: He’s my savior; He died for me and everybody. So I try to live my life Christ-like… not saying that I live perfectly, but my beliefs are what motivate my life. How I act, I try to act in a way the best I can. So the tattoo, it’s just my reminder for what He did for me. At times when I feel like slipping, or doing something wrong or doing something that I shouldn’t be doing, it’s a reminder to keep me in line, it keeps me focused.” To bring back a point I brought up in the intro, Rodriguez is a good kid.

I was impressed with the way he conducted himself during the interview, and was just stoked to see his enthusiasm for skating as well as life. “I definitely don’t want to take anything for granted at any point in time; when that happens that’s the easiest way to lose everything. I’m happy with it, happier than I could ever be, and I’m just going to keep trying to make it happen while I’m here.”As for last words of encouragement to his fans, he just says to be yourself: “You have to be happy with yourself as a person; you have to be happy with your friends and your family,” he stressed. “If I could help any kid, whatever his/her race, color, creed, religion, anything… If they can get inspired off something I’m doing, that’s a blessing for me right there. I just try and be the best I can be and help let kids know that their dream is possible. If they really want it, they can really get it.”

“I just grew up more as an observer, I just sit back and analyze things and think of things. When I’m reading the Bible, I really take into consideration what I’m reading and really think on it and try and just better myself. Everyday I’m trying to become a better person in every aspect of my life. Everyday, I’m trying to become a better skater; I’m trying to become a better human being. A better son, brother…I don’t want to get too corny with it, but everyday, I’m trying to progress myself in one way or another.”

Popularity: 6%