Interview with Ruben Najera
Questions and lifestyle photo by “Scoffman”
Action shot by Sheyla V.
So before we get started are there any shout-outs you want to give? Definitely!!! All of my sponsors!! Jason at SCOFF skateboarding hell yea indestructible laces man!!!Mike G. at ) nice skate shoes, STRUGGLE skateboards, Lisa at Destructo & Speed Metal, Jason at Gripgum, Eric at OGIO, John at Thiesnuts hardware, Lisa at Peter Grimm, Dylan at olliepop, Scotty at Taildevil and Isaac at Cali Boardwear. I would also like to thank my beautiful lady Sheyla in which I adore and love. She supports me 100%. And my family of course no doubt!!!
So how did you come about to be on the Scoff team? Well I think it was an email I received from you back in the day. I believe I am one of the original riders. The concept was so rad and I had never seen anything like it. You truly have to get a pair of laces to see what I mean. It takes forever to tear through. It’s as if there’s some magic powers embodied within the laces.
How long have you been skateboarding for? About 7 years give or take.
What first got you into it?My cousin JC and some dude in high school that I used to watch skate.
Who did you look up to when you were first getting started?
Some local skateboarder they called “Q” that dude was so tech and was ollieing like 7 boards back in the day it was amazing to watch when I was younger.
What kinds of trouble do you and your buddies get into while skating? Have you ever been arrested before? Aww man hell yea. The Struggle guys and I have been through a lot. We are always running from the cops. Also way back in the day I remember getting tackled by an officer because we were running from him in a spot. Guess the guy thought we stole something. They ended up taking me and three other guys to jail; we sat in there the whole day until my friends mom bailed us out. They put us in one of those rooms where you can’t see through the mirror but they can see you, it was a trip. They put us in handcuffs and everything, threw us in the cop car.
What’s your favorite skatespot? Aww man, the black box park is buttery, I like skating downtown and the manual pads at Torrey pines. I still haven’t found a spot that I truly love though or I could consider my favorite because I really am into skating new stuff all the time. I get tired of spots fast I guess.
What is it that you love most about skateboarding? The feeling you get cruising the streets. And how it takes your mind off of everything else shi*tty going on in the world.
You told me before that your sort skipping from place to place right now and living out of your car sometimes. How’s that going for you, found a permanent place to stay yet? Yea actually I am back in my hometown right now been here for a little while now about a week or two id say. Things were hectic the last 4 months of my life though. Pretty much you could say I lived out of my car and at fast food for 120 days. Or cup of noodle if I got lucky and found a microwave. It was harsh I also got in two huge car wrecks during all this man I went through so much crap. My car caught on fire and I had to jump out the window when I was involved in an insane car wreck while driving on the 5 coming from . I had no car after that and resorted to public transportation in order to get to and from my job. Which meant major couch crashing and an even unhealthier diet? But you know what I learned more and got a real taste of the street life through those tough times man. And I had my skateboard the whole way through.
If you’d never pick up a skateboard, what would you be doing today? Dude I would be up to no good. Maybe I wouldn’t even be alive. I thank god for skateboarding. Because of skateboarding I kept my head straight, I even met my girlfriend through it. Through all my hard times it kept me alright. It kept me sane in an insane world. I can thank it for so much good in my life. It has taken me a lot of places and I never want to put it down. Skate for life man. SKATE FOR LIFE.
To view video of Ruben check out his team page on www.StruggleSkateboards.com
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