Tony Hawk Stoked To ‘Compete With Teenagers’ At X Games

Once self-described as “a scrawny kid from San Diego,” Tony Hawk spent the 1980s and ‘90s as a daring pioneer on skateboards. Brought onto the famous Bones Brigade by Stacy Peralta as its youngest member, Hawk later became both the team standout and skateboarding’s most acclaimed athlete.

Now less than a month before his 55th birthday, the skater also known as Birdman is talking about longevity—both in general and as an athlete.

“I am going to be 55 years old next month,” Hawk said, as he paused for a moment to laugh, “and I am competing in the X Games! There’s not a lot of sports where you have 55-year-olds competing with teenagers.”

Hawk will be part of the 2023 X Games, set for May 12-14 just outside Tokyo, where he will be competing once again in the event for the best vertical trick.

From his first foray at the 1983 NSA Spring Nationals well on into the mid-1990s, Hawk won almost every skateboard competition home and abroad that one could win. He became a legend and a superstar in the process, bagging countless endorsement deals, while also starting his own skateboard maker, gear, and production company called Birdhouse.

In 1999, Hawk showcased “The 900” at the X Games in San Francisco, completing a 900-degree (or 2½-revolution) aerial vertical trick, a move documented in 2022’s HBO documentary film, Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off.

Hawk said during our interview on Zoom this week, that he pays much more attention not just to the physicality of his skateboarding but everyday health.

“Overall now I look at sleep tracking, heart rate, and everything down to diet. I never worried about those things before,” Hawk said about his change in routines. “But as I got into my forties and now into my fifties, I realized that if I wanted to be able to keep doing this professionally, I have to lean into all that information and to be disciplined.”

As a part of his more-intense interest in physical health and wellness, Hawk has teamed up with watchmaker Citizen to unveil an advanced new series of timepieces called the CZ Smart.

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Unveiled originally at CES 2023, the Gen-2 CZ Smartwatch comes with the YouQ wellness app developed using research pioneered by NASA’s Ames Research Center and AI models built with IBM Watson. Hawk said it’s like a wearable self-care advisor, or like putting a piece of NASA on your wrist.

“I’ve never worn any sort of health tracking device, so it’s all new to me, but the YouQ app gives you a lot of information on your health,” said Hawk, who is an avid wristwatch enthusiast. “It’s exciting to see how it keeps you up-to-date on your alertness, your optimal time (of the day) when you’re at your peak performance.”

VIDEO: Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off, official trailer

The CZ Smart scientifically determines a wearer’s chronotype—a hereditary trait that marks an individual’s preferred timing of sleep and wake—and uses it to forecast levels of the wearer’s cognitive and physical energy. The technology provides a 24-hour outlook with its hourly Power Score and provides personalized insights to help the user extend peaks or curb drops in alertness.

Hawk added that he’s a “midday dynamo” and that the hours of the late morning and early afternoon “are my time to perform when I’m really energetic.”

“I wear it while I skate, so I get all the feedback of my heart rate and the exercise. It’s just fascinating, and I’m thankful to be living in this age of technology, honestly.”

But is skateboarding much different for Tony Hawk today compared to his first run of fame back in the ‘80s and ‘90s?

Put a different way—are the demands of skateboarding any more onerous for the skate maestro in his fifties versus the Tony Hawk of yesteryear? I asked him.

“It’s more the idea that you understand your rhythms—and why you would be feeling exhausted at certain times, or why you could take advantage of other times (of day). That’s a big help,” he said.

That said, Hawk acknowledges that no athletic career comes without some setbacks—and some injuries.

Just over a year ago, at age 53, Hawk broke his femur. The injury occurred just a day before HBO released its first promotional trailer. Over the last year, Hawk has taken to Twitter to reassure fans and observers about is recovery and intentions to keep skating, he does say that injuries have fed his new, health-related self-awareness.

Skateboarding: The Great Melting Pot

One aspect of skating that Hawk says is most positive is its openness to everyone. He said that while the sport immediately spoke to him as “a misfit kid” too small to play football or run track, the sport’s focus on pushing the edges goes hand-in-hand with its tendency to accept people of all backgrounds and skill levels.

“It’s more welcoming and inclusive—and much more diverse,” Hawk describes it. “If you go to a skateboarding park right now, you’re going to see grown adults skating with little kids of all genders and races. And it’s a great melting pot, truly.”

Hawk is also quick to remind people that skateboarding, while seen today as the most innovative of sports, had its growing pains. Likewise, Hawk had his own challenges.

“My early challenge was my size, as other skaters relied on their size and bulk to get speed. I was this sort of lanky, skinny, small kid, and I had to create my own way of getting airborne because I couldn’t do it in the traditional way.” Hawk said that early on, other competitors in the skateboard world called him “a circus act.”

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Hawk’s deviations eventually became mainstream, and the modifications put forth by him and the rest of the Bones Brigade helped broaden skating’s mindset and repertoire.

Yet, Hawk also acknowledges that surfing was skateboarding’s biggest influence but says skating has grown exponentially from that original footprint, both in the way that skaters skate and also in terms of culture.

“Sure, it grew out of 1970s SoCal white surfer dudes. All those days are long gone. If people choose to skate, no matter where they’re from, they’re going to be welcome with open arms, and they’re going to be supported.”

Hawk adds that skateboarding’s ethos is inclusive in other ways, too, particularly in its embrace of those who try something new.

“You go to the skate park, you’re going to see someone out there trying something for the first time or challenging themselves, and everyone else will rally around them,” Hawk said. “Even though it’s an individual pursuit, there is a huge community aspect to it.”