Shea Herrera isn’t following in his brother’s footsteps; he’s following in his tracks instead. More specifically, the tracks left behind by the four tiny wheels on a skateboard.
Shea is only 11, but he’s already got his first skateboarding contest behind him and he’s ready for the next one. His coach is his older brother Marc, 14, a skateboarding veteran who’s already won at least a few local contests.
The two brothers are even in the same age group, the 11 to 14 class. That puts Shea at a disadvantage, being one of the youngest kids out there, but he doesn’t mind. Shea is still learning, plus he said he likes to watch Marc beat the other contestants.
“It’s cool for me,” Shea said.
Shea got into skateboarding by watching his brother, but he stuck with it because he found out how much he likes the sport.
“Because of all the tricks you can learn and you go fast,” he said.
He’s fast, and he’s also nimble. So far, Shea hasn’t experienced any serious injuries while skateboarding, just some scrapes and such. His best fall? That happened once while he was attempting to jump off a curb and do the splits in mid-air before landing on his board again. He’s since mastered that move.
Right now he’s working on his variable kick flip, and practicing at least a few hours a day for his next contest in Lompoc in just a few weeks. There, he and his brother can compete against each other again, and have some fun doing it.
This article appears in Jun 26 – Jul 3, 2008.