“Don’t talk the talk if you can’t walk the walk.”
▲ Sergio Cadaret – BS Smith Grind
Wu Tang Clan (1992 - )
You are currently recovering from a bad injury, what happened? I hurt myself in Mériadeck District in Bordeaux, at the end of last September. There is a big ledge that surrounds the planters and we put a trash can at the end. I went up in front ollie and tried switch heel above the trash can. It was a fucking good session. There was Yohann [Brouillet] from Sirocco [editor’s note: La Rochelle skateshop] who was there, we had already filmed a lot of clips. Frankly, I wasn't expecting that. I took a few slams bot nothing too bad… I landed a sketchy one but I decided to do it again. Finally my front foot was just a little too much at the end of a nose. And there, that was over.
At that time, it didn't seem so terrible. It wasn't really painful, I just felt that it pulled a little more at the top of the ankle than usual. I took my shoe off, maybe I shouldn't have because it started to swell instantly. I started limping right away and just went home.
All this happened on a Sunday and on Monday morning at 9 a.m., I started my DEJEPS training [editor’s note: State diploma for teaching skateboard in France]. After two days of training, it was really not glorious, I could only walk with crutches so the trainers make me go see the doctor. The guy freaked out when he saw my ankle and made an appointment for me directly at the sports clinic to do an X-ray.
Fortunately they did not find a fracture but to be sure I redid an X-ray the following week with a sports doctor advised by Benjamin Garcia. He was the doctor who took care of Messi's medical visit for PSG, so his statement made me feel confident! [laughs]
So finally, I have a serious sprain with one out of three ligaments ruptured, another which has been slightly affected and a foot sprain with it. I didn't even know that was possible! [laughs] This foot sprain tore a ligament which caused a bone tear.
It's the end of September and I'm thinking there's no skating before 2022. Which isn't so bad considering the severity of the injury, but when you just arrive in Bordeaux all amped and you stop suddenly, it's super frustrating.
I want to skate. I'm a skateboarding teacher. Concretely, my life is just about skateboarding and when you get injured, there is a little void that settles in your life. You really see it all of a sudden. I had a sense of worthlessness, man.
But now you're slowly back at it, aren't you? For the moment, I just started teaching again. Basically, I had a month of immobilization, the time that I could walk again. But I'm still very careful. It's been a few days in class and I almost took boards in the ankle. Those ones it was better to dodge them! [laughs]
You give skate lessons for the Bordeaux Skate Culture association created by Benjamin Garcia. How did that happen ? We met at the CQP training [editor’s note: Certificate of Professional Qualification]. We were in Chelles, at the Cosanostra Skatepark. This park and the guys who take care of it are really amazing! The training lasted six months. We had about a week of training per month and as the weeks passed, the links were gradually forged. Sometimes, he asked me little questions, as much
forged. Sometimes, he asked me little questions, as much in terms of lessons as of organization and management. Then, little by little, he began to tell me about his skateboarding school project.
Then one day, he came to skate in La Rochelle. During the session, he told me that it would be great for us to work together and offered me to work in Bordeaux.
You hadn't planned to give skate lessons in La Rochelle before? Basically, the plan was to open a school with my friend Quentin [Vernier]. To do this, I produced a complete file of thirty-three pages of business creation. Except that I did it alone…
There, I immediately understood that it will not work out. Quentin left to do his training in Cap Breton [editor’s note: city in south west of France] and implied that he intended to stay there.
So I continued the initial plan alone, knowing that there would inevitably be opportunities with the association 36 Trip in La Rochelle. But it remained fuzzy in my head.
Now that I've moved from La Rochelle, I'm surprised I didn't have the idea or the desire before! It's the first time I've come out of the cocoon [laughs]. Frankly a big thanks to Ben for giving me this opportunity!
How is the association organized? It is called Bordeaux Skate Culture, Ben is the director and I am the educational manager. Together we take care of the management, the communication and the operation of the association. Since the creation, we have been in contact with the Paris Skate Culture association. They are not our bosses but they help us enormously whether it is for management, administrative tasks and everything related to the legal things. Rémy Walter who is a director of the Paris Skate Culture association helped us a lot, a big shout-out to him.
At this moment, we have about thirty students. One of the big strengths of our association is Ben, who is a professional skateboarder. This status makes it more credible with parents and children. Can you imagine, as a child, to go skating with a pro? And then, we try to transmit the values of skateboarding, while remaining professional: openmindedness, respect for others, solidarity, commitment, perseverance and humility!
Are you not afraid that some values will be lost, in particular by teaching skateboarding in a club? Like a football club… We try to have a setting that appears in the eyes of the parents as regular as your football or tennis club but on the other hand, I swear to you that the kids will not come out the same as at the football club.
We teach them the values of skateboarding as well as the values that forge you in life too. We always keep this team spirit. We repeat that all the time. We are a team whether it is between Ben, the other instructors and me as much as between the kids. There are no guys who skate for competition. We keep this core side of skating.
Finally, a lot of people today think that skate lessons are very strict. On the contrary, we are the first to ask if everyone is having fun, to make sure that the good atmosphere is there.
I learned to skate on the street with older people who guided me. Coming from there, it's true that I was afraid of curbing creativity or that the session would not be as cool as in the street.
Indeed, we can't say that it's so free because we direct them towards certain things, we ask them to start here, to pay attention to that... We are the ones who run the session, after that obviously it's good to give them some free time and autonomy to cultivate the freedom and creativity of skateboarding. We try to ensure that the children who leave skate school are skaters who evolve at their own pace with their desires. And above all that they continue to skate with their friends between classes.
Do you think it can prevent young people from starting to smoke or drink because they imitate the older ones or the skate videos they watch? I think the biggest influence still comes from school in general. This is where you make friends, where you see them most often. In this case, we can't do much about it... We had the example of a kid who was caught by Ben while he was smoking. We asked him why and he explained his school friends started and he wanted to be like everyone else. It was my case too and I think it is the case for the majority of people.
So today, the goal of being a sports educator is to be a model for children, because a majority of them look up to us. That can still change things.
On the sponsor side, you recently joined Deep & Naive, can you tell us more? Ahh it's the return of the boss that makes happy! We reconnected with François [Mauferon] because we had lost sight of each other following the end of Crime LR [his former brand]. During the sessions, he began to tell me that he was going to relaunch a brand and step by step, the more the project materialized, the more he implied that I would be in it. When he clearly proposed to me, I was in right away! [laughs] So today I wear Deep & Naive caps and beanies with great pleasure!
Crime LR was your first sponsor, isn't it? Yes Francois is my street dad! [laughs] He is still so motivated today, it’s great fun. And then, I grew up so our relationship evolved. When I was little, around the age of 14, he took me under his wing, today it is more a partnership where we have things to bring to each other. I always ask him for advice naturally, but he will also ask my opinion on various subjects and it's really cool to see our relationship evolves this way.
How did you feel being the youngest on the spot? Leaving at 7 p.m. because your parents asked you to while all the older guys are still skating. As soon as I arrived on the spot, I knew it was going to be too short… I'm more the type of guy to take the right pressure rather than being intimidated by the older ones, so I was hyper motivated. I have the impression that the integration happened naturally with games of skate. [laughs] The home spot in La Rochelle city is called Encan, a huge place with flats, steps, a wooden curb and a long wheelie pad. Pure street.
My skateboard evolved in this environment. Then at 16, I went to Barcelona. When I came back I was skating faster, so as not to interfere with the traffic at Macba and the wooden curb seemed much more accessible to me! [laughs]
How did you feel about the end of Crime LR? It was weird and unexpected. I used, like everyone else, to go to the shop regularly and the shop was closed more and more often. Then I learned that it was closing permanently. I waited for a good while to have news of the boss before reconnecting with him... he needed a break.
I continued to skate, then a year or two later, after a trip I did with the Sirocco shop, Yohann [Brouillet] offered me to skate for them.
Via Sirrocco, I met Jeff [Lautrou] the south-west DC salesman, who gave me a few pairs and then a shop contract was set up. So, I have one pair per month of DC!
Once you recover from your injury, what are your plans? We have to film a part with Pierre [Patissou]. It's a pleasure to see him back in Bordeaux after having skated together for so long in La Rochelle.
I will try to do a little more physical preparation to avoid injuries. I haven't been lucky for the past two years between ankles and a broken arm...
And then continue my training to continue skateboarding with Bordeaux Skate Culture.
teaching
Anything you would like to add? I don't run after the money. I found a job that I like where I can share my passion while earning a living and I am very grateful for that. Being a skate teacher is a beautiful job in constant evolution. I encourage anyone who wants to continue on this path!
And finally, I want to pass a big up to my homies from La Rochelle to Bordeaux, to the sponsors also behind me, Sirocco Skateshop, Deep and Naive, DC Shoes and Uni Allday with Alex in Barcelona! And thank you very much to you Malo for this interview, it was a pleasure to talk about all these good memories.
[editor’s note: All the skate action photos in this article were shot on one single night of February by 0°C in Bordeaux.]
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