.......................................................................................................... Five minutes with ...
Tommy Flynn
We caught up with the DC team rider for a chat about his well-travelled up-bringing and some of his favourite skate
spots . ..........................................................................................................
Where did you grow up ?
I was born in South Africa and I left there when I was 10-years-old and moved to New Zealand . I started skateboarding in New Zealand . I lived there for seven years and then I moved to Australia when I was 15-years-old . Now Brisbane ’ s my hometown in Australia , I grew up there , have a lot of friends and my family ’ s there .
How did you first get into skateboarding ?
I had a cousin in New Zealand and all he did was skateboard every day . So he kinda got me into it .
What was your first board ? … have you still got it ?
My first board was just a board from like Kmart - like a department store sort of thing . It was a really bad board . You could barely push it . But I started learning how to do ollies and stuff on it , and my parents just bought me it . I don ’ t have it anymore , that thing ’ s long gone .
Who was your skate-idol as a kid ?
Skate idol inspiration is definitely Eric Koston . He still is my favourite skateboarder . Just love his style and love the tricks he does .
When you know that you wanted to skate for a living ? Did you even know that was an option ?
At 15-years-old , I went to LA for the first time , and when I got to LA I met a lot of other pro skaters and I realized then , that you can make a living in skateboarding . From then , I made it my goal to make a living at skateboarding and become a pro skater .
What ’ s your favourite underrated skate spot ?
Underrated ? I think Brisbane City has a lot of spots and a lot of things to offer , but not too many people visit it to skate . There ’ s still a lot of potential there . I think people should do more trips to Brisbane . It ’ s definitely underrated .
Any locations or tricks that are still on your to-do list ?
Definitely a lot of tricks still to do on my list . I have a bunch written I still gotta get to . I definitely wanna go to Canada , I ’ ve never been to Canada before . That ’ s one place I definitely wanna check out and go skating at . I have a lot of friends that are Canadian , people seem super cool , so I definitely wanna check that place out .
Sounds good . What ’ s the top two tricks on that list ?
One is , a Cab Flip Back Nosegrind 270 on the ledge . I wanna really do that one . And the next one is a Back 180 Switch Front Crook Shove-It down the rail .
Favourite way to spend a sunny day off of the board , not skating ?
Favourite thing to do when I ’ m off the board is kind of just hang out with friends , just being mellow , eat a lot of food - just kind of have a casual drink at like a cool bar or something .
Any plans for the rest of the year ?
Just forming new video part and then just try to travel as much as possible and having fun and skating . Yeah .
And hit up Canada .
Yeah , and hit up Canada hopefully this year , I ’ ll be honest with you . t