About

WHO I AM

“I’m a skateboarder. There’s not a better word to describe who I am, what I do and what I’m all about. Music, acting, writing, television, stunts, — all these other things I do or have ever done, I do as a skateboarder; skateboarding made and makes it all possible. I’ve used the words “sport” and “art form” so many times to describe skateboarding, calling myself an “artist” or an “athlete” while trying to communicate to others the broad scope that is skateboarding. But I can’t speak their language anymore; it’s just not appropriate. The word “Skateboarding” and the title “Skateboarder” are words that stand on their own to encompass so much more: An attitude, a spirit, a way of life and a persona beyond the act itself. And yet, to be a skateboarder is such an
individual thing that nothing really can be hung upon it but one’s own truths. It’s freedom.”

MY CAREER

“I started skateboarding at the age of fourteen. I was sponsored at the age of sixteen and I turned pro when I was seventeen. That was a long time ago. I’m still active and involved in the skate scene today because I choose to be. Through it all I’ve never followed the fads or the trends. I’ve never skated like anyone else. I’ve always had my own style, my own tricks and my own approach. My skating and my career have always been about individual expression and the pure love of skating just to skate. I’ve never won any major competitions or awards and my peers for the most part have always held me at an arm’s length. The thing is, I’m not and never have been looking for anyone else’s approval or blessing when it comes to how I ride. There’s simply nothing revolutionary about what I do unless you consider sticking to one’s guns as revolutionary.”

RITUAL ACT

“I can’t think of a better initiation into manhood than riding a skateboard. All alone, through all the injuries, the overcoming of obstacles, the redefining of one’s environment and of one’s life, I learned to trust in myself, in my abilities, strength, courage, judgment and vision. Even now, like a ritual act, skateboarding is always there to test me.”

THE INDUSTRY

“The skateboard industry is a funny place to reside just by the nature of it all. “Skateboarding” being this creative individual pursuit and “Industry” being a pragmatic business, and make no mistake people; skateboarding is very big business. As a young person I really struggled to reconcile the two things and it literally cost me millions of dollars. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard that I’m a sell-out or some other bullshit through the years because of the sponsors I have or had, or for the companies that I endorse or that endorse me. This kind of chatter makes me laugh. Every sponsor I have and work with has chosen to support me, to allow me to continue to skate for a living, this is a dream come true every single day. Because I am more savvy or successful than the next guy I’m a target? That’s just stupid. If I were hard up and penniless my skating would be more romantic and meaningful? Please, grow up already. My sponsors continue to allow me to promote and grow skateboarding on a global stage. I’ve always taken a hands-on, grass roots approach to my career and I always will. I never quit like many of my peers, I’ve stuck with skateboarding when there was no money to made; I’ve bled and broken over and over along the way because I love skateboarding. No matter what anyone says, does or thinks I will be a skateboarder until the day I die. But make no mistake, this is also a business and anyone who says it isn’t should just quit being a pro skater or at least donate their earnings to charity.”

INDEPENDENCE

“Societies standards and the evaluation of others has never been a guide for me. I have always strived to face each day like the firstborn man. The aim and desires of my life are within me alone. Freedom and an original experience are only possible when you stop being concerned with what other people think, say or do.”

ACTION

“My actions have always been crystal clear and really don’t require any elaboration. The biggest mistake I’ve ever made is trying to live with contradictions, which really can’t be done. By looking for a meaning or a reason other than life itself, and going on a pointless journey through irrational belief systems and ideologies, only to always find myself right back where I started, has lead to numerous confusing episodes in my life. I can say that I’ve definitely wasted a lot of my time and a lot of my breath on nothing. But yet, all along my actions have been a continual guide for me, and through doing the miles I see how action truly comes first, and that correct thought can only really follow correct action. In moments of action, when the shit has hit the fan, and I’m standing there alone, I’ve seen my real self and I like the guy.”

TEMPER

“I do not have a short or a bad temper. I just happen to live by certain values and ethics that do not allow me to be a spectator or a coward. Every physical or non-physical confrontation I have ever been in, in my life, has been me sticking up for my family, friends or myself. I am not a bully but I refuse to be bullied. I will not be mistreated and I will not be trespassed upon. I don’t do these things to other people and I require the same from them. It’s really quite simple.”

CELEBRITY

“Through the years I have through skateboarding, and by not taking shit from people, developed a celebrity. It makes for a strange life sometimes but the way I look at it is, I signed up for the job and I enjoy almost every aspect of it, who wouldn’t? One problem I’ve run into is getting caught up in the idea that I’m somehow a “role model.” This idea messed with my brain for many years but it doesn’t anymore. At the end of the day the only person I have to answer to is myself and that’s that. Catering what I say and do to others has only lead to confusion and has been a complete waste of time. Everyone has to make their own choices in this life; no one else can or should make our decisions for us. If someone can’t discern that for himself or herself it’s not my problem.”

INFORMATION

“I’ve travelled the world for the past twenty some years with just one simple idea to share, the idea that you can “Do It Yourself.” Whether I was in Russia, Brazil, Israel, Africa or Estonia the idea has always been the same, you can “Do It Yourself.” There is no help in this world but self-help. You can’t rely on anyone but your own self. The day you figure that out is when your life truly begins. People always credit me with being “charitable,” with “giving back” – I don’t see things like that. I just simply value the life I live and the opportunity to share what I have learned and what has served me well. Before I was ever sponsored or turned pro my life was changed for the better by a simple idea, by a simple ethos that I learned from punk rock music and skateboarding, the idea that you can “Do It Yourself.” This is empowering information no matter who you are or where you live.”

MY LIFE

“I’m not interested in why or how, I’m only interested in living every moment to it’s fullest. I’m not interested in going backwards and I’m not afraid of what’s to come. From a very early age I’ve chosen to live a life of meaning and purpose. I’m not asking for anyone’s permission or blessing and I do not seek any social justification. I love life, and I choose to participate in life with all of its sorrow and loss, courageously and decently just the way it is.”

– Mike V

The Unpopular Mike V

By Chris Nieratko

It’s hard to believe someone as unpopular as Mike Vallely ever got so popular. Back in the mid-80’s when Mike was growing up in Edison, New Jersey skateboarding barely existed on the East Coast. Normal folk didn’t understand it and thus didn’t like it. Mike found himself, like so many skaters of his generation, literally fighting guys just because he was a skateboarder.

Within his own world of skateboarding Mike has made one unpopular move after another. When he was coming up through the ranks vert skating was the center of the universe. Yet Mike chose to help pioneer street skating. Then when vert supposedly died out the first time in the 90’s and it was unheard of to do anything but skate street Mike chose to include footage of himself skating vert in his ground breaking Rubbish Heap video part. While other pros and companies tried to decide what zany cut or notch to put into their archaic whale-shaped skateboards, Mike went and changed the skateboard world forever with his Barnyard Deck by having the first symmetrical popsicle shape (where the nose and the tail could both be skated the same). Nearly 20 years later the majority of all skateboards sold in the world derive from that first Mike V shape.

I could easily write about Mike for days. We grew up just two towns away from each other and his accomplishments are a great source of pride to me and all New Jersey skaters. Perhaps I’m the wrong person to write this. I am, at heart, a huge Mike V fan and when I try to remove myself from that everything I write comes off as a history lesson of everything Mike has accomplished in his 25+ years as a professional skater. That’s not the message I want to send although I do think it’s important to know what Mike has done for skateboarding.



By default, if you love skateboarding you have to love Mike V. It’s really that simple. A few years back Mike V did a demo at the Sayreville Skatepark in New Jersey and he literally did every trick on Earth, that includes both flip and step off variation. Recently the world saw him annihilate the world-famous Berrics skate park at mach 10 speed. Over a decade ago I remember seeing him on his second go-round with Powell Skateboards eat a traveling mini-ramp alive like he was the prophet of Cheese & Crackers yet to come. When skateboarding was at its smallest I recall Mike and Ed Templeton touring roller rinks in a beat up car to promote their brand, TV Skateboards. My point is that every step that modern street skating has ever taken, Mike Vallely has been there to help it along. And he’s still going strong. It’s a pretty heavy statement. Most pros are generational. They were at the peak at one time or another and then disappear often-leaving people to wonder, “What ever happened to that guy?” Mike has lived on the skateboarding landscape as long as many of us have been skating, as long as a lot of skaters have been alive.

Recently skateboarding has granted Mike some extracurricular work outside of skating; most notably music and acting and like everything else in his life he puts his whole heart into and is naturally good at it. Just as I get stoked when I hear the sounds of skateboard wheels rolling down the sidewalk or when I’m driving my car and I see skaters, I have to tell you when the van door swung open in The Hangover and there was Mike on the big screen for ten seconds handing off the laundry, I felt like a little kid that just saw a frickin’ unicorn (not the fake goat one with the glued on horn that Barnum & Bailey tried to pass off as real in the early ‘80s). That was our guy, one of us, in a big-time movie. I turned to my wife with pride and was like, “I KNOW THAT GUY!” And all skaters can say that, “I know that guy,” because Mike was, is and always will be one of us.

I’ve never in my life fanned out on celebrities, musician, athletes, models, anyone. But I do fan out on skateboarders and their achievements. I am happy when I see them successful. And I am unbelievably proud to see someone as unpopular as Mike V get so popular.