20 Skateboarders Under 20 You Need To Know About
It happens every few years. A new generation of skaters, many of them still in their teens, changes everything. Back in the day, guys like Mike Carroll, Daewon Song, and Guy Mariano blew up when they were still in high school, and before them, Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero and others turned pro before they could vote. Today, another crop of kids is on the come up. Some, like Elijah Berle and Curren Caples, are already well known. Others are still slightly more obscure, although no less important. After watching a ton of recent videos and noticing all the new faces, we thought we would take stock of the riders we’ll be seeing for a long time to come. These are 20 skaters under 20 years old that you need to know about today.
Alex Midler — 15-years-old
Though he’s only 15, Alex Midler has been riding for Real for a couple of years. In that time, he’s made enough appearances on The Berrics and elsewhere for people to know his name. He rolls with a heavy Southern California crew, including P-Rod, Mikey Taylor and others, so you can trust that he’ll be around for a minute.
Chase Webb — 19-years-old
By now, you almost certainly know who Nyjah Huston is, but his clique is coming up, too, and Chase Webb is one of the skaters you’ve seen in his footage. However, for a while, the 19-year-old has released good stuff of his own, including parts with Transworld Skateboarding and The Berrics. Judging by who he runs with, he’ll probably be around for a while.
Ethan Loy — 18-years-old
Talent really does run in the family. For proof, look no further than Ethan Loy, David Loy’s younger brother. While David just turned pro for Birdhouse, Ethan is putting in work on Element. He was featured in a recent issue of Thrasher, and you’ve definitely seen him on The Berrics. His Transworld Skateboarding Check Out is worth a watch, too. Despite all that exposure, though, Ethan is only getting started.
Nakel Smith — 19-years-old
At 19, Nakel Smith is one of the highly touted ams for Jason Dill and Anthony Van Engelen’s new company. It doesn’t get much more official than that kind of co-sign. As Nakel’s footage in the Supreme’s new Cherry video shows, the two legends definitely knew what they were doing when they put their team together. A pro model can’t be that far off for the Los Angeles native.
Elijah Berle — 19-years-old
Three years ago, Elijah Berle was a relative unknown. However, that all changed when he got on Chocolate alongside Raven Tershy and Stevie Perez. The following year, Pretty Sweet came out, and soon everyone knew exactly why he got a spot on such an elite squad. After that, a pro board was a no-brainer.
Will Fyock — 18-years-old
We first heard about Will Fyock when he was a flow kid on Expedition. He was young and showed promise. He disappeared for a few years, but he recently resurfaced at Battle at The Berrics 7. After taking out Chaz Ortiz, he lost to Sewa Kroetkov. We’re sure we haven’t seen the last of him, though
Steven Fernandez — 14-years-old
Steven Fernandez, aka Baby Scumbag, may be one of the first skaters to have blown up through social media, but while his Twitter and Instagram accounts are entertaining, his skating is serious, as his recent DGK part showed. Rolling with Keelan Dadd on a regular basis definitely can’t hurt Steven’s professional prospects either.
Mitchie Brusco — 17-years-old
For a while, it seemed like there were no new vert skaters coming up. As Mitchie Brusco proves, though, kids are definitely taking to bigger transitions, the Mega Ramp included. Last year, he became the first person to pull a 1080 in competition. To put things into context, it took decades for anyone to land a 900 under any circumstances. Is Mitchie the great vert hope? We can’t say, but he’s definitely pushing that kind of skating forward.
Tyshawn Jones — 15-years-old
Cherry, the recently released Supreme video, introduced us to an entire crew of young skaters from New York City and Los Angeles. Tyshawn Jones hails from the former. Although largely unknown beforehand, his footage showed exactly how he earned a spot in a flick featuring legends like Eric Koston and upstarts like Nakel Smith and Sage Elsesser. Expect big things from this kid.
Chris and Pierce Brunner — 16-years-old
The skate world was first exposed to the Brunner twins, Chris and Pierce, by way of Ty Evans, who brought them to spots and put together an edit of them a few years ago. Since then, they’ve earned slots on Expedition as ams, and they’ve dropped more footage, including a solid section for their board sponsor. Since they share an address, we can only imagine the size of the boxes they receive each month.
Jagger Eaton — 13-years-old
Like Mitchie Brusco, Jagger Eaton is among the few kids who aren’t afraid to step to the Mega Ramp. In fact, he’s the youngest person ever to compete on it. Nonetheless, he’s also held his own in street contests, landing himself in a respectable third place at Tampa
Am in 2012. It has to feel strange to skate quarterpipes and ledges after you ride the Mega, but Jagger doesn’t seem to care.
Kevin Bradley — 18-years-old
Last year, Kevin Bradley was a new kid with a section in Cliché’s Bon Voyage video. Today, he’s one of the ams for Jason Dill and Anthony Van Engelen’s company, and part of the crew featured heavily in Cherry. He’s also on Nike SB. Given the footage he’s been putting out, none of this should come as a surprise. Rest assured that many more people are going to be talking about Kevin in the years to come.
Yoshi Tanenbaum — 18-years-old
You may remember Yoshi Tanenbaum as one of the winners of the third edition of The Berrics’s “Bang Yoself!” contest from a couple of years ago. He submitted the clip with the laser flip down a big four and a frontside halfcab flip off the courthouse drop in Manhattan. Since then, he’s joined the ranks of Stereo, and as an edit released last year showed, he’s still skating with the tricks and style that got him recognized in the first place.
Louie Lopez — 19-years-old
When Flip added Louie Lopez to the team a few years ago, most people probably didn’t know who he was. However, his part in 2009’s Extremely Sorry showed exactly why he landed a spot on such a legendary roster. Since then, he’s grown, adding some power to his skating. He’s also rolling with his own model under his feet. Given that he’s only 19, you can expect Louie to stick around for a while.
Tyson Bowerbank — 19-years-old
A couple of years ago, Tyson Bowerbank, a Salt Lake City native, rode for Darkstar. These days, the word is that he’s on the team of Skate Mental, Brad Staba’s company, alongside skaters like Shane O’Neill and Trevor Colden. That’s a big switch, but Tyson is young, so he’s got plenty of time to prove that he’s worthy of a spot on Staba’s squad.
Curren Caples — 18-years-old
Based on his part in Flip’s Extremely Sorry, it would be easy to peg Curren Caples as a transition kid, but while he’s definitely got park skills, he’s part of a new breed of skaters who can ride whatever they want. Because of that, Flip didn’t hesitate to give him a board with his name on it.
Jack Olson — 19-years-old
Years ago, evidence suggested that if you won Tampa Am, you would quickly vanish from the scene. Jack Olson, who hails from Minnesota, may have landed first in the contest at the end of last year, but he’s still around, getting boards from Real and shoes from C1rca. He skates with power and precision, so don’t be surprised if you see more of him in the coming months.
Alec Majerus — 19-years-old
Alec Majerus has gotten a lot of coverage in the past few months. In addition to a Thrasher interview, the Flip rider — another Minnesota native and Tampa Am winner —dropped a Berrics “Recruited” section that opened with a line that included a backflip noseblunt slide down a handrail. It may not have happened in the streets, but even in a park, that kind of thing was unthinkable only a few years ago.
Rowan Zorilla — 19-years-old
It’s not always fair to judge a guy by the company he keeps, but it is fair to say that skating with Riley Hawk and the rest of the Shep Dawgs has done good things for Rowan Zorilla. Like the rest of the crew, he can produce a lot of footage and skate any spot he comes across, so it made total sense for him to end up on Baker and Vans.
Sage Elsesser — 17-years-old
Sage Elsesser may have gotten in the game when he was on Telegraph, Brian Lotti’s now-defunct company, but it was Cherry, Supreme’s first full-length video, that made him official. Now, the Los Angeles native with the big pop and clean style is skating boards from Jason Dill and Anthony Van Engelen, and rocking Converse.
It happens every few years. A new generation of skaters, many of them still in their teens, changes everything. Back in the day, guys like Mike Carroll, Daewon Song, and Guy Mariano blew up when they were still in high school, and before them, Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero and others turned pro before they could vote. Today, another crop of kids is on the come up. Some, like Elijah Berle and Curren Caples, are already well known. Others are still slightly more obscure, although no less important. After watching a ton of recent videos and noticing all the new faces, we thought we would take stock of the riders we’ll be seeing for a long time to come. These are 20 skaters under 20 years old that you need to know about today.