Deaf skateboarder to compete in Dew Tour
Renca Dunn, Daily Moth Reporter: Brandon White, a Deaf skateboarder, will enter the Dew Tour competition in Des Moines, Iowa. This is a big deal because the Dew Tour is 2nd to the X-Games. It is really hard to get in this competition and about two weeks ago, they invited Brandon to join.
(Clips from Brandon White’s Instagram Account: @thebwhitee)
This competition will have more than 300 of the world's top male and female skaters. It will be hosted at Lauridsen Skatepark which was specifically built for the Dew Tour competition and just had its grand opening on May 7th. It is now the U.S.' largest skatepark. The skatepark is 88,000 sq. feet and worth $7 million dollars.
We reached out to Brandon for an interview for him to explain a little bit about his experience
Renca: Wow, it seems you have an exciting event that will happen from May 20 to 23rd, right? The Dew Tour Competition. How big is this? Is it a big deal, or what?
Brandon: Oh, it’s huge! It’s considered like, you know, the first would be the X Games and the second is the Dew Tours, which is sponsored by Mountain Dew and Toyota who donate a lot of things. They spend millions of dollars to build a skatepark. It hasn’t opened yet and it’s only for the Dew Tour. I don’t know what will happen after that, but you know… I’m really looking forward to it. I’m really excited because I will be involved in this, in what’s called the adaptive skating competition. That’s considered related to disabilities, like for those who are blind, no legs or any disability, and they invited me to be the first deaf skateboarder. They noticed I’ve been going to skating contests and getting first or second place at them for about the eight or ninth time since November.
Renca: Wow.
Brandon: That’s good.
Renca: That’s so cool. How hard is it to get in that tournament? Is it really hard? How did you become involved?
Brandon: It’s very hard. Really, to compare it to other deaf people in the world… there’s very few. I would say .00001 or less or whatever, but I was lucky that Florida set up a skating contest even during COVID times, they tried to keep running, and it wasn’t far from my home so I went and traveled for one or two hours each time. I think I went to eight or nine skating contests. That’s how I met for the first time the USA skateboarder who came from California and that’s how I networked. They were fascinated that I use ASL… They wanted to film it, and then more people started to know who I am and that led to this opportunity.
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Renca: How long have you been skateboarding?
Brandon: Looking in the mirror, I'm old! I’ve been skateboarding since I was ten years old. It was on and off, due to family reasons. At twelve and thirteen I finally started focusing on it and told myself I wanted to be a pro when I was 13. That was my dream for the future, and now I’m 30 and I’m still skateboarding. That means it’s been 20 years.
Renca: Long time.
Brandon: I’ve been skating. That. That’s my passion and it helps me forget about all the drama, stress, work… I work too much, too. I get overwhelmed, sometimes, so just like how a workout feels good, it’s the same with skateboarding. It feels good.
Renca: Yeah. Now, related to you skateboarding, what’s your favorite trick?
Brandon: I love… I started learning how to skateboard by doing half pipes… and that was limited. I grew up in Ohio, really, Cleveland, Ohio using boxes, with areas that’s rough… not smooth like California. I always grew up wanting to be there. Anyway, I kept going and getting up each time after I fell. I kept going. Anyway, I love inverting and looking like a monkey. And my favorite is like… it’s called the front foot impossible. It’s like this.
[Demonstrates the move]
I love that.
Renca: That’s called the front…
Brandon: There are so many, it’s hard to tell.
Renca: Thank you Brandon for your time. We did ask him what his advice would be for any young deaf skateboarders who aspire to grow in the skateboarding world. Brandon said to stay positive, don’t give up, and keep posting video clips of you skateboarding and tag well-known names. That would be a tip of them finding you on social media.
About the Dew Tour competition, if you live in the Des Moines area, you can get your tickets for free by going to the website, but they have a limited number.
If you want to watch it virtually, you can find the Dew Tour live on Facebook and YouTube. All of the information is in the Dew Tour website which we have included their link in this transcript. We, the Daily Moth, wish you Brandon good luck.
Dew Tour website: https://www.dewtour.com/stories/summer-dew-tour-des-moines-iowa-may-2021/
Opening of skatepark: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2021/05/07/des-moines-lauridsen-skatepark-iowa-skating-officially-opens-ahead-dew-tour-2021-skateboarding/4988072001/