When you start to getting involved with roller skating, you start digging for more content, skaters, and brands to follow. While on this quest, you might have found Mud’s videos on Instagram. Mud is a versatile skater that rips! Either flipping from ridiculous heights, or maneuvering jaw-dropping grinds on street obstacles, they’re quickly helping roller skaters figure out what we can do on our 8 wheels!

We have them join us for a quick chat about skating, their sports background and how they decided to move to Denver to find a bigger community!

Q: Can you tell us when and how you started roller skating?

A: I’m just about to hit my third year on skates! I strapped on quads for the first time in April 2021 and truly never looked back. Originally, I started because I was never outside during the summers, but it very quickly became my main sport.

Q: Do you have a sports background?

A: I do indeed. I’ve always needed an outlet to move and shake and rule break. That was always found in gymnastics and skiing. I grew up going skiing every weekend, getting in the gym whenever I could; I loved it, I still do. It’s a big part of what influences my style and mindset.

Q: Your style of roller skating is constantly including trick combos rarely seen before, where does the inspiration come from?

A: Thanks so much! I truly pull influence from all around me. Sometimes it’s iterating on a trick I saw in an edit or playing from the people I skate with. Other times it’s a completely abstract idea I had after watching a horror movie. But really above all else I try to focus on what feels good, and what brings me joy.

Q: What goes through your mind when you try new tricks?

A: A lot of the time it’s just like, “Commit! Focus.” I always must fight that fear in my head. The fear is loud, so loud. But when you let it win is when bad falls happen, when I doubt myself is when I mess up.

Q: We love that you wear your helmet, how do you feel about protective gear?

A: I try to make myself wear my helmet any time I skate. I personally believe it’s the most important form of protection we have. Our brains are delicate, and one good bonk could be the reason you’ll never skate again. That fall could happen any time, any session, any feature. Which is why I always force myself to wear it, no matter how much I don’t want to, or how small the trick is. No trick is worth losing your head!

Q: From the start of your park skating journey, you were a big flip skater, and now we see a transition into street obstacles and switch ups. Tell us more about that.

A: Indeed! When I first started skating, flips were always my favorite, and I do still love to flip around. But as time goes on, I’ve started moving away from flipping all the time. It’s part of the ebb and flow of skating, I suppose. I try to follow what feels best to me at the time, which has been trending towards more technical and precise skating.

Q: You used to be a "solo" skater, learning through videos, and practicing tricks on your own, how do you think this influenced your skating?

A: Before moving to Denver, I really didn’t have a dedicated skating crew. I’m very grateful for the friends I had who skated with me, but I was really the only one truly devoted to park skating. Especially in a rural town, it was often just me and my tripod at the park. I’d watch videos of people skating and sort of take mental notes. I’d look at their feet, how they hold their body, how they distribute their weight. It helped me sort of demystify skating, I think about the physics of it. I’d spent hours trying new tricks, I used to skate almost every day.

Q: Now that you're living in Denver, how would you describe the skate community?

A: I’m very glad to be in Denver! The community here is generally so amazing, so many truly kind souls live here. I’m glad to call them my friends. A large portion of the inline community has been incredibly welcoming too, which is so amazing. The quantity and quality of skateparks here is truly unmatched in the US. I’m so grateful for it.

Q: What is in the future for Mud?

A: I’m cooking up a few projects at the moment… but you’ll have to wait to see! I want to make sure I put my whole heart into the big projects I create, so it takes time. I’m excited for the future.

Q: Do you have any advice for new skaters?

A: Don’t be afraid to throw the current trends of skating to the wind! Move confidently through the world doing what you genuinely want to do. My favorite skaters are the ones doing whatever they feel like and doing it without the need for approval of others. There’s a power in accepting your own love and letting it guide you.

IG: @insectxcide 

Photos by Chelsea Stockberger (@ihatewindows11) & Esteban Whiting