I’ve been watching this kid skate for a few years now, I remember seeing him the first time at one of my Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey contests and recognizing his talents right away. Mathew McCauley is a unique skater who has the mentality to go for it all the time. This kid can kickflip and frontside pop shovit 9 stairs on command, and he’s not afraid to go bigger. And as he gets bigger he starts to hit more ledges and rails as well as a little bit of transition. Now that McCauley is 13 years old I gave him a chance to make a big move in his life and step up to being sponsored. This is a huge move since he was still competing in Intermediate at contests, but last year if he was on point, his runs would’ve placed in Advanced at some of those comps. I still remember last July at my Fleetwood Contest when he showed up just as first runs of Intermediate were ending and I told him to get up there and throw down, it was his turn. He stepped up the stairs, turned around and blasted a huge kickflip down the 3 block and then just completely annihilated the rest of the park ending it with another big banger down the blocks. He hadn’t even warmed up and basically just won with his first run. I knew then that his time was coming but didn’t want to rush it.
Exactly one year later I laid it down, I said “Do you wanna be sponsored and live the life of a sponsored skater where you are expected to be places and you have to compete against the big guns and throw down all the time and show up for photo shoots when I tell you to and be in the eye of the public all the time? Or do you wanna just keep living your life having fun skateboarding?” I told him if he was ready then I would put him on the Protest Wheel Team and he would get free wheels plus cost on decks. Matt thought about it for a few minutes and answered “Yes”…
He entered the Fraser Heights contest that same day in Advanced and threw down some serious tricks. I’m stoked that he was ready for this, and now it’s time to make him even better than he already is. Be prepared to see lots of footage of this kid in the future…
Welcome to a new life buddy –
Protest Wheels proudly welcomes Mathew McCauley to the Team
Here’s his welcome filmed at Chuck Bailey Skate Park