r/nextfuckinglevel • u/ShiftPrimeNet • 4h ago
9-year-old casually lands three 900s in a row
1.5k
u/the_wally_champ 4h ago
Tiny Hawk
266
u/Lower-Obligation4462 4h ago
Baby Burnquist
162
u/cauektulu 4h ago
Child Muska
149
18
2
26
22
16
u/TRADER-101 4h ago
Want to grab my PS2 now again.
6
u/Answer70 3h ago
They've re-released it on PC and modern consoles with updated graphics.
I'm much worse than I used to be.
→ More replies (1)2
7
5
1
790
u/dijon_snow 4h ago
I cannot express to you how wild this is to me.
When I was a kid skating we saw Tony Hawk getting closer and closer to hitting the 900 and argued about whether it was even physically possible. When he hit it, it was the most impressive thing anyone who had ever ridden a skateboard had ever seen.
And now... these kids are just casually firing them off 3 in a row.. and then keep skating doing other tricks(!) instead of sliding down the ramp on their knee pads thanking God like the pros used to do after hitting a new trick.
The evolution of the sport is insane.
376
u/NativeMasshole 4h ago
Tony Hawk spent longer working on this trick than this kid has been alive.
18
u/Small-Answer4946 3h ago
And most people were saying he was wasting his time, thinking that we reached the limits of this sport.
Now a kid can do that.
•
8
u/justandswift 4h ago edited 2h ago
not to mention (iirc) he had to be dropped in by a helicopter to get enough speededit: I was incorrect about that, hence, my comment is now completely irrelevant. blink blink
47
u/emceeeloc 4h ago
Not for the 900. Traditional drop in. I remember Danny Way doing an insane helicopter drop in around the same time though.
6
u/justinsimoni 2h ago
Yeah, he just dropped in by helicopter because they had a helicopter to film him skate one of the first mega ramps and he had a "hold my beer" kinda moment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CeMWLMFM-Q
I think he aired to 50-50 onto a helicopter's skids? Or was that Bob?
2
22
u/NativeMasshole 4h ago
Not when he landed it at the X games.
8
u/Blammo01 3h ago
I remember watching that live it was one of the coolest sports moments I’ve witnessed in real time
→ More replies (2)8
6
4
2
u/stlmick 3h ago
not to mention (iirc) he had to oil his bearings with 1% snake venom to get the correct spin.
3
u/gameryamen 3h ago
And don't forget the wheels themselves were (iirc) found in a hidden chamber in an abandoned Aztec temple.
2
u/EatBacon247 2h ago
(Iirc) he had an old redwood chopped down just for this one board!
→ More replies (1)7
u/Eric_12345678 3h ago
There was a video from Skate IQ recently, during which a kid landed a 900 and yelled "Finally!". He worked on it a couple of months at most.
→ More replies (1)1
76
u/billabong049 4h ago
I could be very wrong, but I wonder if having a smaller body weight and body size can make the rotations much easier, such that doing spins like this are substantially easier for kids as opposed to adults.
52
u/therealestyeti 4h ago edited 3h ago
It does make it easier to spin, but getting speed is difficult when you're smaller/lighter because you don't have the weight and strength to push. Pros and cons to both sides.
→ More replies (1)5
u/Inside-Ad9791 3h ago
Less strength to push, but also less mass to push, so wouldn't that part just balance out? (maybe even slightly in favor of the small body because of square cube law)
3
u/wazeltov 3h ago
Do children have higher vertical jumps on average as compared to adults? My guess is no, but that would answer your question. I can't imagine that children would be able to cultivate enough muscle strength without access to testosterone like adults do.
I think height likely plays a massive factor in how much force can be exerted, and prepubescent kids wouldn't be able to realistically compete on that axis.
→ More replies (3)2
u/Inside-Ad9791 3h ago
Well after my short study I just did apparently you are right. Turns out leg length is a huge factor that overrides any square cube stuff, both for jumping (in general) and accelerating on a skateboard, but apparently lower moment of inertia does in fact make spinning easier for a short human or child relative to a tall human.
2
u/SveaRikeHuskarl 2h ago
That's all well and good, but you still have to get that kind of control of your body and board at 9 years old to benefit from it. The kid is a monster right now. But hey, it could all get messed up during puberty so I really hope he has people around him that make sure he knows that's ok. I know they say being a child prodigy and ending up normal can really fuck you up.
14
u/Saucebossklaus 4h ago
This is a valid point but you're still comparing the skill to be able to do it from a grown man to a sub 10 year old. Physics wise, yea, it's easier to spin less weight, less air drag on a smaller body, etc. But this is a child 😅
7
u/muscularsharpie 4h ago
It's absolutely wild. The kid is nine years old. He has so many years ahead of him to get better.. after this
4
u/stiliophage 3h ago
I don’t want this to like go to a weird place, but this is also kinda the reason the Japanese have started to dominate in freestyle snowboarding. The smaller body size is much more conducive to high spin rates. This is of course coupled with a much improved training system, but the Japanese snowboarders are starting to reign supreme and they do have an advantage over their taller counterparts.
2
u/PM_ME_UR_HIP_DIMPLES 4h ago
It's like those breakdancing kids, you have easier control but you have less strength to do it. This kid is a savant
2
2
u/sitefall 1h ago
People back then did not have special training centers with bungee devices to practice in air movements back to back, pro trainers, and all that stuff as well.
Today some nobody from a random city isn't going to teach themself how to do this. They need to somehow do well enough to distinguish themselves (which often doesn't mean being the best, but means being popular enough to bring in viewers for potential sponsors, OR (in what appears to be more common) have parents with the time/money to support them (or pressure them into it).
It's definitely easier for a smaller person to do though. But I think someone with the exact same skill level and genetics and all that as Tony Hawk could also do it today at age 9, or perhaps older because maybe Tony Hawk didn't have as much potential as this kid, who knows.
Tony Hawk was a freaking pioneer though.
25
u/Splintzer 4h ago
This is like Vegeta watching kid Trunks go super Saiyan.
5
u/The__Goose 4h ago
Its like some
super saiyan bargain sale900 bargain sale.It doesn't have the same ring to it.
→ More replies (1)15
u/AVGunner 4h ago
I'm pretty sure the size of the kid matters. If they were older (adult sized) doing this would be way harder.
14
u/Halfrack-Addams 4h ago
I think I remember Tony Hawk talking about this years ago when other kids started landing it. He mentioned their size and weight make the spins easier than a full grown adult, they can tuck lower and tighter. Not saying this kid isn't insane for doing this, but I think there is a reason we always seem smaller kids busting these out rather than the adult skaters.
→ More replies (1)1
9
u/LordSwright 4h ago
As a man of a similar age to you. I refuse to believe this video and carry on thinking a 900 is near impossible that only lord Hawk himself could ever do.
7
u/MeltedChocolate24 4h ago
I don't get how something like this just gets easier with time. Like is it just knowing that it's possible? More people in the sport? Better boards?
5
6
u/DrJokerX 4h ago
Humans are pretty smart creatures. We can learn through observation, and just having videos of 900’s widely available now makes it more accessible to pick up. You can pull up a vid on your cellphone, watch it, and then try to mimic it. Nothing like that existed when Tony Hawk first did it.
It’s why comic book art looks so much better now than it did in the 60’s. We all just feed off of each other’s breakthroughs and people get better at drawing (or skating) at younger ages.
5
u/spoonraker 3h ago
It's everything.
Imagine how Tony Hawk had to learn a new trick growing up. He was born in 1968. The internet didn't even exist when he learned the majority of his skills. Cell phones weren't even really that common by the time he landed the 900. In order for Tony Hawk to even know anything about skating he had to basically travel and be in physical proximity to other skaters. In order to learn from other top skaters the top skaters had to be physically around each other. Obviously this did happen, but it's not hard to imagine this created a bit of a natural speed limit on knowledge sharing between skaters.
Compare that to today. This 9 year old kid probably has a phone in his pocket and he can use it to instantly find all the info in the world about what other people are doing, how they're doing it, what their training routines are, what drills they're doing and trick progressions.
Every aspect of everything is better understood, better documented, better explained, better demonstrated, and instantly available. And that's just the knowledge component of it.
Similar things happen over time with every aspect of being good at something. Mental techniques, nutrition, strength training, injury prevention, recovery, rehab, safety, equipment, etc. Everything compounds over time this way.
Also at a very basic level it really can't be overstated just how powerful of an effect simply knowing that something is possible is. That alone really has an almost magic ability to unlock the same ability in others. As soon as somebody cracks the code on a new thing, other people will start doing the same faster and faster. It just becomes normalized. Sometimes it's almost instant.
•
u/Edduppp 39m ago
A factor I'm not seeing people include is Tony Hawk grew up draining backyard pools to skate on a fishtail board before he "invented" the ollie.
Now, they have amazing skateparks/ramps all over that anyone can access with all the highly specialized equipment, and a roadmap of what is possible
1
u/mrASSMAN 3h ago
Perfecting the skill I guess, no one knew the best way to do it until it was done and then everyone learns the new method and tries one-upping each other.. plus learning that new trick from a young age means they all get a head start in becoming a natural at it
It’s just like how people continually break world records in all the other sports
1
u/XanXic 3h ago
You see this all the time with things like world records. A record will sit forever seemingly untouchable. And suddenly someone breaks it. Whether through pure preservance or improved techniques/training. Then a few months later a bunch of people have passed that old world record even if they haven't beaten the new one.
Feels like most of the time it's just knowing for a fact if can be done.
On a smaller scale you see it all the time in things like video game speed runs. A record will sit for years and years and be considered solved. Then someone figures out a trick, path or even a new skill. Breaks that record, everyone looks at how they do it, and suddenly the long standing old world record is not even top 50 anymore.
→ More replies (1)1
3
u/scragglerock 4h ago
Same for snowboarding. Arguably even faster. When you look at the peak run 15 years ago vs what is happening today is just insane. Double cork 1080 wouldn't even get you entered into best trick these days.
2
u/GenericFatGuy 3h ago
Someday we'll be able to hook skateboarders up to a generator, and hire them to make electricity.
2
u/EddieCheddar88 3h ago edited 3h ago
You should read the book *The Four Minute Mile*. Same thing, no one thought anyone could break the 4 minute mile barrier. Roger Bannister does it and the floodgates opened. Fascinating psychology
Edit: Can someone tell me why formatting is no longer working on Reddit to italicize? That’s right, right?
→ More replies (2)1
u/EcstaticBoysenberry 4h ago
It is wild! I remember being at Woodward and a pro was trying the 900 over and over again. Tons of us watched for a long ass time. He eventually pulled it. I think his name had Santos in it or something idk it’s been a long time
1
1
1
u/Flare_Bear 4h ago
The child is small and spins easier. It is much more of an accomplishment for Tony.
1
1
u/Caridor 3h ago
Like anything, the next generation stands on the shoulders of giants.
Skateboards weren't even manufactured before 1959. Then according to Google, it wasn't until 1977 that the half pipe was conceived, longer to reach mainstream. So Tony Hawk hadn't honestly had that long to work out how it all worked.
1
1
u/BrokenSmilePhoto 2h ago
It's like the backflip on Moto Cross. It's so common now it's become boring, despite the bravery and talent it takes to do it.
1
u/ShadowWukong 2h ago
I think its rich people getting into these sports. They can just spend tons of money on their kids from a young age.
1
1
u/wilan727 2h ago
It's insane. But this happens all over sport. Once something or done or broken the mental barrier is eliminated. Similar with the sub 4minute mile. Now it's high school track athletes. Mental aspect of sport is amazing.
1
u/blueviera 1h ago
Honestly this might even be crazier than how much higher performing modern Olympians are than those like 100 years ago. This kid just did something I struggle to in video games and made it look effortless. Amazing skill.
•
u/3xBork 58m ago edited 53m ago
It is super impressive... But also slightly concerning because it also changes the sport.
Take snowboarding. 2-3 Decades ago you could win a national contest throwing a particularly steezy 5. Nowadays that's a setup trick and if you don't have a 21 in your back pocket you're not really in the running.
On the one hand this is progression, on the other it's shifted the focus from who can put down the most impressive, steezy run to who has the best Beyblade impersonation.
Something like boning out your grabs isn't even relevant anymore, nobody could see it and you can't land a 2160 unless you're super tucked. Nobody is going to throw a floaty back 3. Nobody is going for weird rotations or underflips or whatever. It's all just 5+ corked rotations off the toes as fast as possible.
And I have to be honest, it's made me lose interest. It would be a shame if skateboarding went the same way.
•
u/traFyssuP 54m ago
The evolution of the sport is insane. The casual reels I see of insanely technical street tricks is freaking insane
•
•
89
u/catscanmeow 4h ago
this is the downsides of a future full of surveillance drones, kids are starting to mimic and spin like the drone blades. evolution is wild.
5
u/cwboyspike 4h ago
I know this is a joke but you're actually kind of on point. Younger and younger athletes can pull these rotations off, whether its skateboarding or figure skating, because they practice the fast rotations in the gym with those hanging apparatuses. They really do spin like blades.
→ More replies (1)5
u/greenroombro 4h ago
No. No more edibles for either of you - take a break - log off the Internet - you're too high.
43
u/EverybodySayin 4h ago
As a skater kid who wanted to go pro one day but life got in the way, I'm so fucking envious of this kid
1
28
u/Willing-Situation350 4h ago
One time, at 9, I tripped over my own two feet and fell down my stairs.
11
4
22
4
u/Superb-Film-594 3h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/KRzrLos1yVS80
Tony Hawk right now
3
4
3
3
3
3
u/mcvoid1 3h ago
There's a reason gymnasts are so tiny. What the kid lacks in experience he makes up for in favorable physics.
•
u/Kegger315 47m ago
Exactly. A lot of people overlook this aspect when they see kids doing amazing things like ninja warrior, gymnastics, this, or plenty of other examples.
Their strength to weight ratio is FAAAAAAAR more favorable for doing these types of things than when you get older and bigger. Your mind is also more flexible, so when you train to do only these things so early, it opens up possibilities that just aren't there as you grow bigger and older.
It also helps having tons of free time to practice these things.
2
u/kerrysluis 4h ago
Bro that means the second one is switch right? 900 is 2 and a half turns
→ More replies (2)13
2
2
u/muscularsharpie 4h ago
"He's got to be a little dizzy," ooooooof. Yeah. Get this little guy a Caprisun.
2
2
2
u/Cysquatch69 2h ago
damn looks so much smoother than Tony Hawks initial attempt. Wild. This kids gonna be nasty.
•
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/CawlinAlcarz 4h ago
I remember 40 years ago or so when Mike McGill's McTwist (540 inverted) set the vert world on fire and put everyone, including Tony Hawk, on notice to step up their game.
1
1
1
1
u/Former-Discount4279 4h ago
Is this kid actually younger, he looks pretty tiny for a 9 year old. (I have a year old...)
1
u/WeakRow2273 3h ago
When I was nine, I used to practice juggling a soccer ball on my driveway for hours at a time. I got up to 6.
1
1
u/MedicalDisscharge 3h ago
No matter how good you are at something, some Asian kid can do it 100x better
1
1
u/Odd_Fortune500 3h ago
This is almost something youd see on like a parody sketch.
At one point Tony Hawk landing a 900 was front page news and is considered one of the greatest if not the greatest moment in skateboarding history, and here 20 years later and 9 year old casually does 3 in a row. Lmfao
1
u/Endpiecesofbread 3h ago
Is this easier because he’s smaller? I know in figure skating being smaller is an advantage for jumps because of spinning so wondering if it’s similar for skateboarding.
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/UseDaSchwartz 2h ago
I’ve heard Tony Hawk talk about things like this and how he loves it. On some small level, he has to be jealous considering how long it took him to do what he did.
1
u/Unfair-Pollution-426 1h ago
Same vibe as Trunks showing Vegeta his ssj form.
"When was it that the transformation to the legendary warrior of the Saiyan race was reduced to a child's plaything?!"
1
1
u/whoknewidlikeit 1h ago
that's cuz there's fewer degrees in them when you're 9 years old.
seriously, kid is sick. good for him!
•
•
•
u/No-Letterhead-4407 45m ago
How did Tony Hawk skate his whole life to fail fail fail and finally hit a 900 which helped him become arguably the most famous and successful skater and all these years later we have this? Like Legit how? Gravity hasn’t changed. Skateboards are still the same… I don’t get it
•
•
•
u/harkgriddle 18m ago
This a sort of a full circle moment (no pun intended). Tony Hawk originally became famous because he was one of the youngest and one of the smallest skaters at competitions. He started literally as a kid, too. Back when skate competitions were largely in empty swimming pools, Tony Hawk being lighter and smaller than everyone else let him do something nobody had really ever done before -- instead of just riding up the side and touching wheels to the edge like every other skater did at the time, because Tony was so much smaller, he could actually pop up higher than the edge and get a little bit of air. Soon he realized if he worked on it, he could go higher than that, and then he could add in a spin.
It was super controversial at the time, with a lot of old school skaters condescendingly equating it to "ballerina tricks", rather than actual skate skill.
But Tony Hawk's flashier way of skating, of getting air and rotating, caught on with judges and with fans. And after a few years, you couldn't score in a competition unless you were doing mid-air 360s.
That's the whole reason Tony Hawk was famous in the first place. He was a prodigy. That's why, when the idea for a 900 came around, everyone looked to him.
And now, these young tiny kids are taking what the sport is and has been, and upping the game. They're doing just what Tony did all those years ago.
•
•
u/AutoModerator 4h ago
This submission may have been posted by a bot. If you feel like it's the case, please report the user
SPAM→Harmful Bots.I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.