Elijah Bresnahan has always found sheer enjoyment from rolling around on four wheels.
Skateboarding has now given the 17-year-old another opportunity.
At the beginning of August, the Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School student competed in Volcom’s Wild In the Parks tour stop in Toronto, earning himself a second-place finish in the 15-and-older category, as well as an invite to the finals in Austin, Texas.
With little competitive experience behind him, Bresnahan said it took some trying to keep his nerves in check, but he settled in as soon as he stopped thinking about the competition.
“I was pretending I was skating the park for fun,” he said. “I forgot it was a comp.”
Competing alongside some of the province’s best, Bresnahan had 15 minutes to impress the judges while skating three different features at Toronto’s Ashbridges Bay Skate Park.
He said the park, which is “more like a plaza,” had “everything you can name” as far as obstacles go, giving him the chance to show his wide range of skills.
Skaters were scored on their consistency, ability to perform technical tricks and how well they used the elements of the park.
Leaving the competition with a backpack full of prizes was a big accomplishment for the local skater. Bresnahan said there were at least 250 people around the park while he competed, watching closely.
“The whole park was surrounded,” he said.
When he skates in Texas, even more eyes will be on him. National skate companies will have representatives eying the competitors, looking for new athletes to sponsor.
Bresnahan gets some support locally from Pinnacle Sports, especially from “the Mentor,” Jason Levac.
When he was heavily involved in the local board sport scene as a teenager and young adult, Levac said there weren’t many opportunities for riders to progress and develop a name for themselves in the north.
He said he wants a different future for this generation of young talent. That’s why he drove Bresnahan, as well as two other Sudbury skaters, to the Toronto competition, and plans to take Bresnahan to Texas, too.
“I like to see up and coming kids,” he said. “I want someone to come out of Sudbury.
“(Bresnahan) is going to put us on the map,” he said. “He’s already started.”
- Posted by Jenny Jelen
