From magazine covers to founding Young Guns Skate School, Simon Thorp has created a life within skateboarding. As a former New Zealand Skater of the Year, his undeniable ability on a board and charismatic personality have seen him forge a path that transcends the skate community, engaging mums and kids alike, growing the New Zealand skateboard scene, developing unreal talent, and growing a sustainable business.
Simon's enigmatic nature has opened the door to schools, community groups and councils, creating opportunities for all skaters that otherwise wouldn't exist.
We caught up with Simon to ask him a few questions about forging a life in skateboarding.
All photography courtesy of Eisei Toyota
How did you get into skateboarding?
Skating looked real cool, I mean the ninja turtles did it too! Haha, I vividly remember the hanging snake run in the ninja turtles movie and was fascinated by it. But it was when I saw double kicked skateboards for the first time, that I became obsessed.
What was your motivation to start Young Guns Skate School?
It is really rewarding to see kids discover the joys of skateboarding for the first time. I used to help Justin Watene run school holiday programmes. Eventually he sold his side hustle to me for an insanely generous price. At the time no one ran regular Skate Schools like how we run it today. There needed to be something more regular for kids, like after school classes and/or classes at schools. Something with ramps and obstacles designed for kids and that didn’t require the kids to find their own way to a skate park. We brought skateboarding into schools and it worked.
From SOTY to magazine covers, you have achieved a huge amount over the years – looking back, what has been your greatest achievement?
I think learning to kickflip haha! If I didn’t learn that I wouldn’t have had any cover or won SOTY hahah.
