Tom Schaar, a skater often tasked with being a torch bearer to the niche discipline of mega ramp skating and the wider vert landscape, is still dropping in.

What does Tom think about all this? That’s what I set out to find. From questions about a secret loop society, whether he’s considered the switch to street, and where all the vert ramps went, there’s plenty for the vert-gin brain to chew on. Enjoy!

The streets are talking. They say you’re making a SOTY push. Is it true?
I mean, that wasn’t the goal or anything, but I filmed the last part and people were hyped on it and I really didn’t have much else going on the rest of the year so I was like, “Well, I’ll see if I can try and squeeze out one more part.” And it’s almost done.

The last vert skater to win SOTY was Danny Way in 2004. Does skateboarding not show vert skaters enough love?
Honestly, I don’t think it’s that. When I was growing up there was a vert ramp every five miles. And now there’s like one or two around me. They just kind of faded away. It’s not skateboarding’s fault. Vert just goes in waves, like in the 80s it was huge and then the 90s was heavy street. In the 2000s it kind of came back but since like 2010 not much has really happened.

“New parks being built just don’t have the big transition
that used to be around anymore.”

Yeah, I read that there’s allegedly only 29 public vert ramps left in the world, which I thought was kind of crazy. I figured there’d be more.
That is crazy. I never heard of that before. But that’s way lower than what I would have guessed. It would be sick if cities were more down to throw a vert ramp in the corner of a skatepark or something. Just the back corner. It can be hidden, like tucked away. Just have it somewhere [laughs].

Is the failure to include vert ramps in public skateparks to blame for why there aren’t as many vert skaters anymore?
That’s kind of what it boils down to. It’s not accessible for everyone. Now it’s all big street plazas, and there’s not really anywhere for a ramp to belong. Even if it wasn’t a vert ramp, there used to be at least a bowl or something. And I feel like new parks being built just don’t have the big transition that used to be around anymore.

So it’s fully an accessibility thing?
Yeah, for sure. I mean, there’s not a lot of hockey players from Hawaii [laughs].

Other than more ramps, what do you think needs to happen for vert to make a comeback?
I don’t know. I’m not trying to take charge of bringing back vert or anything. It’s just what I like skating, and it’s what I felt like filming for a video. Hopefully some kids will get fired up and inspired. If literally one kid starts skating vert because they saw that video then I feel that’s good enough for me.

Right now, in the US, you don’t see vert that often, but if you go to other countries like Australia or Japan, there’s a lot of kids that are starting to skate vert or transition. So I do think it’s making a little bit of a comeback right now. Seven, eight years ago, it was at a low point. But I travel and do all these contests, and every time I go there’s a whole wave of new kids that are skating vert.

Woah, sick. Are there unique styles coming out of Australia or Japan that differ from vert skating in America?
All the Australian kids are really good at doing spins to fakie. I feel like they all can do that somehow [laughs]. And then the Japanese kids are really technical. Like they have good lip tricks and everything. The US kids might have to step it up a little bit. These little kids from Japan are doing tricks that I have been trying for a while and I’ll just see them posted on Instagram and I’m like, “Oh, all right, so I’m not gonna do that one anymore.” They’re gnarly.

When X-Games discontinued the Big Air event in 2022, was that a, “Oh fuck, my industry is disappearing,” moment?
I saw the death of mega coming a little bit. There were less people skating it and the appeal that it used to have didn’t feel there anymore. For me, I was already skating park and doing other kinds of transition skating at that time. I do think if you brought mega back today people would be stoked on it.

Why didn’t Big Air and vert make it into the Olympics?
There have been years of them trying to get vert to be in the Olympics, but honestly, I think it came down to how they didn’t want to spend the money to add another venue. The roller sports organization said, “You can add one more event,” and they’re like, “Okay, we’re going to add scootering.” Then we’re like “Fuck no, just add vert,” and they’re like, “Scootering it is.” So there might be scootering in the 2028 Olympics.

No fucking way.
Yeah, I hope not. They’re trying to figure that out. Even Tony [Hawk] was like, “You can use my ramp as the Olympic ramp for free.” And they’re like, “Ahh, but scootering though.”

“Unless one of the homies wins the lottery, I don’t think
we’re getting another mega ramp for a while.”

I read that Bob [Burnquist’s] mega ramp cost $280,000. Do you think something like that’s ever gonna get built again?
I don’t know if another giant ramp like that is going to get built again. That was back in the heyday where companies were just throwing money at people. Unless one of the homies wins the lottery, I don’t think we’re getting another mega ramp for a while.

You don’t think Tony [Hawk] has that in the budget?
Tony’s got that in the budget, but I don’t think he’s going to build a mega ramp. He’s so loyal to strictly vert skating that– not in the mean way at all, but I think he almost looks down on other forms of skating.

[Laughs] I’m wondering just because when you skated Bob’s ramp for this new video, it kinda looked like shit.
Bob’s ramp has definitely seen better days. The sheets are good, they’re all solid, but there are a lot of screws sticking up everywhere, which sits in the back of your head. But if you don’t think about it, then the ramp’s perfectly fine.

There used to be a mega up at Woodward West too. But that one was kind of a death trap. I watched so many people get smoked skating it. I think the quarter pipe was too mellow, and then they made the other ramp too steep and people were flying all the way to flat. So it was either Bob’s which had screws sticking up everywhere, or this death one.

What goes through your head when you look at the kind of money vert skaters made in the early 2000s?
Dude, they were balling out like rock stars, seriously. Like private jets going to Vegas. I was 12 or 13 when I was skating with those guys, like Danny [Way] Colin [McKay] and PLG, so whatever they were doing with their money I definitely wasn’t seeing it. But if there was any group of guys for vert to have its heyday, that’s a pretty solid group.

I looked up to those guys my entire childhood. I remember going back to school after skating a vert contest or demo with them and being like, “Guess what the fuck I did this weekend?” I was definitely bragging.

Did they ever take you to Chuck E. Cheese or something and let you ball out?
No [laughs]. That would have been sick though.

Were you ever offered a crazy sponsorship deal during that era too?
When I was a kid I had some crazy ones. I was sponsored by this vitamin company and I had my own signature daily multivitamin. I did a commercial with Oreos. That was pretty random.

We all know Tony got a video game for doing the 900. What did you get for doing a 1080?
I was on the Ellen Show [laughs].

You were in the spotlight pretty young. What advice would you give your 13 year old self if you could go back?
Shit, I probably would have told myself to take the pads off a little earlier, because I didn’t really start skating other stuff besides vert until I was like 15. Actually I probably would have told my younger self to skate more rails. That would have been good.

[Laughs] Do you feel hindered by the fact that you can’t go and charge a street spot like that?
I mean, yes and no. There’s a part of me that has almost zero interest in trying to skate a rail. But then if I’m on a trip with street skaters and I’m just sitting there, I’m like, ‘Fuck, it would be nice if I could actually do something.” I’ll get the one pity transition spot that we go to.

I watch a lot of street skating, and sometimes I take more inspiration from that kind of stuff than vert stuff. In this new video I tried to do more no grab flips, lip tricks, and less stereotypical vert tricks for the street viewers.

“I’m not gonna lie, for a vert skater I don’t suck at flat.”

Tony Hawk famously started skating street in the early 90s when vert was at a lowpoint. Have you ever considered making that transition yourself?
No. I haven’t gotten that desperate yet. Luckily there’s still enough contests going on that I don’t have to try and grind a 20 rail or anything. Honestly though, some sick video parts came out of those vert dudes filming street stuff.

How’s your flatground game?
I’m not gonna lie, for a vert skater I don’t suck at flat. If I play against other vert skaters I do good, but as soon as I play against a street skater they blank me [laughs]. I think I’ve done one switch tre.

I really like more quick, technical skating, like some Mark Suciu or Tom Knox. Also that new Gustav [Tonnesen] part that just came out was insane. I know it’s not what people would probably expect me to like, but it is.

Who is someone that you might not expect to rip on vert but kind of does?
Dude, I swear every street skater can kind of skate vert. Yuto [Horigome] can do 540s and everything. Even Jamie [Foy], I saw him do a back smith on a full size vert ramp. It’s nuts.

Why are all vert skaters obsessed with doing a loop?
I don’t know, I’m not at all. I got smoked. I shattered my shoulder trying to do it when I was like 14 and then have had zero interest since then. But the loop is just cool. I don’t really know how to explain it.

So there’s no secret society if you do it?
No, no, there’s no loop Illuminati.

[Laughs] Well that fucking sucks. Hey, who’s better in your mind, Bob Burnquist or Danny Way?
Sorry Danny, but Bob. Bob could do all the tricks, but switch too.

Is there a stereotype in vert skating that often rings true?
We tend to be kind of socially awkward [laughs]. Besides that, nothing. I mean, there was the whole vert jock stereotype, but that was more the 90s or 2000s kind of thing. I don’t really think that one’s stuck around.

Unlike street skaters, I feel like vert skaters have to be media trained, good boy types. Is it hard having to be “marketable” all the time?
No, the whole clean boy, trying to put on an act kind of thing, I never felt like I had to do that. As a person, I’ve just been myself. I’ve never had any crazy, TMZ type shit going on.

Isn’t it weird though that we’ve never seen a vert skater have an intro where he’s like smoking weed and drifting a car?
That is true, that is true. They do that, don’t get it wrong. But maybe it’s a little more hidden.

Was it scary for you to come out with your story about struggling with alcohol?
Coming out and talking about it was not an easy thing to do, but I think it’s important. I was lost for a few years of my life and just didn’t really know what direction I was going. And then I got sober. It’s almost been three years now and things have been going pretty good since then. So I’m stoked about it.

Who championed your sober journey?
My parents for sure. Chris Gregson too, he’s been sober for like seven, eight years now. But honestly, ever since I stopped it seems a lot of other people have too. So now there’s this whole sober crew of dudes and we all skate together now, which is pretty sick.

Do you think that dark period of your life coincided with vert’s dying popularity?
[Laughs] No. But that’s a pretty sick theory, actually. I like that.

I’m sure you get asked about stunts all the time, but have you ever been offered your own Danny Way Great Wall moment?
Nah. I’ve never been offered one. If I had to think of a stunt, maybe trying to do the world record long jump, like a hundred feet or something. Or something with a helicopter. But I think the stunt days of skating are over. I mean Sandro [Dias] did that crazy drop in thing, but besides that I haven’t seen any stunts in a while. Maybe when I’m older and I can’t really skate as much, I could just resort to being a stunt guy.

“I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a VX clip in my life, which as a skater
is kind of disappointing.”

Does the vert world care as much about ABDs and NBDs as street skating?
Honestly, I think it might be even worse. There are a thousand different 20 stair rails in the world, but a vert ramp is a vert ramp. It’s pretty much the same trick no matter where you do it. If I hadn’t had extensions and rails and other add-ons, I don’t think I could have filmed a video at all. And still, pretty much everything in the new video was taken from something else.

If you combine a Bob [Burnquist] part, a Colin [Mckay] part, and Tony [Hawk] or something, that covers every vert trick that you can think of. I’ll seriously think of things for five-ten minutes and I’m like, “Oh yeah, Bob did it” or, “Colin did it.” There’s nothing left. I swear to God. You got to dig deep. I was just trying to take pieces from my favorite videos that I watched growing up and more or less try to add on to it. None of them got bummed, they were hyped on it, so that was cool.

When you were filming your new part, did you ever consider filming on VX?
No [laughs]. I don’t even know anyone that has a working VX. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a VX clip in my life, which as a skater is kind of disappointing.

You did the 1080, then someone did the 1260. Realistically, how much more can a person spin?
Dude, I don’t know. Mitchie Brusco did the 1260, and honestly, I didn’t think anyone was going to do that. Or at least I thought it would be a while. But he kind of– not that he made it look easy, but he did the shit out of it. I’m not going to be like, “No, no one else is going to do more.” Because for sure they’re going to. It’s just how skating works.

1440 is next, which would be a 360 more than a 1080. So yeah, no. I’m gonna pass for sure. But some little kid will do it. I guarantee you. I could still physically spin that much, but it’s just harder. When you’re little, you can get into a little ball and just keep spinning pretty much. When I was a kid I never got dizzy. I could do a thousand 540s and be fine. Now if I do three or four of them in a row, I have to sit down for a second. I don’t know what happened, but something changes when you get older. I also might just be copping out by saying I’ve grown out of it [laughs].

Are there illegal vert tricks?
This is going to bum out so many kids, but varial flip indys are becoming so illegal. Or the kickflip body varial, that’s one a lot of people are doing right now. I don’t know, it’s mostly some flip grab variations that just don’t work. And people were running them [laughs].

Are there vert tricks that are easier to do than people might think?
I kind of think everything is a little bit easier on mega. It’s definitely scarier, but you have so much more time. If you kickflip up a euro, you have to catch it perfectly and land it. But if you do a kick flip over mega, it could be like five feet away from you and you have time to grab it and bring it back in. It doesn’t have to be as precise.

You have the time to correct things, and you have so much time to think about what you’re doing. Like you’re going really fast, but everything kind of happens in slow motion if that makes sense. It doesn’t feel slow, but the ramp is so long, you’re going up things for so long, that it just all happens slowly.

Do you ever get speed wobbles when you’re going down mega?
No, I have the world’s tightest trucks when I skate mega, like they don’t move at all. If you stand still on my board, it won’t move at all. But if you’re going fast enough, you can move eventually. It’s not a good setup. I would not recommend it. Some people run it kind of loose, but honestly I would never do that. It’s sketchy.

“I bet the GX dudes could hit mega. It would probably feel slow to them.”

Do you think you could hang with the GX guys?
I don’t think so. It’s a whole different thing. But honestly I bet the GX dudes could hit mega. It would probably feel slow to them.

Ending on a curveball. Bob famously has the anti-hero tramp stamp. Would you ever get a Birdhouse one?
[Laughs] The tramp stamp? It’s pretty gnarly. Bob rocks it somehow, but I don’t think I could pull it off. I’m not a tramp stamp kind of person.

Interview by: Ben Komins
Photos by: Tim Aguilar
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