Tony Hawk is an American professional skateboarder and the pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding. Currently running a skateboard company called Birdhouse, the birdman became the first skateboarder to complete the 900 skateboarding tricks. While he is known for his signature trick of completing two and a half turns mid-air on a skateboard, becoming a professional skateboarder at the mere age of 14 was difficult for him.

Hawk was making six figures when he was just in his 20s while winning professional tournaments. But while it all sounds great in theory, it was a lot of pressure on him. During a 2016 interview with Tony Hawk, Graham Bensinger asked him if the pressure depressed Hawk. The birdman let everyone in on “why winning wasn’t fun.”

Tony Hawk had to cross many hurdles

Answering Bensinger’s critical ask, Hawk replied, “It wasn’t that I was depressed, I was disheartened with competition. The only way you really were recognized as a skater then was your competitive record. And mine was stellar… I was winning most of the events. I think I won 72 out of the 100 that I entered at the time.”

Even though Hawk was performing with such a stellar caliber, after a while, the expectations of the people grew bigger than him, and the sport wasn’t as fun for Hawk anymore. Hawk said, “But that became my existence and that became what everyone expected of me. And if I performed any less, if I got second, then in their eyes I’d fail, I’d lost.”

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He continued, “It took the fun out of it for me. Or that I was just performing for everyone else’s expectations. I wasn’t really enjoying the process.” Being put on the pedestal of unrealistic expectations was hard for Tony Hawk, as he struggled with the sport instead of enjoying participating in it. Surprisingly, he was not the only one who felt this way.

The burden of unrealistic expectations crushed other skateboarders too

Tony Hawk revealed that he was not the only one who crumbled under the pressure of unrealistic expectations. He gave the example of Rodney Mullen who was also one of the greats when it came to freestyle skateboarding. For Mullen, being put on a pedestal of unrealistic expectations was like building a house. Instead of enjoying the house you built, one would simply sit around and guard it so no one could enter it.

For Hawk, things got so unbearable after a time that he started to figure out how to remain a pro skater without competing. Hawk did take a break from competing to gather his thoughts. When he came back almost a year later, he did so with a clear mind and a new perspective, ready to take on any challenge coming his way. He never looked back since.

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