4 footballers who love skateboarding
In a career where serious injuries can spell early retirement, very few footballers participate in activities that are potentially dangerous to their bodies. Despite this, multiple different stars within the world of football have contradicted this trend by entering into the sport of skateboarding. Skateboarding culture, which has both a distinctive lifestyle and fashion attached to it, serves as a unique crossover for footballers whose passion for sport goes beyond the pitch. Here are four past and current footballers who have taken the risk and dove into the realm of skateboarding.
1. Gustavo Scarpa
The 28-year-old Brazilian midfielder is the footballer on this list who is best known for his skateboarding abilities. Born in Hortolandia, a municipality within the São Paulo region of Brazil, Scarpa began skateboarding as a child and is now the main investor of multiple local skateboarding-based charities within the region. When Scarpa was bought by Nottingham Forest, he took his passion of street-skating to the UK, where he was seen by fans skateboarding around the city center. “I am very happy that we have a lot of skate parks near here… I am already feeling at home”. He was even pictured with his skateboard and a pair of skater-styled shoes during his introduction to the club at their City Ground.
However, former Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper was not thrilled with Scarpa’s passion for skateboarding, and spoke to him on several occasions about letting go of his passion. Cooper stated he didn’t want the young star to put himself at risk for serious injury while skating, which highlights the difficult combination that footballers can have between balancing skateboarding with their professional career.
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2. Brennan Johnson
The Tottenham Hotspur winger was a superior skater in his youth. Starting in primary school, Johnson would spend nearly every day with his friends at the skate park working on different tricks and jumps. His passion for the sport sprouted from his favorite Disney TV show “Zeke and Luther”, which fully led him into the skating lifestyle. When describing his obsession with skateboarding, Johnson said “Skateboarding was its own little world. The feeling of learning a new trick was so good. It brought me so much joy”.
Despite his love for the sport, skateboarding took a backseat when Johnson’s football career began to blossom. Nevertheless, his passion for skateboarding has never wavered, and he’s quoted saying: “Skateboarding made me feel free, free to express myself”. With this unending love for the sport, he is determined to continue skating once his career has come to an end.
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3. Tom Davies
The young English defender from Sheffield United personifies modern skating fashion and culture. Davies, whose previous long blonde curly hair already stereotypically epitomized skating culture, is often seen wearing oversized retro shirts and pantaloons while shredding on his board.
Davies, who came through the Everton youth academy, was often seen skateboarding through the Liverpool streets to and from training. This gave him the reputation around the city of being a skilled skater, which only enhanced his image and reputation as a footballer fully within the skating world.
4. Zinédine Zidane
Although football legend Zinédine Zidane is relatively new to the sport of skateboarding, he has fully embraced its culture and fashion. Zidane has recently joined in a collaboration between Yohji Yamamoto’s Y3 Brand, professional French skateboarder Lucas Puig, and Adidas.
This collaboration is centered around a new skate-fashion clothing line produced by Adidas. The collection is inspired by the year 2006, drawing from the Adidas “Team Geist 2006” line. This collection’s goal is to blend football, skateboarding, and contemporary streetwear into one Adidas Y3 line, with famous stars from both sports at the center of the partnership. Through his presence in this collection, Zidane helps to further bridge these two different sporting cultures through the use of collaborative fashion.
