Valley teenager aims for return trip to X Games
Finishing up a one-hour shoot at Pecos Skate Park in Phoenix, 17-year-old skater Trey Wood turned his attention on qualifying for his seventh straight X Games, held next month in Minneapolis.
The qualifying event in Boise sends only the top six competitors in each event.
A native of Queen Creek, Wood is elated with the idea of once again representing his state on the national stage. He’s perfected his craft at local parks from Goodyear to Tempe to Chandler.
“It’s pretty cool,” Wood said. “All the Arizona skaters here are sick. I love the scene out here; the skate parks are cool. I’ve always skated them since I was young and it’s pretty sweet having people back me
from my hometown.”
Wood has been practicing locally before he prepares to board a flight to Boise. With no real schedule to stress over, he keeps his daily routine nice and simple.
“Just doing the same thing I do every day,” Wood said. “Just skating a ton, learning new tricks and getting prepared for it by simply skating.”
Wood has a bevy of sponsors, such as Blind, Monster, Nike SB, Triple 8, SoCal Skateshop, 187 Pads, Bones Wheels and Mouse Grip.
Wood doesn’t attend a traditional school. Instead, he takes online classes, which is what he’s been doing since the fifth grade. Becoming a virtual student became a reality for him when his travel schedule became hectic. Now it’s about fitting school into his skating schedule and not the other way around.
“To be honest,” Wood said. “It’s pretty easy for me to get caught behind, but with online schooling, you can do your work when you want to.”
If he’s out and about for possibly a week, then he’ll just do all of his assignments in one day once he returns home. It’s a daunting task, which he admits can get “pretty difficult,” but gets it done at the end of the day.
Skating continuously, he fights physical exhaustion by giving himself a relaxing day when needed. Even though it may be difficult taking a break from his love.
“I try to,” Wood said. “I definitely like to let my body rest when I can. I just skate as much as I can and whenever I’m feeling like it. It’s pretty much what I do every day.”
Finding time to rest is a challenge for most athletes, because of the idea it’s giving their competition an extra day to get ahead. For Wood, his friends just so happen to be other pro skateboarders, such as Tom Schaar and Cory Juneau.
Even though his friends are his competitors, he loves having them around. It’s a way for them all to get better, toss ideas off each other and just train together.
It’s also nice having others in the same age group traveling the same journey. Wood has been in the public eye since he was a kid and is still going strong. Whether it’s on social media with 12,000 likes on Facebook and more than 30,000 followers on Instagram, the teenager has fans from all around.
“I try not to pay attention to it, and do what I always do,” Wood said on being a public figure. “It’s pretty cool when you are at these contests and have fans there because it makes you realize you’re actually doing something.”
He feels the fans during a competition. The hundreds or thousands of eyes making photographic memories of what he’s about to do, while he’s at the top of the ramp taking deep breaths. Taking the cerebral approach of picturing the trick at the end and then completing it in just a matter of seconds.
“To be honest,” Wood said, “you kind of just let the crowd push you to do what you’re trying to do even more. Those people are there to support you. I just embrace it and kind of let them almost amp up to do something that I usually wouldn’t with adrenaline. When you have hundreds of people staring at you in a situation like that, it kind of just fuels you to do better.”
Having an increased fan base and becoming recognized around the world has led Wood to visit faraway places.
“Traveling is sick,” Wood said. “The traveling part of traveling sucks. Like being on airplanes for days at a time is terrible, but once you get there and you’re in a different country with your friends, it’s definitely worth it. I wouldn’t change anything, but being stuck on planes for those periods of time isn’t fun.”
Wood was able to showcase his skateboarding talents in China about a month ago. He had qualified for the final and had to wait to compete – but he couldn't wait.
He wanted to practice a few tricks later in the night, but suffered a concussion when he took a hard fall on the ramp. Wood says he’s still undergoing physical therapy for the concussion and is able to compete.
“I’m feeling all right again,” said Wood, following a recent trip to Brazil.
Injuries are part of every sport, and Wood is aware of it.
“I’ve just always had problems with my wrists and my feet,” Wood said.
Despite the injuries and pain, Wood doesn’t plan on departing from his dream job of being a skateboarder anytime soon.
As for the future? “Honestly, just skateboard as long as I can,” Wood said. “Go as far with it as I possibly can. Not really set a boundary on a specific goal, because I want to do whatever I can with skateboarding. It is my career, and I hope to keep it that way as long as I can.
“It’s pretty sick. I’d be skateboarding either way. This is exactly what I’d be doing if I wasn’t getting paid to do it. To be able to skateboard and make a living off of it is awesome, in my opinion.”