Like many pros, Colin got his start young. "I was 10 years old, bought a board, every kid in the neighborhood was doing it. I moved to a place called Calgary, Alberta, and that was it." Colin McKay's older brother (now passed away) was a pro skater, and Colin was pulled into skateboarding along with all of his friends. He says he didn't learn any faster than anyone else. "It took a while before I could really do some stuff," Colin says. "I was just like everyone else."
I asked Colin McKay what his favorite part about being a professional skateboarder was. "The creativity, I think," he says. "Making up new tricks, and then progressing, and trying to come up with new stuff."
When I asked about the hardest part about being a pro skater, Colin McKay says, "For me, the hardest part is just staying on top of your game. It's easy to get pro, but hard to stay pro. There's so many kids that are so hungry, the way I was when I was 16, it's hard to stay up as good as you can skate for a long time!"
Colin McKay has had 8 major shoulder injuries, along with all the other regular skateboarding injuries. I asked him what kept him going. "I just love doing it," Colin says. "I love the feeling, the sensation that it gives me especially like landing a trick, riding away, there's no better feeling."
For his favorite tricks, Colin says, "I like backside tail slides - the simple tricks, not the difficult ones. The simple tricks that I can do well. Like backside tailslides, backside ollies, stuff like that."
As for tricks that he has a rough time with, Colin McKay says the hardest tricks for him to do are, "whatever the newest one is, that's the hardest one, you know? Once I've done it gets easy, when I'm trying it, that's the hardest trick I can do."
For advice for the younger skaters out there, Colin smiles and says, "Just don't stop grindin'!"
For more info on Colin McKay, check out the Colin McKay Profile.
