I asked Paul when he really felt like he first "made it" as a pro skater. He laughed and said, "When I got in a video game – Then I was all psyched!" His first game was Tony Hawk Underground. He said he liked playing himself in the game. "It's like I have my own character already made up!"
I asked Paul what he does for fun besides skating. He said, "I do a little golf, occasionally a little boxing. I’m not going into training or anything, but there’s a guy at the gym there that likes to give me tips."
Paul has been doing ridiculously well as a pro skater. I asked him what he thought a skater needed in order to really succeed as a pro. "Well, a large part of it is skateboarding skill," He explained. "You gotta have that. You also have to have a personality or style that can be marketable if you want to have a long skating career. You see a lot of guys who dress funny and who can do all kinds of crazy tricks but they don’t get recognized. I don’t know. It’s kind of weird."
So far it's been working well for Paul. I asked him where he wanted to go - what he wanted to do next. He stated, "I want to be the best skater I can possibly be. Keep progressing that way. Just stay focused on my passion." I asked what keeps him going. He said it was, "Love for skating, the way it feels to land a good trick."
Paul added that he's working on a new video of his own right now, "getting everyone parts in, and editing it. We don’t have a name yet." I suggested he add some clips of him boxing into the video. "Yeah!" he laughed.
For more, check out the Paul Rodriguez Pro Skater Profile and Bio.
