Next month the Summer Olympics will take place in Tokyo. While we look forward to seeing a number of our favorites in Track & Field, Swimming and Volleyball, there are a number of sports that will make their debut and skateboarding is one of them! We're excited to catch up with an athlete who has been at the top of his sport for the past couple of years and is an advocate for skateboarding and its community. Heimana Reynolds has showcased his style and creativity at a number of World Championships, X Games and will now take the world's biggest stage in just a few weeks representing Team USA Skateboarding.

We caught up with this Hawaiian native who calls San Diego, CA his home to find out how he got into skateboarding, going pro, the Olympic Trials and the power of recognition.

ATHLEISURE MAG: When we grew up in the 80’s and 90’s, we remember that after school, even though we didn’t skateboard, but we had friends that did. You could see how fun it was. Living here in NY, you see it all the time from a transportation perspective or just people being out having a good time! How were you introduced to the sport?

HEIMANA REYNOLDS: Well, I’m born and raised in Hawaii right? I mean, my state is known as the surfing capital of the world! Originally, my dad he was born and raised as the board sports rider from surfing, skating and snowboard riding when he could. At first, at a young age, he introduced me to surfing. From there, I was very young like 4 or 5 years old and at that age, there are so many variables that have to do with surfing – it’s cold, it’s windy, it’s this and that. So I didn’t fall in love with it at that age. When I was 6 or 7, my dad was like, “ok what’s the next best thing? Skateboarding. Let’s try this." He introduced me to skateboarding and I just fell in love with it. He would take me all day, every day, after school, before school and weekends! It was just history from there you know?

AM: When did you realize you wanted to be an athlete and be a professional skateboarder?

HR: I remember the day that I realized that this was something that I want to be able to do. My very first contest my dad took me to was in California, it’s this contest for all 12 and under skateboarders. He took me out there and I got to meet so many people, I got to compete for the first time and I actually did well for myself even though it was the beginners division! And I actually won a few divisions! I thought, “woah this is cool, this is awesome and I want to be able to do this for the rest of my life!” And hopefully I can! So far so good you know?

AM: You have won so many things from World Championships to being at the X Games and all of these different events. What has that journey been like for you?

HR: Oh my gosh, it’s been amazing! All I can say is that I’m so blessed to be able to travel the world and to meet all of these amazing people and get to do all of this because of skateboarding. Who would have ever thought that I could be traveling the world, I could be competing, I could be winning, I could be making money off of this wooden toy with wheels? You know what I mean? This journey has really been amazing and it’s not done yet! I mean, I’m super excited for Tokyo and it’s going to be the most amazing thing ever.

AM: That is going to be insane! I know you were talking about growing up in Hawaii and you live in California now in San Diego, what’s the skating scene or community like in terms of similarities and differences between where you grew up and where you are now?

HR: Honestly, there are so many similarities and differences. Growing up in Hawaii, I mean the similarities – well the reason why I moved to San Diego is that pretty much it’s the closest thing that’s like being in Hawaii without being in Hawaii. I’m able to still surf and skate every single day. I moved out here mainly because of the skate park and the skate scene out here you know? The cool thing about being out here is that you can stand in a certain area like my house let’s say and point in any direction and I can tell you where the skate park is. I think that is the coolest thing ever because there’s so many skate parks and not only is it about the quantity of skate parks but the quality of skate parks that are out here! Compared to Hawaii, it’s off the charts! Being out here and being able to skate, be at all of these different parks, being able to be out at the entire skateboarding scene out here is honestly the best thing for my skate career.

AM: That’s awesome! What’s an average day like for you when you’re training or doing your tricks? How many hours are you actually on your skateboard?

HR: Haha! Well a normal training day for me would of course be waking up at about 7:15/7:30am, getting out of bed, getting my day started and going straight to the NAKOA Gym where I meet with my personal trainer, Brandon Glade. We run through a bunch of – not so much body-building exercises but building muscle around my joints to prevent injuries. So we do all of those exercises for about an hour. I go home and I get a nice breakfast in me and I go straight to the California Training Facility which is the Olympic Skatepark for us. I go there and my first session will be about usually 3-4 hours just running tricks that I want to work on, trying to learn tricks and hone in on tricks that need work on and I grab some lunch after. Then I go back to the skate park and then I run lines to get my stamina up, to do the tricks that I learned earlier that day or those that I need to work on. Just kind of running my legs together so that’s another 3-4 more hours!

AM: That is definitely a lot! What are the specific workouts that you do to optimize you in your sport as I know you’re focused on building the muscle around joints? Do you have go-to’s that you do?

HR: We’re always changing up a lot of stuff. We do stamina work, we do cardio, we do a lot of agility stuff, landing hard and trying not to land hard on your bones! Also doing lightweight stuff. I don’t know the exact names for everything, but my trainer, he’s awesome! He’s the best in the business in my eyes.

AM: Prior to COVID-19, what was your year like in terms of your competitions just to give people an idea of what your schedule was like and how much you traveled?

HR: Oh my gosh! It was never a dull moment to say the least haha! There was honestly a time before COVID where there was a contest between where it was pretty much every weekend or every other weekend. We were able to travel to China, Brazil and all of these crazy countries and multiple times in that same year! I’d just bring my skateboard along and just kind of go with it. It was so amazing to be able to feel out all of those different cultures and just competing on those weekends. Oh my gosh it was amazing and so much fun. It was definitely strenuous but it was definitely a super amazing ride.

AM: Did you find, because we have been interviewing a number of athletes, that during this time before things started opening up again that in order to keep training and working out, that you had to do weird modifying situations to still stay healthy and on track for what you wanted to be able to do? We talked with Ryan Murphy a few months back and he was pushing his SUV up a hill because he couldn’t get to a gym haha!

HR: Haha yeah! During COVID, it was a crazy time especially being a park skater where you have all these ramps and big concrete – all the skate parks were closed you know? So it was really hard for me to be able to motivate myself. It was really funny, I had to do a lot of my sessions where I was in my living room and literally skating my coffee table and doing tricks off my coffee table and stuff like that! It got down to the point where I had a bunch of cases of Vitamin Water and I literally set them up and I was grinding on them and going over them – it was actually pretty funny!

It was actually a really cool experience to be able to not have to worry about the stress of events and training but to actually fall in love with my skateboard again, you know? It reminded me of when I was 8 years old and I would skate in my driveway for hours on end and just like having fun with literally nothing. I thought it was a really cool experience.

AM: Do you have go-to movements or signature movements that you do when you’re skateboarding?

HR: I do. I have a couple. My main trick that I’m kind of “known” for is called a Frontside Invert and it’s where you go front side up to the coping and you kind of plant your hand on the coping and you kind of do a one handed handstand while holding your board and then bring it back in. That’s one of my favorite tricks and I try to do that in every contest. It’s a super fun one!

AM: It looks awesome and you were in our 9PLAYLIST feature last month and we have that shot as the background of your playlist. That shot looks amazing and it’s impressive, but it must be so hard to be able to do that! Not for you obviously!

HR: It’s a lot of falling down and a lot of getting back up to learn it and to perfect it, you know?

AM: Exactly! What was the Olympic Trial process like and how many events did you have to do to qualify?

HR: The Olympic process was a cool experience, but also there are a lot of similarities and differences compared to contests that we’re used to! There’s a whole new thing with the point system and trying to get as many points as you can because it’s the Olympics and everybody wants to get to it. There are only 3 spots for Team USA, you know? So, we had 3 main events in 2019 and then we had 2 more in 2020 until the postponement and then we had another 2 this year. In 2019, at the first event, I was able to make finals but got 6th place, the next 2 were a Pro Tour event and then the World Championships and I was lucky enough to make the runs that I needed and win those 2 events which really boosted my score a lot leading into 2020 and 2021. Unfortunately, the most recent 2 events, I battled a knee injury and had to pull out of those events, but luckily for me, I had enough points to stay in the top spot and make it to the Games.

AM: Which is amazing! Once again thinking back to growing up seeing our friends skateboard back in the 80’s and 90’s, we couldn’t have imagined that it would be a sport at the Summer Games! How important do you think that this is for the visibility of the sport and then you being a part of the debut of that?

HR: Honestly, just hearing you ask me that question just gave me the chills you know what I mean? The shivers went through my spine because it’s such an amazing thing. First, it’s amazing for the sport to be at the Olympics and I have always thought that it deserved the recognition and that it should be considered a real sport to be at the Olympics. For me to be able to actually compete in the debut of the sport means the world to me. Skateboarding is my entire world. It’s all I’ve ever known and it’s all I ever do. It’s what I’m so passionate about and to be able to make history with skateboarding means so much to me and I’m so honored and blessed to be able to say that I will be in the debut of skateboarding for the Olympics.

AM: It’s so amazing and what are you looking forward to at the Games and what does your schedule look like leading up to heading to Tokyo?

HR: Oh my God – I mean I honestly don’t even know what to expect. I know that there are a lot of guidelines and stuff like that, but I’m really going to be there for the ride and the experience and kind of just making the memories of a lifetime out there!

Leading up to the Games, I am definitely training as much as I can without being injured. I’m just trying to keep my mind and my body healthy. I’m trying to keep my legs warm and I know that there are tricks that I want to be able to do before the Games so I’m honing in on those and not trying to get too crazy learning anything more before the Games. I have my tricks that I want to do and my lines that I want to run and pretty much, just trying to stay healthy and reviewing the park layout and getting ready!

AM: For Olympic Skateboarding, the events are broken out between street style and park style. Can you share the difference between these events?

HR: Of course. When you talk about street skating, automatically you think about the street. You’re skating on the street, but it has a lot to do with what you see around town. Street skaters will be skating stairs, handrails and jumping off of things like that. In park skating, you’re going to see more of ramp style where you see quarter pipes, half pipes, coping and long grinds and it will be really fast and high airs.

AM: In looking at competing in park, can you break down from an Olympic standpoint – how do you accrue points, what are judges looking for? So when we’re cheering you on, we can understand how you’re being scored?

HR: When you’re skating in park, one of the coolest things about park and skateboarding in general is the creativity aspect behind it. So, a lot of the judges are looking for the speed that you’re going at and how fast you’re going, how many tricks they can pull together in their 45 second run, how high their airs are and stuff like that. But it also goes into the creativity aspect. If you’re watching a skate contest, you will never see someone do the same run as another skater. That is the coolest thing because it brings the individuality out of the sport. A lot of the judges are looking for high airs, long grinds, going fast, how many difficult tricks you can pull without falling and the creative aspect of how unique your line was with all the tricks and which ones went back-to-back.

AM: For the Olympics, you have a designated uniform that you have to wear, but do you also have a specific board or shoes that you wear or are you able to choose your own for that?

HR: So yeah, we have the Olympic designed uniforms that we wear, but shoes, boards and helmet go under equipment. So, we can bring our own stuff in for those. I’ll have my The Heart Supply skateboard, I’ll be wearing my Axion Slip On shoes. They’re my favorite shoes and super comfortable – I love them. Also, my helmet will be a black S1 Helmets.

AM: I know that you’re partnered with KT Tape and our readers and followers know the brand and have seen them on athletes such as those in swimming and volleyball and how they use it. How is it beneficial for you when using it in skateboarding and why did you feel that it was a synergistic partnership for you to be aligned with their brand?

HR: In skateboarding and specifically with me, I don’t like to have any restrictions especially with braces and things like that. So, if I hurt my ankle, my knee or my wrist, I don’t want to have this brace that restricts my movement too much and gets in my way with this big bulky brace on my knee. So when I partnered up with KT Tape, they taught me how to tape up my knee, ankle or anything else, it really helped to hold my knee or ankle in place without having to deal with the restrictions of a bulky brace. It was really cool to experience that and to learn how to use the tape. They have a bunch of different stuff. I use the KT Recovery+ Wave that’s this electromagnetic pain relief thing. So if my shoulder is super sore after a long skate session, I’ll tape that thing onto my shoulder and I won’t feel it at all but the next morning I’ll wake up and say, “wow, that really helped a lot!” They also have KT Recovery+ Pain Relief Gel Roll-On and stuff like that. They have a lot of different products that help progress my skateboarding a lot.

AM: It’s always fun to do prep for these interviews and I know you’re in the campaign imagery with Ralph Lauren as well which you have such the look for that. But we also came across the Proper Rideshop. Can you tell us more about this?

HR: Like when I told you earlier about my dad and how he got me into skateboarding, once he realized that this was what I wanted to do – he took into account that if this was something that I wanted to be able to do and that skateboarding would be my life that they would turn their lives into it too! Him and my mom both quit their jobs, got an indoor warehouse, opened a skate shop in the front and a full skatepark in the back. They run camps and clinics to teach skateboarding to the youth. It’s a super cool environment. We have a membership program where we have over 400 members with young kids. We give back to the community and work with some homeschool programs teaching them where this is a form of their PE classes. We work with this program called A.skate Foundation which works with special needs kids in the autistic community. Proper Ride Shop has turned into a full family affair and it’s amazing.

AM: That’s amazing what they do for the community and the fact that you were able to train there while you were growing up!

HR: Yeah that’s true! They opened it up 10 years ago. I’ve been able give back to the community there and then after hours, be there to get training in.

AM: That’s fantastic and because you’re passion for the sport is so evident, in what ways do you give back to the sport and the community?

HR: I teach kids about the sport and I try to go around to help the kids of the next generation. Proper Rideshop is a really cool thing to give back to the community. Once, I was part of the next generation and people gave back to me and now that I’m in that next generation, I want to see the younger generation just strive and help them become what I did. I love giving back to the community.

AM: When you’re not skateboarding, what would we find you doing when you’re just taking time for yourself?

HR: When I’m not skating, I like to be in the ocean. Whether it’s surfing, fishing – especially back at home. I’m always going to be in the ocean because that’s my little zen mode. I grew up surfing and skateboarding my entire life so if I’m not at the skate park, I’m definitely surfing.

AM: We love talking to people that are changemakers that inspire other people. Who are 3 people that have helped you in your career where you are whether you know them personally or follow them socially?

HR: Oh man. The first one that comes to mind is definitely Shaun White! He has been a huge inspiration to me since I was a young kid just watching him at the X Games skateboarding and snowboarding. I knew of the time and dedication that he took whether he was on or off his board. It really just made me see what was out there and made me want to push and be the best that I could be. It’s actually really cool. During the beginning of the Olympic Trials for skateboarding, he was like, “I want to start skating again and do this." From there, I used to see him at the skate park a bunch and I was like, “woah that’s Shaun White, I looked up to him as a little kid.” We actually built a relationship together and I’m able to call him up and go skate anytime I want! It's a really cool thing to be able to do that and to have him as a good friend of mine. He’s an amazing human.

Another person that really inspires me and I know that it might sound cliché, but my dad really inspires me a lot. He was the person who taught me what hard work is and the person that pretty much paved the way for me and taught me every life lesson that I know. He’s the one that pushed me when I wanted to quit and he helped me get back up and he is definitely one of the biggest inspirations in my life.

As a skateboarding standpoint, Tony Hawk – of course he’s been a huge inspiration to me. Not only is he probably the biggest name in skateboarding, he also opened up the doors to show that you don’t have to just be a skateboarder. He designed his own game, he gives back to the community, he travels the world and he gives skateboards to little kids. He is one of the most amazing human beings and he has inspired me my entire life.

IG @Heimana_Reynolds

PHOTOS COURTESY | KT Tape + Ralph Lauren