Ramping up

Shaun Boucher is an internationally acclaimed skateboarding champion who wants to help others become one too. And that includes you.

words Karl Puschmann | photos Katie Cox

“You could almost classify it as like a gladiator pit,” Shaun Boucher smiles. “There’s big grandstands, the energy’s high, the crowd’s cheering, people are clapping and you’re standing at the bottom.”

On this sunny morning at a café in Pāpāmoa, we’re not discussing mortal combat. Instead, Shaun’s describing the electric atmosphere of a skateboarding competition.

“You do your last run, they announce you’ve won and you hold your board up and everyone’s clapping… it’s hard to describe that feeling and how special it is.”

It may be hard to articulate but it’s a feeling the 31-year-old pro skateboarder knows well. The Mount Maunganui local has been competing at the highest level of skateboarding, both here and internationally, for over a decade. Ask him what competitions he’s won and he struggles to recall them all. 

“I’ve won the New Zealand Bowl skateboarding title about six times in
a row — potentially maybe seven. I won the New Zealand Park skateboarding championships about two years ago in Gisborne. I’ve won the Australian Bowl Riding championships and the Australian Street Skating championships,” he says. “Probably the biggest one was the
Dew Tour over in Long Beach in California, about four or five years ago. I’d been meaning to go back, but then COVID hit and the contests shut down.”

Shaun’s journey to become one of Aotearoa’s most celebrated skaters
has incredibly humble beginnings. And, funnily enough, doesn’t even
start on a skateboard.

“I was actually rollerblading. But my brother, his friends and my close friends were all skateboarding so I felt like I was the black sheep,” he grins. While they didn’t peer pressure him into trading the blades for a deck, they did subtly encourage him to give it a go.

“I’d go down to the Mount skateboard ramp and they slowly but surely brought their spare or old skateboard parts down until I had enough to eventually assemble a skateboard.”

Having cobbled his first skateboard together from these recycled parts
he quickly fell in love with the sport and the social aspect it provided.

“The big reason I got into skating was the freedom it gave me. It was a great form of transport and I could get everywhere,” he says. “And, I felt
like people could resonate with me. Skateboarding is like an identity as well.”

It soon consumed him. He not only hung up his rollerblades but also his rugby boots, preferring the challenge of constantly improving and bettering his abilities as opposed to competing against rival teams. 

“I grew up in the Bayfair Estate area and the skate park was right there.
So I used to skate before school, after school, and every weekend religiously,” he says. “I just lived down at the skate park.”

This, he says, is the secret to his success. It’s not supernatural talent or blessed good fortune, just good old-fashioned hard work.

“If you do want to get really good at something, you’ve got to put countless hours in. I wasn’t your naturally talented skateboarder. I struggled early on. However, hard work beats talent at the end of the day, if talent’s not ready to work hard. I channelled that mentality and started to develop my skills and get better and better.”

Now, he’s helping other people develop their skills. When he started skating there wasn’t any way to learn other than by doing. Over the years he’s watched people who had potential gradually lose interest in the sport after becoming discouraged at their lack of progress. He figured if they had proper guidance and instruction they’d flourish instead of feeling frustrated. So he decided to do something about it.

Having recently returned to the Mount after living in Australia’s Gold Coast for the past seven years he started Mana Skateboarding and began offering private and group skateboard lessons at the Mount Maunganui skate park. 

“I found it really profound when I came back. I was like, ‘I'll just start slow,’ and build up my clientele but I got swamped straight away.”

Then he laughs and says, “I was not expecting that.”

Right now he’s teaching kids as young as five through to teenagers. There’s even a bunch of parents reconnecting with their teenage pastime. 

“They see their kids doing it and see how much fun they're having and
they want to have that fun too. I feel like we're cultivating a community
down there.”

As well as teaching the fundamentals to beginners and pro techniques to more experienced skaters, Shaun also emphasises skating’s wider benefits.

“I teach the basics and get them enjoying the pure joys of what skating can bring to your life. It’s creative, builds confidence and gives people a sense of purpose.”

An unexpected offshoot is that teaching skating is also doing the same for him. 

“I definitely feel like I’ve stepped into that ‘teacher’ realm and like I’ve owned it,” he says. “That feeling of helping someone achieve something makes you feel so good. It’s inspiring and makes you want to do a better job the next day and be a better teacher and role model for these kids.”

Then he smiles and says, “I’m really enjoying it. I feel like it’s taking me on a pretty good journey.”  

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