Only 12 years old, Malibu’s Tom Schaar has accomplished a trick no skateboarder before him has ever conquered: the elusive 1080.
By Michael Aushenker / Special to The Malibu Times
On March 25, 12-year-old Malibu resident Tom Schaar piled into his dad’s car and headed north. One day later, he made skateboarding history.
On a giant custom-built skate ramp near Bakersfield called MegaRamp, Tom entered the annals of skateboarding lore when he became the first person to successfully complete a 1080, in which a skateboarder completes three full revolutions in the air and lands on his board.
The trick had eluded the sport’s best for the last half-decade, becoming in the process something akin to skateboarding’s Holy Grail. The news made instant ripples nationally.
“It was the hardest trick I’ve ever done, but it was easier than I thought,” Schaar told ESPN.com.
The video of the trick is currently posted on the website of Schaar’s sponsor, Red Bull, and had received more than 600,000 views on YouTube by the beginning of this week.
Schaar has been skating for eight years. He started doing 720s (two full revolutions) at the age of 10, and in October he became the eighth (and the youngest) person to land a 900 (two and a half revelations). Schaar’s burgeoning talent led some at the MegaRamp facility at Woodward West in Tehapachi to believe the 12-year-old prodigy could crack skateboarding’s version of the 4-minute mile.
But there was one problem. Checking in at about five feet tall and 80 lbs., Schaar was having trouble acquiring enough velocity over a 50-foot flat area before ascending the quarterpipe to buy enough time for three spins in the air before falling back to earth.
Tom’s coach, Jeff Jewett, said Red Bull stepped in and installed a 70-foot roll-in ramp with Tom in mind.
“People from MegaRamp told Red Bull Tom can do it,” Jewett said. “They asked, ‘Will you sponsor the ramp extension?’ Red Bull said, ‘Sure, if we could film it.’”
Rainstorms kept Schaar from trying out the new ramp through most of March. But on the 26th, with cameras from Red Bull rolling, Schaar maneuvered down the 70-foot roll-in ramp, ascended the 27-foot quarterpipe ramp and nailed the trick.
“I did a 1080!” Schaar yelled into the camera after he caught his breath. Later, Schaar admitted he had thought it would take three days of attempts to do it successfully, but he nailed it on only his fifth try.
“The day after I landed,” Schaar said, “I actually did it again on my sixth try.”
Schaar beat a crowded field of competitors to become the first to successfully complete a 1080. Extreme sports superstar Shaun White came close at the 2007 X Games, and 14-year-old Mitchie Brusco attempted it last August.
“In the last year I’ve seen Shaun White try 1080s & Mitchie Brusco crash-land a few,” skateboarding legend Tony Hawk wrote on his Twitter feed. “Tom Schaar nailed it.”
Schaar, who is in sixth grade at Malibu Middle School, practices much of the time in a half-pipe in his back yard. He grew up practicing at Papa Jack’s skate park, which had to move last year from the Civic Center property of developer Steve Soboroff after its lease ran out. (To compensate, Soboroff donated $25,000 to move the skate park ramps.)
Much of the early years were spent copying the moves of his older brother John, a 9th-grader at MHS who is also a talented surfer. Schaar also played AYSO soccer, but gave it up once his skateboarding obsession took over.
Schaar has mastered what’s called “transition skating” (he’s not into street skating). He also skates in San Diego at Tony Hawk’s warehouse.
“I work with a lot of talented kids,” his coach, Jewett, told The Malibu Times. “Tom is one of those anomalies. He works extremely hard and things come easily for him. I mean, at 12 years old, doing a trick that’s never been done before.”
Schaar had already acquired a notable reputation in the sport, but his successful 1080 has put the 12-year-old on the fast track to superstardom. After landing the trick, Schaar said his father Nick received congratulatory text messages from some of the sport’s titans such as White, Bucky Lasek, Bob Burnquist and his idol, Tony Hawk.
“They feel he’s the next generation of skating,” said Jewitt. “They think Tom and a group of kids will carry the torch.”
In late April, Schaar skates at the Asian X Games in Shanghai. He hopes, in late June, to enter the X Games in L.A.
“I’d like to take it as far as I can and go pro and have my own board and learn more tricks,” Schaar said.
There’s no question Schaar will go professional. However, with so much attention at such a young age, Schaar now faces the challenge familiar to all prodigies: the problem of too much too soon.
Jewett believes that Tom will be fine with the strong guidance of his father and mother, Nick and Regan Schaar.
“He’ll be well-grounded based on his family,” Jewett said. “Tom has got a phenomenal home life.”
Asked whether his ambitions include starting his own video game franchise, à la his idol, Hawk, Schaar said, “Maybe.” He paused a moment, and then, sounding like the next generation of skater, added, “How about an app?”