♪
♪ [rock]
♪ My skin is pure and my mind is green ♪
♪ But my heart is built just like a guillotine ♪
♪ And all the world's gonna feel my sting ♪
♪ Gonna set my sights right on the brass ring ♪
♪ All the doors are opened up for me ♪
♪ If you don't believe it wait and see ♪
♪ I'm not just gonna walk away this time ♪
♪ I'm gonna show everyone what's mine ♪
♪ I'm living with everything I know ♪
♪ Anybody wanna come along Let's go ♪
[ranting]
[people chanting]
NARRATOR: Venice Beach, California.
Probably one of the most magical
and fascinating places I've ever experienced.
With its sun-drenched palm trees,
endless beaches of pure golden sand,
and waves that surfers around the world dream of conquering,
yet there is a rawness about this place.
It has soul and grit,
darkness and light.
As the locals describe it best,
it's their dirty little paradise.
My name is Kathy, and I'm a filmmaker.
In the summer of 2010, I came to Venice on a vacation.
I had no intention of making a film when I arrived here,
but after what I experienced, I simply had no choice.
MAN: The surfers took this beach from the bikers,
and then the surfers had it for a while,
and then the dopers had it for a while,
and now the skaters got it.
KATHY: Venice Skate Park. World-famous in its own right,
home to the founding fathers of skateboarding
and the central playground for such legends as Dogtown Z-Boys,
Skip Englom, Tony Alva,
as well as the younger stars, such as Shaun White,
the who's who of skateboarding.
We have kids that have become locals here
that are from other cities.
People come from other states to be at this skate park.
The talent that's being exposed, it's incredible.
KATHY: But I heard now there was a new sensation in town.
Everyone was talking about him.
The word on the street was that he defies gravity
and breaks all the rules of conventional skateboarding.
I didn't really know anything about skateboarding--
and to be honest, I didn't really care--
but that was about to change.
Through a sea of cheering fans, little did I know
I was about to meet the most incredible kid.
Hi. My name is Asher. I'm six years old.
I've been skating for 14 months.
MAN: He's with all the OG guys.
He rides in that pool all the time.
He spends a lot of time there. He's family.
He's well protected. He's well guarded here.
♪ I got a new pair of shoes
And I'm putting them on ♪ Here I go ♪
♪ Got a new pair of shoes and I'm putting them on ♪
I do frontside, lipslide.
I do backside disaster,
boardslide,
frontside air, backside air.
That little kid is amazing.
I'd see him at the Basic Bowl. I was like,
"Whoa, that kid just did a frontside rock 'n' roll."
Smallest kid I ever seen do a frontside rock and roll.
ASHER: And I also do pop shove-it
360, nollie shove-it.
That's all I know.
Like Tony Alva. To me he's like a little Tony Alva.
Tony Hawk. That level.
I mean, he's amazing. Amazing talent.
He's the next Asher. Tony Hawk is Tony Hawk.
He's the next Asher.
KATHY: I was blown away. Everyone was.
He was just simply amazing,
and I knew I had to make a film about him.
It's a trip to see, you know, these little kids--
like, how light and how young they are--
skating against some of the older guys.
It's a total dichotomy of, like, approaches to skateboarding.
He's basically kind of in a class by himself,
I mean, realistically.
He forced us actually to make really small boards.
And that's good?
See ya later.
♪ All right New pair of shoes ♪
♪ All right, all right New pair of shoes ♪
He was doing stuff that we took a year and a half to learn,
with style and grace.
Looked like he was just soul surfing that bowl.
Asher is just there.
He's flying through the air. You can't miss him.
Old-school style, the flow, the surfing style
supplied with the technique of street.
You put those two together, you got a stylish rider.
WOMAN: Asher came up very, very quickly.
He's very well balanced. He doesn't have that much fear,
and I've seen him fall down and hurt himself pretty good.
Ow.
LEE: He just goes everywhere and just skates,
and he does it with a big smile
rather than, you know, grumpiness
that a lot of the kids get.
When I see Asher, it brings a lot of joy to me.
He brings a lot of joy to the spectators here that we have
and to everybody else around here, you know?
JOHNSON: To me, a kid that has self-motivation
and self-confidence like he does, you can't learn that.
It has to come from within.
Asher's a great skater, and he's got a great dad
that takes him here out to the skate park
pretty much every day.
My name is Tom Bradshaw,
and I'm Asher's dad.
I've been taking Asher to do things since he was a baby.
That's just being a parent and caring about your kid
and giving him love, giving him support.
KATHY: I assumed Asher was a local kid from Venice,
but I found out he was not.
Every day Tom picks Asher up from school
and drives over an hour
to take Asher to the Venice Skate Park so he can practice.
TOM: Education has gotta come first,
you know, before anything.
That's the number-one priority,
and I'm really happy with his ability to learn.
If we have to go skate somewhere, I'll drive.
And he'll just be in his car seat,
and he'll have his skate deck and his homework,
and that's his table.
And if one assignment is writing out 50 words, 5 times each,
he'll be doing that.
My job is to find the smoothest lane. That's it.
And then he'll knock out most of the homework for that night.
KATHY: I soon realized that this was not just a story
about an amazing little boy with an incredible talent,
but also the story of a dad who was willing to do anything
to support his son's passion.
TOM: What scares me the most,
he could become just another nine-year-old
busting big airs, you know?
Or he could become someone
that, you know, companies believe in
and want to invest in.
ALVA: The main thing is just having fun.
That's the quotient, you know, that you want to focus on.
When you're Asher's age, and you're just out there skating,
that that is basically the reason
why he loves skateboarding so much,
'cause it's just a lot of fun.
TOM: One day he won't need me. It'll be a sad day.
I'm going all the way.
KATHY: I had now been shooting with Tom and Asher
for a few weeks,
and I wanted to meet the family.
Tom had been reluctant, but eventually he gave in.
I was about to find out why.
So tell me about your house. Describe it to me.
It's, uh--
KATHY: Tell me the things you like about it.
Well, it's centrally located.
KATHY: What I didn't know was that their house
was located in South Central L.A.,
one of the most dangerous and gang-infested neighborhoods
in America.
TOM: Well, it's cozy.
It's a small square footage, you know.
For the amount of people that we have,
um, we, you know,
we're all kind of, you know,
living a lot closer than a lot of people do,
but, you know, for us it's fine.
KATHY: Tom and his family, seven people altogether,
live in this 600-square-foot one-bedroom apartment.
ASHER: Wanna go through here?
TOM: This is our little humble kitchen.
We worked making those all night.
ASHER: Can I have that orange, by the way?
KATHY: Asher sleeps with his mom and dad and baby brother
in the only bedroom.
Hi. Come on. Come in.
Yay!
KATHY: Aww, they're so cute together.
You're so fat.
In your tummy, baby. You're so fat.
[laughter]
KATHY: While Asher's older two brothers
sleep on the living room floor on foam mattresses,
Asher's grandmother sleeps on the couch
right next to them.
Tom is the family's only breadwinner,
working 12-hour shifts, making asphalt for the city,
sometimes up to seven days a week.
In spite of the many hours Tom works,
the family can barely make ends meet.
TOM: I'm afraid of failing Asher.
Like, right now he's young.
He doesn't see that we don't have a house
and we don't have this and we don't have that.
And I'm afraid that when he gets older, he'll say,
"Boy, you know, you don't live the way that other people live.
You don't have all the things that they have."
MOTHER: I normally don't get to go a lot
to see Asher skate, but when I do
at some competitions, I'm, like-- I'm amazed
that every time it's a different trick
or something new that I haven't seen.
And I'm like, "Wow." I'm just amazed
at how he skates and how he learns fast.
Or he'll see someone or another skater,
and he'll just try it until he lands it and gets it.
He started skating in May,
and I remember he couldn't even go down a hill.
Now he's like doing ramps and getting air.
That trips me out every time.
I don't even know how he does it.
TOM: Go ahead, Asher. Ready.
Hold the board up and go down.
Asher. Asher.
He's always good at things. He was good at swimming, too.
We were really enjoying Asher when he was little, too.
And he was swimming,
and he was, you know, kicking the soccer ball.
Whatever he was doing, he was doing it so great.
Everything-- rings, soccer, swimming.
[people cheering]
You beat his time. Sixteen.
Congratulations.
[people cheering]
First place, first place. Four events, four first place.
Four of 'em are blue ribbons. Increased faster times.
I mean, that's all he would get.
And he was, you know, racing against five- and six-year-olds,
and he was four years old and five years old.
I tried skating when I was 10. I suck at it.
I couldn't pop the board. I couldn't ollie.
I could kickflip when I was 10, but I couldn't ollie.
I started skating again like a couple of months ago,
and I learned how to ollie.
And, like, I picked up on tricks quick.
You know what I wanted, though? I wish I was a pro skater.
I wanted that when I was younger.
That's a crazy good job.
I wanted to be an astronaut.
I wanted to see the huge blueberry, look out from the--
- I was being serious. - I know. I was, too.
Skating for me, not really a strong point.
But, you know, it was much more stemming from,
I guess, uh, well, CP.
KATHY: Justin was born with cerebral palsy.
Well, I don't know how to skate, but I try it here and there,
and I guess I've fallen too much,
not that I've given up,
but, uh, generally I feel more with the bicycle.
KATHY: He has endured several major surgeries
since early childhood
and spent a year in a wheelchair.
Tom, who was studying to be an accountant,
was forced to leave college in his freshman year
to get a job with the city
in order to gain medical benefits for Justin
and the rest of his family.
KATHY: Is it pretty crammed in there then?
Yeah. I hated it 'cause when I was younger,
I wanted to bring people over, bring girls, mess around,
just have my own room, privacy.
Everyone wants that, but you know,
after a while you don't mind it anymore.
You could go out. You have the whole world as your playground.
You can go out and do your own stuff.
So I got used to it, you know.
TOM: Asher, I'm gonna follow you on the sidewalk.
KATHY: That evening, Tom tells me about a gang war
that's brewing between two neighborhood rival gangs.
There's a gang that's two streets over,
and... over there.
- That's another gang? - You kidding?
They were the largest gang in the world at one point.
They're going at it again.
One of the clues that it's heading into our direction
is the amount of graffiti that you see.
And there's a lot of graffiti going on right now
that wasn't here a month ago.
We don't know what's going on until it's too late.
When you see, you know, spray-painting here,
that's like, you know, war.
Part of me lives kind of like in a manner
where I can just get up and move really quick.
I haven't fully accepted that this is a permanent home yet.
I can't wait to get out of this place.
I can't wait to get out of here. I can't stand it here.
Yeah, we worry, man, 'cause at any time something could happen.
You know what I mean? And that would be that.
A couple of weeks ago,
one of the kids got shot on the corner.
They were just hanging out.
On Andrew's birthday back in April,
uh, he was walking, and, you know--
Yeah, just like to the liquor store or something, you know.
And some people rolled up and pulled a gun out on him.
They pulled down their window and they just told me,
"Hey. Hey, what do you have in your pockets?"
I was like, "What?"
And then they repeated themselves,
and they were like, "Hey, come over here."
And I was like-- I remember I just said no.
And I pretty much-- I said "fuck you" to them
and I said no, and I just ran away, you know?
I knew they weren't gonna shoot me.
I just knew they wouldn't. That'd be dumb.
TOM: Yeah, so Andrew almost got killed on his birthday.
So-- But you know what?
Thank God he didn't.
Living where we live, it's like don't be surprised
if one day you're burying your kids.
[police radio chatter]
KATHY: Tom can't afford the time or the gas
to drive out to Venice today,
so we have to go to the local park,
Gilbert Lindsay Park in Compton,
or as the locals call it...
Ghetto Park.
KATHY: Ironically funded through a donation
from Michael Douglas,
this park is a hotbed for gang shootings
and drug activity.
Volunteers clean up bullets and needles on a regular basis
before the kids arrive in the morning.
This is not where I usually want to go,
but if we're in a bind and don't have any time,
we'll come to this skate park, you know.
It's always very congested and crowded,
and I don't know too many people here.
And quite honestly, nobody really says much to me.
They just look at me like I'm from outer space or something.
I have a word for that. It's called "xenophobe."
You should look it up in the dictionary.
All right, here you go.
Ready? Teamwork.
[helicopter whirring]
They call that a ghetto bird.
It's like a ghetto we're in, you know.
It's not a bird, obviously. It's a helicopter.
You don't see them too much in the nicer neighborhoods.
MARIBEL: Not such a good park in safety.
Not really. If I feel that there's a lot of people smoking
or presence of gang members,
I'll just be here for a little while, then I'll just go.
People are sitting on the ramps, smoking cigars.
But they weren't. It was pot.
Somebody must've told them, you know,
"Go and hang out at Gilbert Lindsay Skatepark
and, you know, do your drugs and your booze there.
Nobody'll bother you. Just stay in the skate park."
I don't know, there's gotta be at least a thousand people
in this park right now,
and if someone were to come in here
and do drugs or something like that,
they'd say, "Oh, that's just skaters."
But it's not.
It's their brothers and their sisters
that are coming over here to do their drugs in the skate park,
which is kind of hard if you're trying to bring a child around.
I bring my child to skate,
and he has to skate next to somebody who just thinks
it's okay to smoke pot in front of a child
or to urinate.
I've actually had someone urinating
on the back of the ramp
'cause they were too stoned to walk to the bathrooms.
They're not gonna go over here
and smoke marijuana in front of their kids,
but they'll come over here and do it.
I think those people should be locked up.
I think they should put undercover police in here,
and when anyone pulls out a joint, arrest 'em.
That's what I think.
KATHY: At this point,
a gang who had been listening to Tom from behind me
got up and approached.
I stopped filming,
and we very quickly had to relocate.
TOM: They were just partying and carrying on,
and I had to put my foot down, and I sort of stuck my neck out.
They didn't like hearing that at all.
They're not used to hearing anybody
complaining about their behavior,
so it was a real tense moment for me
where I had to just stand my ground.
I come in to their park pretty much and say
I'm not gonna put up with that while my son skates. No way.
I just hope I didn't offend or piss anybody off.
But that's just life. It's what I gotta do
to try to, like--
Like having to go to a place, to a park,
and fight for your right to skate, you know,
that's ridiculous, but that's what has to be done here.
Since this is our skate park-- this is our closest skate park--
it's worth fighting for a little bit.
And I'd like to see this park--
But situations like that, you know, get me worried
that you're all on your own,
and you have to stand up to these gang members.
I'm Heidi Lemmon, and I'm the executive director
of the Skate Park Association.
I started in Santa Monica and Venice,
trying to help the kids there get skate parks.
These were the throwaway kids,
the kids that couldn't get to the Little League games
and the soccer games and pay all the fees.
So they'd get a skateboard and just go out and skate.
And then, of course, they were breaking the law,
and they would get caught a lot of times and get tickets.
And then they couldn't afford to pay their tickets,
and then the ticket would turn into a warrant for arrest.
They'd go out skating and come back in a police car.
That was just kind of a vicious little circle.
I could not understand why cities would not be
just thrilled to build a skate park.
You got 50 kids standing there saying,
"Give us something to do. Keep us out of trouble."
This park, there were shootings here all the time at that park.
Not skaters shooting each other,
but all around where all the gang members hung out.
When they'd start firing, we had the crew pick up bullets
out of the park in the morning.
Sometimes the kids had guns pulled on them,
and there's fights,
and they could get their things stolen easily.
Tom said that him and Asher
would like to come to some event that we were doing,
and I said, "Oh, no, you probably don't want to.
It's, like, up here, you know, in the 'hood."
And Tom just said, "We live there."
I was just like, "What?" I had no idea.
So Asher's really the youngest kid on my team,
on the Skate Park Association team,
because all of our events
are in the inner city of Los Angeles.
And we just can't bring kids and their families up here
if they don't know what to expect.
They would try any way, anyhow
to get you to do what they want you to do
so they could corrupt your mind.
Basically. And my mom is like--
Mom would say, "You skate or you hustle?
Which one are you gonna do more about?"
I said skating, and she got mad.
- KATHY: Really? - She got mad because
she want me to have money in my pocket.
KATHY: Tom knows his family cannot thrive,
living where they live.
Asher potentially has a way out because of his talent.
I don't have the resources to develop Asher
the way I want to develop him.
I'm gonna look towards finding someone or some company
that can invest in him.
I'd hope that a company like Element,
you know, would want to take him under their wing.
Or... you know,
and, uh, just pay for, uh...
pay for his, you know,
his skateboarding expenses.
That would be great for him.
[family chattering]
TOM: I'm ordering 'em later when we come back, okay?
- We don't have anymore? - No, I'll get 'em later.
[indistinct chatter]
- Bye, Mom. - Bye, Asher.
KATHY: Tom realized that the competition trail
could be a way to gain sponsorship for Asher.
He desperately needs financial support
in order to keep Asher skating.
KATHY: What are we doing today, Tom?
We're heading towards Vans Orange Skatepark
for the last CASL competition for 2010.
KATHY: CASL is the California Amateur Skate League.
They hold monthly competitions
for the best kids in California.
TOM: Everybody wants to win this one, so--
You know, not to take it too seriously,
but it is a close one, so, um...
it's a nail-biter, for sure.
I want him to practice, but I don't want him to get tired,
you know, so it's finding a fine balance
of doing that, you know.
KATHY: CASL has produced such talents as Ryan Sheckler,
Pedro Barros and Shaun White.
This could be a great place for Asher to thrive
and get noticed.
We got to know Asher's family during the state games
this year in Encinitas.
My boys had, you know, not competed professionally.
When they first met him, their jaws dropped.
They said, "Oh, my goodness."
My children are in his age category
and had never seen a child with that sort of talent.
And I think a lot of kids were intimidated by him.
I've never seen anyone, you know, Asher's size and age
with the amount of skill he has.
I mean, it's just-- Still he blows me away.
I like to say I'm his Jedi master and he's my Padawan,
but I haven't taught him anything, so--
I just hope he keeps on doing it because he's very talented,
and he's one of my favorite kids to watch.
Yeah, he's amazing,
and Tom's a very sweet man, very nice man.
And it's always good to see those two together.
You know, Tom is a very interesting guy,
very humble.
TOM: Just cruise around. Just do it once.
He wants to do his normal run, but cold, so that's--
Warming up, you just don't even do anything.
You just move around,
get the muscles, get the blood pumping.
That's it. Just keep going.
So my good instincts were right.
I'm glad we got here when we did.
You can tell he's starting to flow better.
He just skates a hundred times better when he's warmed up.
That's why it's worth the time to warm up and get him moving.
KATHY: The truth of the matter is
that Tom is very anxious for a win at this competition.
He's had to borrow money to pay for the gas and motel
from friends and neighbors.
An endorsement is becoming important
in order to keep Asher skating.
TOM: This is such a large course,
and we only have, I think, a minute.
A strategy for this, to be successful,
is to keep your speed.
And in particular for Asher
because he likes to do a lip slide,
the more speed he has, the better the lip slide is.
If it's not fast enough, he's barely gonna make it and--
You bit your tongue?
Did you bite your tongue? Ow!
Did you put a hole in it? No--
- Ach! - That's punk rock right there.
- KATHY: You're a bad-ass. - TOM: That's why you gotta--
- Did it go through? - No, it didn't go through.
That must've hurt like crazy.
ANNOUNCER: Let's clear it up for Asher Bradshaw.
- Asher's first. - All right, Asher.
Whenever you're ready. You got one minute.
Fifty seconds for Asher.
Yeah, getting some air out of that mini bowl.
Whoa-oh! Nice lip slide. No effort.
A little backside grab.
Sometimes he skates like-- like magic.
- Yeah, Asher. Good job. - Good job.
ANNOUNCER: All right, Asher. Whenever you're ready.
All right, 45 seconds, Asher.
This is the bowl contest, ladies and gentlemen.
Nice low backside ollie on the corner.
Yeah! Big frontside air for Asher.
Rockin' and rollin'.
Oh, fuck.
ANNOUNCER: Scores for Asher:
81, 81, 81.
Next up is Michael.
Michael, 45 seconds. Whenever you're ready.
Anytime you're ready.
Rock and roll on the extension.
Whoa! Look at that.
Back 5-0. Nice.
Yeah, fake lip slide.
♪
Man, look at him go.
Frontside ollie. In and over the coping.
FEMALE ANNOUNCER: 81.3.
Second place, Asher Bradshaw.
[cheering]
Congratulations, Asher.
You are a rock 'n roller!
FEMALE ANNOUNCER: All press,
if you want to take his picture, he's right here.
KATHY: How do you think he did?
He did good. He placed.
Yeah!
TOM: Very good.
You just won gold at the X Games!
How do you feel?
[Tom laughing]
Yeah.
KATHY: On the way out of town,
we passed Danny Way's world-famous mega ramp.
We already saw the mega ramp. We'll see it on YouTube.
- ASHER: I wanna see. - We already saw it.
- I wanna see it! - You wanna walk up to it?
- Yes! - Really?
- Yes. - Okay, we'll walk up to it.
KATHY: It's spectacular.
The ramp has a drop that is equal to the height
of an eight-story building
and ends in a quarter pipe with a height of 27 feet.
TOM: You drive up on the little--
little dune buggy thing, you know?
KATHY: The first few people who tried to conquer this ramp
ended up being air-lifted out by helicopter ambulance.
ASHER: I'm going to the top.
TOM: You wanna walk all the way up there?
ASHER: Yeah.
Now, that's where he launched from, right?
He must be going so fast.
Let's get off. Let's respect his ramp.
Maybe one day he'll invite you here to learn.
You know what they should do?
They should do a bowl.
TOM: Build a mega bowl, huh?
How about 100 feet and drop in--
- TOM: Carving a tidal wave. - A keyhole.
- How about a keyhole? - A huge keyhole, yeah.
Yeah, a keyhole.
ASHER, KATHY, TOM: Bye, mega ramp.
Nice mega ramp.
- We're done. - Yeah.
KATHY: Are you gonna skate it one day?
- You're crazy. - [Kathy laughs]
TOM: Really? That's how you looked at the pool
the first day you went to Culver City.
That's crazy. I know you'll skate it one day.
KATHY: You will skate it. You'll shred it.
TOM: You'll be the youngest person to do it.
So, anyway, here's the street I grew up on.
Every house is a memory.
Mary and Tom Ingle used to live here.
This sidewalk still has--
still has the bump on it.
This is where I grew up.
My room was right there next to the front door.
These are the trees that I would play in and climb up
and basically find refuge in
to basically hide from problems at home.
You know, any of that.
So my sanctuary was play.
Most of these houses have pools,
so we'd have a lot of fun.
Great place to grow up.
He's just playing on a sidewalk where it's safe.
We can't do this where we live.
What he's doing right now, we can't do it,
and I don't want him to do it.
It's dangerous, you know.
Gang activity drives people indoors.
And then there's irresponsible people who have no heart,
who'll run over a kid and keep going.
And there's no accountability.
You know, there's no names. Nobody who sees anything.
Just the smell of grass here, the smell is different.
You know, I mean, I have to basically shut that off
and not miss it.
And coming back here, it's kind of like--
it's like an impossible dream.
This is my home,
and I'll never be able to really get back here.
That's what it feels like.
[indistinct chatter]d
ASHER: Well, if--
TOM: It's really smooth, and you can go fast on it.
You gonna skate a little more?
I'll let you skate this once or two more times.
But you can see how you can just get lazy out here in the Valley
and just spend the days just--
"What are we gonna do today?"
Well, we're gonna go explore on our bikes, go somewhere.
He's a much better skateboarder than I was at that age.
Plus, the equipment's better.
And we didn't have much.
Let's sit down together on this.
Let's sit together? That's a great idea.
KATHY: So what do you think of the neighborhood, Asher?
It's great, really clean.
I just saw a squirrel right there climb over the hood.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's nice here. Nice banks.
TOM: Yeah, the bank right there is huge.
Yeah, it goes big to little.
And it goes all the way big to little.
KATHY: You want to live somewhere like this
when you grow up?
Yeah, if I had money.
If I can stay here and be pro one day.
- You wanna go pro? - Yeah.
Wanna be like Tony Hawk and make money
and have a nice house and stuff?
Yeah.
We don't talk to him about money, though, too much.
It's for fun.
Grandpa would always tell me, "Do what you love to do
and make that what you do for work."
I would love for Asher to do what he loves to do,
whatever that is.
Nice little crack, huh?
♪ Dudes and guys and things and stuff ♪
♪ It's all there is I've had enough ♪
♪ Of dudes and guys and things and stuff ♪
♪ There's dudes and guys and things and stuff ♪
♪ Dudes and guys and things and stuff ♪
♪ It's all there is I've had enough ♪
♪ Of dudes and guys and things and stuff ♪
♪ There's dudes doing things ♪
♪ And guys doing stuff ♪
♪ There's dudes doing stuff ♪
TOM: Whoo-hoo!
♪ And guys doing things Oh, yeah ♪
♪ You know what I mean? ♪
♪ There's dudes and guys ♪
♪ Things and stuff ♪
[cheering]
♪ Guys and stuff ♪
♪ Dudes, things ♪
♪ Dudes and guys and things and stuff ♪
♪ It's all there is I've had enough ♪
♪ Of dudes and guys ♪
♪ And things and stuff ♪
♪ Dudes and guys and things and stuff ♪
♪ It's all there is I've had enough ♪
♪ Of dudes and guys and things and stuff ♪
Dudes.
KATHY: Six months on the competition trail,
and Tom is exhausted.
Asher's been winning,
but there are still no sponsorship offers,
and the family is broke and in debt.
Tom has also received a disciplinary letter
from Asher's school regarding his attendance.
TOM: That's, what, Tuesday. I have to go to work.
I mean, if I don't go to work, I don't get paid.
That's the way it works.
So the tardies, what's going on with that?
MARIBEL: Okay, I'll tell you.
The thing is that you keep him up late,
and in the morning he does not want to get up.
And it's my fault 'cause I keep him up late.
ASHER: I just told you, Dad.
TOM: Sometimes I fall asleep, and I have to get him out here
'cause he's in here with you guys.
- MARIBEL: That's true. - ASHER: I told you, Dad,
I go to sleep late.
TOM: Okay, I set the alarm clock for 7:15.
- What happens when it goes off? - MARIBEL: That's too late.
You got to set it for at least 6:40.
TOM: What happens when it goes off, though?
- MARIBEL: What do you mean? - Who catches that alarm?
Oh, we get up, we push the button, the snoozie.
TOM: Who pushes the button?
It's me 'cause Asher's passed out.
Okay, okay.
And so you don't go wake up Asher?
Oh, no, I wake up. I start making coffee and everything.
And I come in here and I start waking him up,
and he's like, "Oh, no!"
By the time he wakes up, it's 7:30.
- TOM: It's too late. - MARIBEL: It's too late.
I've actually employed a trick.
I had that clock five minutes ahead already.
-Yes, I know. -You know that? It doesn't work.
To be safer, just set it up for like 6:40,
and that's probably better.
What time does he have to be in class?
MARIBEL: He has to be in the playground by 8:05.
Ooh, that's-- In the playground?
MARIBEL: In the playground.
They take roll in the playground?
Well, yeah, because then they close this gate.
- They call out their name? - No, they close this gate.
TOM: 'Cause she said, "One more.
You've had 14 absen-- 14 tardies."
She's just blown away by that. That's all she can focus on,
like that's so out of district policy,
she shouldn't even be signing it.
But the tardiness should not even be an issue.
- No, it is an issue. - But it shouldn't be.
They have their rules and guidelines,
and that's part of the rules and guidelines, his attendance.
- But your attendance is good. - You didn't know?
- No, I know. - It's not because he's late.
You didn't know that that counted?
Tom, I see on a regular basis
kids that don't even go to school and they're tardy.
That's gonna basically torpedo his whole career.
So he can't be late to school anymore,
and he can't miss any more days for the end of the year.
I'm not kidding you.
All that slack and variance and cushion, it's all gone.
MARIBEL: What if he gets sick?
TOM: He goes to school.
Right now we just do little CASL competitions,
which are once a month.
And in the middle of those monthly competitions
we're experiencing California state games
which, when you do well,
let's you go skate the national games,
which is the next month.
It's too early.
Asher, in my mind,
is, like, legitimately the best 10-and-under skater
in micro mini ramp that's gonna do the competition.
I'm a little worried, you know,
that we're gonna be late.
I don't want to be late.
Dad!
You have to get out of the seat, Asher.
It's a million dollars.
We gotta go. I know, we're rich.
All our problems are solved.
No, I'm serious. Look. Look right there.
It's not real, Asher. It's a fake.
It's just paper. Let's go.
No.
[engine starts]
This one good?
[car horn honks, window hums]
Get in the car, big guy.
- Open the door. - It's open.
No, it's not.
Yeah, the door's locked.
You're supposed to stay in your seat.
- Okay? - Can I put on pads now?
All right, that's it. We'll park here.
Just let me know when we're ready to go, Asher.
It's all right. I'll let Matthew Wilcox
and the other kids get all the runs they want
to get all warmed up.
We'll sit here for another five minutes.
- No. - You can play with your dollar.
You have anything else you wanna do?
- No. - You sure?
- Yes. - Okay.
'Cause I'm doing what I'm supposed to do.
- Can we just go, Dad? - Drive.
But I can't drive if you're not in your seat belt.
- I am. - I'm just telling you.
I'm not gonna feel bad about not getting there on time
if you're just not getting in your seat.
- You keep climbing out. - [engine starts]
- Ready to go? - [cell phone tune plays]
- Yes. - Okay.
- You all ready, Asher? - Yeah.
Okay.
I got double pads on.
- Double? - My other one's on the ground.
Can I get it or no?
Yeah, get it. I'll pull over and stop.
- You can get your pad, Asher. - Are you mad?
Yeah, a little bit. Not mad, but just--
This is typical now, what you do.
You don't get your pads ready while we're stopped,
like all the time.
Something you want to work on.
You have your gloves, right?
- No. - You did.
- No, I-- - [Tom muttering]
Takes about 15 more minutes to actually get there and park.
And then we have to go and register,
and then you can warm up.
By that time, there may be so many kids on the ramp,
he doesn't have-- he'll maybe get three runs in,
and then it's game on.
- That's not good. - Let's get that glove.
TOM: You're getting out of here soon.
- Okay. - It's guaranteed bad news.
Okay, I'll buckle.
Tell me you need to pull over to get it, and I'll do that.
- Yeah. - You need to pull over?
- Yeah. - All right, we're stopping.
Okay, go. Go, go, go, go, go.
Hurry up, hurry up.
- ASHER: Go, go, go, go. - Get it? Get it? Okay.
- I got it. - All right.
You can't actually get it done. I'll get out and help you.
More time.
[mumbles]
- I got it. - No, you don't got it.
Okay, I'll get it done for you.
Solve things if you weren't thinking about gum
or the other things, which is fine.
Got it all for you, okay? Need your helmet?
Yeah.
GPS: Drive 1.9 miles.
[Asher chattering]
- Hey, Asher. - What?
Can we talk about the run that you may want to do?
You know, like, what tricks do you want to do
in the competition then?
An ollie shove-it, 360,
50-50 fakie,
frontside air, backside air,
50-50's, uh--
- TOM: 5-0? - Front 5-0's,
back 5-0...
TOM: 50-50 invert or revert.
50-50 to fakie.
- TOM: Board slides. - Board slides. I want--
TOM: Rock 'n' rolls.
I'm trying to talk. Rock and--
[Tom chuckles] Sorry.
Man, you made me--
Rock front to back rock 'n' rolls,
transfer, air transfer,
um...
KATHY: The stakes are higher now as we come back to CASL
for the California state championships.
- This-- - TOM: No, it's the same--
KATHY: The financial situation is dire,
and the pressure on Asher to win is mounting.
But I'm quickly reminded of something much more worrying.
Here's your water.
KATHY: As the stakes get higher for Asher,
so do the risks.
You see how wiggly that is right there?
So we're gonna have to tighten that up.
KATHY: We run into Archer who tells us
about a very bad accident he had.
I was skating at Skatelab, and I was in the air
probably about six feet,
and my friend, uh--
I just glanced away for a second,
and then I saw my friend standing there like--
[gasps] And then I clipped,
and I don't remember it from there.
I just remember waking up in the bowl,
thinking it was just one of those bad dreams.
And I was like, "Oh, this is not real.
This isn't legit."
And then I touched my dad. I reached out for my dad
to see if he was actually next to me.
And I touched him, and when I touched him I was like,
"This isn't a dream?"
And then at the same time I kind of--
Steve Baldio, he helps me out with my skating.
He was sitting there. "You were shaking. You had a seizure."
And it was really hectic.
And eventually the firefighters arrived.
And the doctor said he's been working for 16 years
and he gets about three concussions a night,
but he'd only seen three or two of these
in his whole entire 16 year working the emergency rooms.
And it was with my helmet.
Usually surgery took you out. Knee surgery or something.
I've had just about everything done: ACL, PCL, MCL, LCL.
- Crushed left kneecap. - Tore the ligaments.
Tore off some bone fragment where the ligaments attached.
Tibia plateau fracture, five screws.
Ruptured the Achilles tendon.
Broken both ankles several times.
Broken my collarbone.
Six of my total 10 metatarsals, crushed my sesamoid bones.
Fingers, toes, you know, you name it. Sprained ankles.
We did a CAT scan and a couple series of X-rays.
- Got several broken wrists. - Both shoulders.
Couple days, I'm going for an MRI.
You never want to try 100% in practice
because 100% means you're 1% away
from falling and getting hurt.
Your average person...
isn't gonna slam on a skateboard on the concrete
and get back up and want to do it again.
You know what I mean?
You gotta get a street run going, okay? Seriously.
I want to leave and practice it tomorrow.
Can you spend about a half hour right now doing street?
Half hour?
Half hour.
Man--
How about-- How about five minutes?
How about 15 minutes?
I don't want to--
You could win it.
Well, did I practice today? Yes, I did.
Street.
All right.
So can we go?
- Go street, street, street. - No. No.
- Or your gonna get second. - I wanna go.
You're not a competitor, dude. Period.
Let me show you what's in store for you.
Come here. Take a look.
Take a look at this one. What does that say?
"State champion." If you practice, you might get that.
Otherwise, you're gonna get something like that.
Which is great.
I know-- I know that, uh,
the other kids have been practicing it all the time.
You didn't come here to do mini ramp or bowl.
You came here to do just street.
So good luck, Asher. I say you can't do it.
You know what, Asher? I'm gonna let you go ahead and do that.
Asher, the street's gonna be over there.
Asher, the street's over on that side.
I don't want him to get out of his, uh,
out of his, you know, happy zone,
but I want him to prepare a little.
Okay, Asher, just try the rail.
- Forget that. - I wanna try--
That's not gonna be in your trick tomorrow.
No, you're gonna try this first. Do it.
- I'll try it only-- - Try it. Go for it.
More speed, the more better.
Oh, dear Lord. All right, I can't do this.
It's too hard to watch this.
He's just rolling around, rolling around.
It's over on this side, where the rail is,
that's where you're supposed to skate.
But he's rolling on that side of it, on that side of it.
'Cause it's a little big for him.
Little big for him.
See, he was set up to go in front of it, but now he bailed.
What kills me is he's not even trying it.
I'm not used to seeing him, like... puss out.
Excuse my language, but you're kind of pussying out of it.
You can go ahead and go for it.
You lose no respect for trying and falling.
KATHY: As I watched Tom coaching his son,
I found myself questioning his actions.
Is he pushing Asher too hard?
Is he putting his son at risk?
Is Tom in danger of being a stage dad,
or is he just trying to be the best coach he can be?
Gotta try.
- Dad-- - Why aren't you going?
- I'm scared. - You can do it.
Keep trying it, keep trying it. Don't wai--
Don't set up and wait. Set up and go.
Just go around them, just go around them. There you go.
TOM: Settle himself down.
He's skating everything but what he's supposed to skate.
No, that's not good.
You're supposed to skate that center section.
Okay?
Yeah, that's where everyone's skating, you see?
That's because that's where the game is.
- But this-- - I said there's no way
you were gonna get on that orange thing,
and you flew all the way up on that.
You can do the same thing with this rail, dude.
You're gonna go onto it, you're gonna see how easy it is.
You watch. I'm not kidding you.
Don't it-it--
These doughnuts are yours if you get it.
This speed, Dad?
Don't just go by it, though. Hit it.
- Never just go by it. Try it. - This speed, Dad?
TOM: Yeah. Full speed. Yes!
He's not even competitive here. Not even close.
It's kind of a bummer.
I think we're done for the night.
If he can't get the-- the courage to try it tonight--
'Cause the contest is tomorrow morning.
Time to practice for the street is over.
He has to get it now.
He doesn't have time to go back and forth for an hour.
He has to try it. Once he tries it, he'll feel the rail.
And-And-- And then he'll land it.
Whoo! He failed, but he's not hurt.
Once he gets it, he'll have fun with it,
and then he'll know he can do it and he'll like doing it.
See, now he's turning brave 'cause he got a taste of it.
I know you can land it. You did it.
- Dad-- - Get it on.
You're excellent at rails. You know this.
You are excellent at rails.
You are a rail master.
You just need to get on it, and you're gonna get it.
All you need is to get on it. That's it.
And watch how high you fly off. It'll be easy. Go.
You can do it, Asher.
Gonna get the rail right now. There we go.
He will totally get this. Easily.
I can see it.
He's gotta go a little faster,
and don't put as much weight on your front.
Don't lean forward. Lean back just a little bit.
- Can I see you? - Yeah.
Asher, we're all watching you learn this right now,
but you can get it, right?
♪ [rock]
TOM: Whoo-hoo-hoo!
♪ This is my time
♪ This is my place
♪ This is the sound I make
♪ [continues]
I'm really thrilled. Very happy.
[no audible dialogue]
Maybe he'll do it twice. This is the way it works.
Let's see if he gets it.
I feel good.
♪ This is my time
Three in a row.
♪ I wouldn't have it any other way ♪
♪ And this is my time
♪ This is my place
♪ And I'm gonna shine
♪ I'm gonna shine
KATHY: The morning of the competition arrives,
and Tom is clearly on edge.
Give me your other one.
This is a necessary thing, because, literally,
within one minute of skating,
we'll see him over there tying his shoe.
Buckle your helmet while you're sitting there.
Thank you. All right, buddy.
Grab your board. Go skate.
WOMAN: Hi, how are you? [giggles] Cold.
Thanks, man. Got a ratty attitude today.
TOM: Those have got a lot of bling on 'em.
KATHY: Maribel has driven up
to join Tom and Asher for the competition.
- How do you like it? - It's beautiful.
This is the first time she has seen Asher compete
at this level.
- TOM: Good morning. - WOMAN: Good morning.
- How you doing? - Fine, thanks. How are you?
ANNOUNCER: All right, go for it, Asher.
One minute.
Huge backside grab.
Up and over. No deck check.
What? Up and over the mini bowl section.
That was a nice line.
Kickflip on flat.
There's nothing stopping this kid.
Nice 50-50.
Yeah, frontside boardslide to fakie. Wow!
Thirty seconds. Thirty seconds for Asher Bradshaw.
Yeah, nice lipslide.
Straight to a manual.
Blunt to fakie, no hands.
That's a big-boy trick.
There is nothing stopping this kid.
That is one minute. Whoa!
Boardslide for Asher Bradshaw.
- [cheers, applause] - Scores for Asher Bradshaw.
82, 83, 82.
Whoa, Asher's burning up the mini ramp today.
Rock the baby.
Some people say he's the next Tony Hawk.
50-50. Backside vault.
Lipslide. Crazy good.
Backside lipslide.
Next up, Asher Bradshaw.
Whenever you're ready.
Up and over the bowls. Nice transfer.
Big frontside ollie up the hip.
Grab another tailslide.
Frontside 50. Frontside lipslide.
Yeah, frontside ollie.
You got 15 seconds. 15 seconds.
Back lipslide.
Stuff's easy for Asher.
Bluntside transfer, is that what that was?
And our new CASL State Champion this year is...
Mr. Asher Bradshaw!
- [cheering, applause] - Aw. [giggles]
TOM: My father, he was, you know, a busy teacher.
Professor. You know, building a career, writing books.
So he was always in the study.
So, you know, I'd be playing, and my mom,
she was knitting or doing something, you know.
But I never got brought anywheres.
Like, okay, we're in a house on a street,
and you can ride your bike and go out there
and climb the trees and explore and--
I remember being a little bit jealous
because my friends, their dad
would take 'em to Little League.
They were really actively involved in their life,
but my dad, he drank.
Um, and, uh, you know, he had issues with that.
And so, um, you know,
there was like, uh, you know, periods where he was--
You know, as anybody would,
if you drink beyond your ability to handle that,
you're gonna act like an asshole.
My mom had a chemical imbalance.
And, uh, the Pall Malls and the booze didn't help either.
You know what I'm saying? Just a self-made misery.
Imagine the fights, the booze, the arrests.
Obviously, when you're drinking a lot,
you know, there's gonna be drama.
Or if you have a chemical imbalance,
there's gonna be drama.
Period.
Yeah, I paid for every little thing that I did wrong,
and I paid way more than kids are supposed to pay.
I'm telling you, I've been beat to a pulp.
A child, like Asher's age. I've been beat to a bloody pulp.
Just laying in a bloody pulp
like, you know, on a tile-- cold tile floor.
I remember that.
Now, what the fuck is that, right?
Explain that shit to me.
You come to in the night,
and there's a figure standing in your doorway.
- KATHY: Mm-hmm. - A scary figure.
- Yeah. - And it's your mother.
Believe me, I--
I mean, God listens to the prayers of a child,
and I prayed a lot, you know, and, um,
for my own peace of mind, I had to, like,
forgive my parents.
They're human beings too.
They did their best they could.
So I had to, A:
believe that I was not a worthless piece of crap,
which I had been told I was,
and B: decide that God doesn't make junk
and that I'm a worthwhile person
and that I should not, you know, kill myself
through different avenues
and just choose life.
And so-- And not knowing what plan God had in mind.
This wasn't gonna be myplan. It was gonna be God's plan.
So I sort of, when I was 17 years old,
turned my will and my life and the future
over to God as I understood him
in order to, um,
try it different other than the way I was doing it.
Because it was just a very painful thing.
And I think everybody's had to do that at one point
and, you know, you gotta take care of your kids.
And they're gonna get in trouble like I did.
- ASHER: Hey, Daddy. - They didn't really take me
to many places.
- Yeah. - I think I'm gonna fart.
- You're gonna fart? - Excuse me.
- My little boy. - [giggling]
That was me.
KATHY: With Asher's growing popularity comes jealousy,
and not everyone is happy for him.
As well as increasing animosity
coming from competing skaters and their parents,
Tom is also receiving threatening e-mails
from someone calling himself...
This anonymous hater has taken it upon himself
to head up a campaign with other parents
against Tom and Asher.
I just hope the haters don't show up.
Someone threw some real negative comments
at me and my son.
[typing]
There's actually a movement of haters right now
where Asher's just too dang good for the water.
How do I navigate these waters
when the piranhas come in?
The rise up has been too fast,
and it hasn't always been that smooth,
but those kind of words, you know, they hurt.
TOM: People love Asher.
They love me too. I mean, we're not that bad.
And everybody has a right to breathe and breathe out,
and just because some people don't like us--
I'm not even gonna say the garbage
that has been thrown at me,
because I'm not gonna mentally handicap my son
by talking about it in front of him.
I think they're disgusting. That's what I think.
I think they're just hateful, disgusting, ungodly people.
Part of me wants to tell 'em what I think about 'em.
Who, uh-- Who's a punk? You know?
Like, bring it on. Bring it on.
You got something? Bring it on.
Do it in front of my face. Don't do it behind my back.
Insulting, disrespecting.
You just have to go on with you life.
Protect your son and protect yourself, you know.
I feel like a bad parent, actually,
for not being able to, like, protect him.
- That's my job. - Well--
I know he's healthy, but I know you can take the healthiest kid
and with enough verbal, it'll break him down.
He'll start believing that crap.
TOM: We're gonna pray for our enemies. Pray for the haters.
The sick ones.
It's just some of the things that we have to deal with.
Haters.
It's got to be tough for that family
because not only are they coming from
you know, East Los Angeles,
dealing with the situation
and the conditions that they're living in,
but then they're walking in with, like, bron--
you know, gold medal, right at the top, with their son,
and yet they're not getting that warm reception
I think they should be getting.
- KATHY: Mm-hmm. - I think it's just
competition, sometimes, at its worst,
and it's hard for people to have a heart.
So many times the parents have asked me,
"What does my kid need to do in order to win?"
I tell them they just need to keep having fun.
They just need to keep skating.
They just need to keep skating with their friends
and they'll progress naturally.
Some kids progress quicker than others,
but they have to progress at their own pace.
You see the kids that do well,
all the other competitors are cheering for them.
They're not like, "Oh! I'm gonna lose."
They're like, "Whoa! I can't believe he just did that."
Some people, I mean, they don't understand that.
They're like, "This is a contest.
Why are the competitors cheering for each other?"
They don't get that. That's how it is for most of these kids.
They just see it as an opportunity
to skate some new parks and to skate with their friends.
To see people that they don't see except at the contests.
The contests make the kids want to progress,
because they see what's going on, what other kids are doing,
and it makes them want to come back
to the next contest a month later
with a fresh trick-- at least something new.
You don't want to be doing the same tricks all the time.
It's a gamble for these companies to sponsor the kids.
'Cause they have to deal with the parents, first of all.
And you don't know what the parents' intentions are.
For the parents, it could be a meal ticket,
and they could try to exploit that, you know?
And...
the kid might not keep skating.
You know, they invest all this time and money
and promo and marketing and, I mean--
All that adds up, and then the kid might fizzle out.
I think with any competition, parents are
always discouraged when there's an elite athlete
always in that group, always placing first.
And there's definitely the parents that roll their eyes
and go, "Great. There's Asher again."
And I think their parents get the snub a little bit--
get snubbed a little bit by the other parents
that really don't know.
Regardless, he's got-- he's got a natural ability.
You've got to be able to appreciate that.
I mean, from a parent that's competing with Asher,
I don't feel like it's competition.
Everybody has individual talent that they're good at.
KATHY: In the face of all the animosity,
and with no sign of interest from any sponsors,
Tom asks us to make a promo video of Asher's tricks
for him to shop around to sponsors.
- Yeah, it's on slo-mo. - On slo-mo?
It'll look real cool.
MAN: Wow.
TOM: Yeah! Good, Asher.
KATHY: Though the video does not attract any sponsors,
Asher's incredible talent and infectious personality
do start to gain some local attention.
ASHER: Why do I always miss that?
I didn't usually go down to Venice from Santa Monica,
but this time I went all the way down to Venice.
And I get up there and I see this crowd
and I see this kid.
So I run home and I google Asher Bradshaw.
Then I came back the next week, and then I came the next week,
and now a guy who sleeps as much as he can for his business,
I'm up at 7:30 to get to the beach
so I'm there by 9:00 so I can see my new buddy.
KATHY: Asher may not have gained sponsorship yet,
but he's becoming more and more of a local celebrity.
Come here. Don't run away.
This is about you. It's not about me.
Ah!
- You know, it's-- - Ah!
KATHY: Asher is sponsored at Venice Skate Park
by a wealthy pizza chain owner
who offers him free pizza for life
in exchange for an autograph photo.
- Who's that? - Me.
- Is that you? - Yeah.
That's right. That's my new friend, Asher Bradshaw.
I love that shirt right there.
Come on. That's a great jump.
This shirt. Guess what shirt kind of that is?
What is it? What is it?
- It's an old shirt. - Yeah?
- Like back in the days. - Old school? Who?
- Maui and Sons? - No.
- Who? - Shirt-- It's like--
- I forgot. - "Back in the day."
- "Back in the day"! - MAN: Back in the day. That's--
Oh, you're killing me.
Have you practiced this before?
- Have you done this before? - What do I write?
A lefty too? Oh, my God!
I like it anyway.
MAN: There it is.
That's how I do it.
You're a graffiti artist.
TOM: Yeah, first picture autograph.
First picture autograph.
- [Asher mutters] - MAN: Thank you.
The "E"! Dang! Dang it, the "E"!
- [laughing] - You forgot the "E."
- ASHER: Gosh, "E." - TOM: That's all right.
- I can print. - That's all right.
I love your artwork too, buddy.
Just trying to do handwriting? Okay.
And there's the "E."
- TOM: Beautiful. - WOMAN: Nice.
- And it's-- - MAN: My man.
- [giggling] - Thank you very much.
This means a lot. I'm gonna get it up on the wall.
I'm gonna put it next to the Mickey Mantle.
♪ It's a mistake
♪ But I won't ever change
TOM: He's got the drill. He's ready to go.
♪ This is my time
♪ This is my place
♪ And I wouldn't have it any other way ♪
♪ And this is my time
♪ This is my place
♪ And I'm gonna shine
♪ I'm gonna shine
KATHY: Another sign that Asher's becoming a local star--
he received an invite to legendary Z-Boy Tony Alva's
50th birthday party
Hey, what's up? This is Jake Brown.
It's great fun. There's bands playing.
Little Asher's ripping up the mini ramp.
This is what it's all about.
[whooping, whistling]
My name's Roger Hickey.
I was downhill world champion for 20 years,
and I didn't wanna just be a guy that used to do something,
so I invented Freshpark ramps, rails and boxes.
HICKEY: One thing I can say about skateboarders is
it's the only sport I know
where you could take the top 20 pros,
you could put something simple like a grind rail,
put up a million dollars, winner-take-all first place,
and tell the skateboarders, the 20 of them,
you have to decide who gets the million dollars,
and they would actually do it without fighting.
I don't know any other sport that would judge themselves
for a million dollars and not care if they lost it.
And it's the only sport that's like that.
The only advice I can give little kids is don't ever quit.
KATHY: Asher was asked to compete in the biggest
invite-only national championship of the year.
The best of the best from all across the United States
will be there.
This is Asher's big shot.
Now, we're going to the Vans Amateur Combi Pool contest,
and kids from all over the United States
are gonna be there.
It's a pretty amazing event,
and it should be a lot of fun.
You'll see a lot of amazing rippers there.
And best of the best, yeah.
These kids will put on a show better than
a lot of the pros,
like a lot of the masters, for sure.
The list is, you know, stacked.
All these kids are big fish in their ponds where they live.
- You know what I mean? - Mm-hmm.
But it's gonna be really dangerous right now.
They could be really aggressive about getting their runs in,
rather than preventing you from warming up.
So if you need to, go right to the mini ramp
and do, like, a five-minute session on the mini ramp.
Don't do tricks where you fall and you have to
start over and wait in line, okay?
The idea is for you to just keep moving, okay?
Can you do that?
[sighs] Okay, and, Asher, game plan.
Um, you can, you know, do the run.
Don't get stuck in
the boardslide rock-and-roll run around the corner.
- Yeah. - Do that on the round section.
Once you do some tricks in the round area,
on your next run, try to do a 360 on the square section.
- Okay? - Okay.
[giggling]
- WOMAN: You're gonna do good. - Yeah.
See? Everyone's waiting to come in.
MIRABEL: There's the parents that are--
Okay, let's go. We're here.
[Asher singing]
♪ [continues]
KATHY: Every major sponsor you have ever heard of
will be at this contest
and looking for new talent to sign.
While Asher's clearly excited to go skating,
Tom is understandably very nervous.
ANNOUNCER: And now for our youngest competitor here
by a long shot, from Los Angeles, California,
eight-year-old Mr. Asher Bradshaw.
Kill it, Asher.
You gotta give it up for the huge air on that one.
Smallest kid out here.
All right, here he comes again with another huge air.
Watch him grind that coping with attitude.
Rock the fakie.
All right. Now, kill it, Asher.
360, yeah! Pretty impressive.
[cheering, applause]
Let's have a huge round of applause for Asher!
Yeah, Asher Bradshaw.
ANNOUNCER: And in 18th place out of 65,
our youngest competitor, Asher Bradshaw.
Congratulations, Asher.
It's a waste of money.
- Taking a trophy home, eh? - Yeah.
- Right on. - Got robbed.
- Ah, no. - Yeah, he did.
That sucked for me.
They weren't even nice about anything.
Like it doesn't really matter
'cause he's just six years old or seven years old,
and he's gonna kill it next year.
Nothing should be planned out like that, you know what I mean?
ASHER: What place did I get?
KATHY: Tom is finally completely broke.
We drive back to L.A., and he drops me off.
I really didn't think things could get any worse
until he called me an hour later.
TOM:
I'd say for the last two years
he doesn't wanna spend any time with me
and da-da-da-da and, you know,
I've not really--
I don't know.
Yeah.
If he's gonna be doing those things,
I think he should really get the consequences
just like anybody else would, you know?
I don't want to be secretly supporting someone
who, uh-- I don't know.
I worry for him, but now I just feel that, you know,
I don't know. It's like a joke.
He's here to just crash here.
He's not here to really be a part of our family,
like, you know, in a healthy way.
Ridiculous.
ANDREW: What's ridiculous?
- You taking Mom's car. - Yeah, I take Mom's car.
You're not gonna take it anymore.
Until I get my license?
You know what? Maybe you can pay for the insurance on it.
You're not a little kid anymore, Andrew. It's done. It's over.
Childhood is over. You're an adult now.
Okay, but I don't use the car that much. Like, maybe--
You're not to use it all, because you're gambling
with her freedom and her ability to have a car,
not your ability to get a license.
Who cares if you have to take the bus till you're 21.
You should be taking the bus now.
- That's true. - That's true, yeah.
You're gambling with Mom's car.
And that's the car that I worked overtime to buy.
Yeah, they impounded it, it's all bad. Yeah, I'm sorry.
- I won't take it then. - You don't need it.
I'm just need to get a Metro pass then.
That's all you need, and then you can achieve
everything you need to do in life.
You can go to Yale University or--
- Yale? - I don't know.
The Olympics, whatever.
But you'll have to see yourself the way you were at 18.
Fine.
So what are you doing? What did you do all day?
- I was with Kevin. - You were with Kevin all day?
- Yeah, then I went to eat-- - You don't work
and you don't go to school.
School-- The semester hasn't even started yet.
- This semester I'm enrolling. - Did you smoke pot today?
- No. Why? - That's a lie.
I don't believe you. I bet you're fucking stoned right now.
ANDREW: Why does he want to argue?
That's what I'm trying to avoid.
Okay, well, we can come in here.
Asher, he's still doing something positive right now.
He's doing his homework.
This is more than you do, right?
Oh, my gosh. Fine. I'll help him with the homework.
No, it's all right, Andrew.
You can do everything right,
have championships when they're little,
but if you don't keep 'em on track
and you let 'em go their own way,
they're not gonna be doing anything.
They don't know what to do with themselves.
Tom and Asher was Tom and Andrew before.
KATHY:
Do you miss that?
- Yeah, no. - You miss the relationship or--
Yeah, no. Like I said: yeah, no.
I'm really. I really don't miss it.
But then again, you do. 'Cause swimming keeps you in shape.
Swimming's fun. I like beating people.
I used to beat everyone. I had drawers full of medals.
But hanging out with your dad like that all the time
gets boring, you get sick of it.
I've hung out with my dad for a lot, you know.
I'm good with my dad. Me and my dad argue a lot.
That's why I don't wanna be around him.
He's a cool guy, definitely respectable,
but I think he's too righteous about himself sometimes.
But that's just me.
KATHY: Why do you think that is?
I don't know.
Growing up, he went through kind of a strict lifestyle.
So he tries to enforce it, which-- I respect that.
I respect his rules.
It's just hard to follow sometimes, you know?
It's not him too. It's my fault.
It's like, "Oh, man."
He's just trying to do the right thing, you know.
If I was his dad, I would be the same exact way, you know?
It's nice that we're gonna end this day by going to church.
You can't go wrong with that at all.
I don't like having to lean on anybody,
but that's our reality.
People think that we're ballin' and stuff,
but we don't have any money at all.
We don't even have money to eat, you know?
[applause]
MINISTER: I just really believe that God wants me
to pray for people that are here.
You've been in the middle of a battle.
There's an attack that is going on in your life,
and sometimes you gotta just pray to God.
Forgive 'em because what they're doing's not right.
What they're saying's not right.
What they're trying to do to me's not right,
but, God, I'm asking you to forgive 'em.
And that forgiveness has more to do with you
than it does with them.
Because you forgiving them keeps you free.
You forgiving them keeps that spirit from tormenting you.
♪ I am a Christian
♪ Am I, am I a Christian
So right now I want you to say out loud with me,
say, "Jesus...
just as you've forgiven me,
I forgive every person...
who's ever hurt me...
or harmed me."
♪ I say to move on
Put it on! Put it on?
♪ Put your arm around God
KATHY: It was heartbreaking.
I knew why we were here.
Tom needed to gain the strength
for what he was about to do.
I couldn't imagine what it must feel like
to be in Tom's shoes.
Tom was going to have to break it to his son
that he could no longer skate in any competitions.
I command it to stop in the name of Jesus!
And I speak life over you! And I speak freedom over you!
KATHY: That night, in an amazing twist of fate,
Tom receives a phone call.
A few weeks earlier,
Tom had uploaded the video we made for Asher to YouTube
and never told us.
What we were about to witness would change everything.
A boy in the United States has become an internet sensation
after his dad uploaded a video
of his incredible skateboarding talent.
I'm right now on the scene with 7-year-old Asher Bradshaw.
Here at home, the latest sensation on Venice Beach.
Check out this future X Games phenom.
[laughing]
- TOM: Who was that? - Me.
- That was who? - Me.
MARIBEL: I'm so proud of you, Asher.
I was really happy that everyone loved him
as much as I did.
[reporter speaking foreign language]
[laughing]
Asher Bradshaw does things you won't believe.
You know, people all over the world really dug it.
He's become known to many on YouTube
as a skateboarding prodigy with over 800,000 views.
Asher Bradshaw is an extraordinary skateboarder.
When it comes to skateboarding, Asher Bradshaw is next.
More than a million people have watched the video.
He's flying high for someone who's only a few feet tall.
Asher doesn't train formally, but he practices every day
for about an hour with his father.
MAN: We wanted to, A: I wanted to congratulate you
on what is clearly the raddest 6-year-old in the world.
KATHY: Finally, after years of waiting,
Tom gets the dream call.
My son was so excited about it.
I was like, "Who is this kid? Where did he come from?"
They're digging him, you know what I'm saying?
The first time I saw Asher was on YouTube.
Clearly the raddest in the world.
Whoo!
Well, my son had it on his computer for several days
before I even knew.
He kept like, "Dad, come check it out!"
He'd been watching it over and over.
I went over and-- "Okay, let me see this whole thing."
And then he pulls it out.
They love him. Hey, rock on!
I couldn't believe how good he was,
and my son was so excited about it.
I was like, "Who is this kid? Where did he come from?"
and just got overly passionate
about how young and how much skill he had.
So I went to the office the next day
and said, "Hey, we need to track this kid down.
He obviously has a gift,
and we should get him involved with our brand."
Asher and his dad came in, and it was a really great time.
You could just tell that he's not a little skate brat
or he's not out there going for the gold.
He's having an amazing time.
He's loving just skating and being a kid,
and that's real important to us.
KATHY: Asher was the youngest kid ever
to sign with Element.
- How do you feel about that? - Good.
Nice.
- KATHY: Are you excited? - Yeah.
Are you an Element kid now?
Not an Element kid, but an Element skater.
That looks great, man.
Good to see the kid in some pictures here.
I can button my shirt.
TOM: You ready to be a star?
- Yes. - You are?
Yes.
This is Seriously Funny Kids.
- ANNOUNCER: Tonight... - Boom!
A pint-sized thrasher with a talent for small talk.
- I don't see a muscle. - Do you see it now?
Now be honest. How old do you think I am?
30.
- Do you wanna dance with me? - No, miss.
Are you sure you don't wanna dance with me?
♪
How are you? Your name is what?
Asher.
Good job!
Nice to meet you.
♪
Asher Bradshaw. He's just amazing.
He's just a little man in this kid's body.
When we first met,
he started doing his thing with the skateboard,
and I was just amazed.
He's gonna do very well and go very, very far.
I give him all my love and all my support.
KATHY: Back at Asher's favorite place
and home away from home,
the Venice skate park,
where only 2 1/2 years ago,
Asher first set foot on a skateboard.
Asher attempts to land his first 540.
If he lands this,
he will be one of the youngest skaters ever to do so.
We all wanna see it!
Do it, Asher!
[cheering]
This is what happens when a kid eats a well balanced meal
and goes to school and gets lots of sleep.
[cheering continues]
Asher is just a natural talent
Blows my mind.
Oh, my God, this kid's incredible.
He's gonna be one of the best in the world, for sure.
I love watching Asher.
You're awesome!
He's gonna be the word of skateboarding in the future.
In ten years, I see him with his own deck,
I see him with his own clothing line.
He's quite a legend in Venice.
I want him running my country.
Yeah, exactly.
We're fans!
Besides being a great skater,
he seems like a great little kid.
The sky's the limit.
Big future for this guy.
I think he's the next Shaun White.
- I'm telling you. - Yeah, move over, Shaun White.
You've got competition. Asher's gonna kick your butt.
He's eight?
He's cute too.
KATHY: We go to Asher's first official Element event,
where he's been invited to represent the brand.
To my surprise, it isn't somewhere fancy
like Beverly Hills or Santa Monica,
but Watts, South Central, right near Asher's house.
The focus is to give back to inner-city kids.
Element has provided 150 skateboards
and brought some of their best graphic designers
to help the kids paint and design
their very own new decks.
How amazing that Asher can now inspire
kids in his own neighborhood
and give them something to dream about.
Many of these kids have parents who are gang members in jail
or even worse, dead.
It's so easy to judge others.
People may have their opinions about Tom
and wonder is he too harsh, is he too pushy,
or is he just trying to nurture a prodigy
in the only way he knows how.
But whatever people may think,
the truth is many of these kids would do anything
to have a dad like that.
We definitely pride ourselves
on having some of the best skateboarders,
but we also pride ourselves on having some of the best people
in skateboarding, and that's real important to us.
ASHER:
♪ This is my time
♪ This is my place
♪ And I'm gonna shine
♪ I'm gonna shine
♪ [rock]