Getting a Sponsorship

First off, I have to say that this should not be your number one goal in skateboarding, getting a sponsorship comes with time, dedication and hard work. The number one goal is... dare I say it...FUN! As great as it is to get free stuff, always remember why you started skateboarding in the first place.

Getting a Sponsorship

At one point in my life when I took skateboarding very seriously and competitively I was sponsored by a major company and it was great, getting free stuff for doing what I liked best. Here is some techniques on how you can get a sponsorship..

Skill Level

To compete in the skateboarding industry you have to have some sort of a name in your community, skateboard companies want to sponsor people that other skaters look up to or preform well and impress others. This obviously means you need some skill, it does help however to be young and have a lot of potential for your age (that helped me a lot in my sponsorship).

Local Shops

Local shops are your number one bet for getting your first sponsorship. Make sure you are going in there often and making friends with all of the staff, but not too much that you're annoying! This makes it a lot easier to get in with them and easier for them to to say yes to your sponsor me video. Which brings me to my next point.

The Sponsor Me Video

making a sponsor me video is basically how you get a sponsorship, if you have a great video then its just a matter of getting it in the right hands. Make sure you are always filming your best skateboard tricks and always keeping a collection on your computer of all these amazing tricks you've been doing. I know this will take a while and in fact the longer you film for this the better your sponsor me video will be and the better your chances are of getting a sponsorship.

Editing Your Sponsor Me Video

Once you have a handful of tricks on your computer that you know you can't possibly beat, its time to edit your video. Make sure you learn some very basic video editing on a simple program like imovie or windows movie maker. Put all your tricks in a good order that never for one second in the video get slightly boring, its best to keep your video short and sweet, you don't want people getting bored half way through. I would suggest making it about one and a half to two minutes long. Now that you have the tricks in order you can add some music that suites the video and suites the type of skater you are. Make sure to include your name, age, Email and phone number in the video so that the right people can contact you, and dont put any stupid stuff like jackass, a ton of bails or tricks you almost landed in your sponsor me video. Getting a sponsorship takes a lot of effort and patience, its letting the company market their products/clothing with your skateboarding, so make sure to be professional in your video and look like you'd be the right guy or the job.

Getting it in peoples hands

Ok, so now you have this amazing sponsor me video with the best skateboard tricks on it and you just have to get it in front of the right people. The first thing to do is to put it up on youtube, make sure you have your contact info on it, this put your video open to everyone to view it, even if you don't get a sponsorship from it it will give you credibility which is what skateboard companies want to see. The next thing you need to do is to take your sponsor me video to all the local shops in your area and introduce yourself to the people their (if you haven't done so already). The last thing to do with your video is to send it off to all the company's that you could be sponsored by, be realistic with yourself. Make a list of companies and find their contact information, some companies have separate mailing address' for sponsor me videos and some have ways you can even send it online through a site like yousendit for example Emerica has started to do this, which is a lot easier and a lot cheaper to do.

All in All

All in all getting a sponsorship is a lot of hard work remember to stay dedicated and never take your eyes off the prize, if you set a goal you will reach it, if you have that attitude and determination. Make sure your always having fun skateboarding and when you get frustrated just brush it off your shoulders and have fun thats what skateboarding is for.

Happy Skateboarding!