Nyjah Huston looks for skateboarding sweep at SLS Super Crown
THE SWEEP. That’s the goal that remains, and the idea that plays in the mind of 19-year-old skateboarder Nyjah Huston. With the 2014 Street League Skateboarding Super Crown World Championship just days away on August 24, Huston is aiming for the sweep of all the major street skateboarding titles in the year of 2014.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Huston tells Edge. “It is the biggest one of the year and I was stoked I was able to make the top eight there.”
Top eight isn’t the goal this time, as Huston wants everyone to tune in to see if he can bring home the title in Newark’s Prudential Center.
But just getting to New Jersey proved touch-and-go during Huston's eventual win in Los Angeles late in July. An injury in a practice run almost kept him from the main competition.
“Yeah, that really sucked,” he says. “I was skating and took a fairly gnarly fall and hurt the back of my calf.” The next morning, the day of the competition, his first step on the ground was so tough he couldn’t even walk.
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Skating in L.A., though, Huston had friends in the house and wanted to see if he could make a go of it. “After my leg got worked on, I was able to skate and it really surprised me,” he says. “This was the first time that happened to me and I wanted to go out and give it my all.”
He did. And won.
While Huston says he can’t do much about a freak fall, he does try to keep his body in shape for boarding, but not by boarding too much.
“Skateboarding is interesting,” he says. “You can’t really practice it as much. It takes a big toll on your body. Your legs get really tired really fast. If I skate too much, I’ll be way too sore.”
Huston has balanced out the board time by working out, practicing on the board and eating healthy. He takes care of his body and has felt stronger recently, he says. But that doesn’t mean that Huston doesn’t hit the skate parks for some extra runs.
“Honestly, I’m just looking forward to skating and challenging myself,” he says. “I’m hitting the local skate park, learning new tricks. That is the most fun part of skateboarding, the challenges. There are always new possibilities.”
The newest possibility? The coveted season sweep.
Tim Newcomb covers stadiums, design and gear for Sports Illustrated. Follow him on Twitter at @tdnewcomb.
A Day in the Life: Pro Skateboarder Nyjah Huston
