Why freestyle?
I chose freestyle because I wasn’t allowed to skate at the skate park or in the street without a parent. With both parents working, they never had time to take me to skate so I skated out the front of my house on the footpath. Also, I came from a ballet background so I found skating to music really natural.
So access and music were key?
Yeah, access was a massive thing for me. I wanted to skate street and park and try all different types of skating. However, freestyle was perfect for my circumstances.
Does the ballet background help with tricks/footwork?
Ballet definitely helped in choreographing lines and routines. Footwork however, was just hard to learn but knowing how to shift my weight (which I learnt in dance) was a massive help.
Is there a favourite trick or combo?
I love trying all tricks. Truck dancing is a bit weird though and truck stands are wild, only landed a handful. But [I] love toeside rail to rollo to Cooper stance and Cooper flip out. Such a satisfying trick if done quickly and cleanly.
You mentioned on Instagram that you’re from Inverell. What is it like trying a niche style of skating in rural NSW?
Yeah I’m from Inverell. Pretty small regional town with a heavy agricultural industry which made its way into everyday life. Growing up you were either an agricultural kid or a sports person, nothing in between. I was one of only three skaters in the town, with my mentors Dakota and Taylor being heaps older than me when I started at fifteen.
I got a bit of backlash for skating. However, when I started freestyle, people would stop hating and just got hyped. That pushed me heaps to keep going even when the homies quit or moved away…
You’ve moved to other forms of skating since starting your Instagram account @australian_freestyle_skate. May I ask why?
I still freestyle and I love it, but when you are by yourself it can get super frustrating regarding progression. I found myself getting pretty good and then, boom, I hit a wall and just got angry that I couldn’t progress.
So, to make sure that didn’t happen, I moved to transition and park skating which I love. If I had more friends or connections to freestylers in Australia I would have just stayed doing freestyle. But, I believe as a skater you should try every style you can and just have fun.
Also freestyle equipment is super hard to find and buy in Australia but now Aikenheads stocks it which is great and they are one of my sponsors so they support me and other freestylers heaps.
[I] got plans to actually cop the new Mike Osterman pro model from Waltz once it enters our shores. Daddy Mike is awesome and a massive help for the progression of freestyle in Australia which was never a thing when I was younger.
Osterman has been very good with promoting freestyle and getting gear to Australia. Is there anything else you can think of which may help freestylers here?
The one thing that would help freestylers and freestyle in general is the recognition from the core community. We are all skaters. However, there is definitely a preconceived notion that freestyle…[is] dying and that it is some weird offshoot of skateboarding. No matter what board you ride, it’s skateboarding and we all deserve some support to make sure our passion and future of freestyle continues.
CONNECT: Follow Rohan Cowley on Instagram (@australian_freestyle_skate and/or @roast_beef_boy). Alternatively, if you’re heading inland from Coffs Harbour along the B78, have a skate break at Inverell park (NSW) and maybe you’ll see each other there.