REYNOLDS Heimana

Preferred stance
Regular (theboardr.com, 01 Jan 2021)

General
FROM HAWAII TO CALIFORNIA
In late 2019 he moved from Hawaii to Carlsbad in California. This meant he lived away from his father, who introduced him to skateboarding, for the first time in his life. "I moved into a house in Carlsbad in November [2019], and it's only about 10 minutes from the CATF [California Training Facility], where they had the USA national championships, which is now my home park. Before all this quarantine stuff I was skating there every day. Of course I miss home - I miss the ocean back home and all my friends and family and stuff - but I have friends out here, too, and the skateparks out here are 20 times better than the parks back at home, so it's definitely a good change of scenery. It's definitely been different being away from my dad for so long this year, now that I'm living and training in California. He's always been my coach and my mentor, everything, my biggest fan and my biggest supporter, and now that I'm older he's also one of my closest friends. Training by myself, not having him around, it's definitely different." (dewtour.com, 22 Apr 2020)

HAWAIIAN SURF-SKATE STYLE
He believes his hometown of Honolulu, Hawaii, has shaped his style as a skateboarder. "My hometown has shaped me in every way, shape, and form. At a very young age I got into both surfing and skateboarding and here in Hawaii it's a perfect breeding ground for those sports. Growing up surfing and skating has also given me the unique, flowy surf skate style you see today in my skating. Here in Hawaii we don't have all the 'top of the line' skateparks or ramps, so it really has helped shape me into the skater I am today being able to compete on the best of the best concrete parks. Yeah, my style is definitely unique. I like to flow around the bowl really fast, and having that little surf style on top of my skating helps a lot. I don't wear a shirt when I skate because of comfortability. Growing up in Hawaii and never wearing a shirt, just running board shorts when I skate is my thing. Luckily I'm wearing my shoes in the contest. We'd wake up and put on a pair of shorts and just go back and forth from the skate park to the beach all day." (stockx.com, 19 Aug 2019; nbcolympics.com, 02 May 2021; menshealth.com, 22 Mar 2021)

SKATE SHOP ROLE MODEL
When he is in Hawaii he works at Proper Rideshop in Honolulu, which teaches children how to skate. "I work at Proper Rideshop. It is my family-owned business teaching kids how to skateboard. We run camps and clinics and even work with some homeschool programs and use skateboarding as their physical education. We also work with programs like A-skate to teach skateboarding to kids with autism. I try to be the best role model. I come to the skate parks and say hi to everyone, and I stay away from drugs and alcohol. I know skateboarding has a bad rap, 'They're just dumb skaters who sit at the parks and do drugs', but I've never been into that stuff. Skateboarding has taken me this far, and if I were into that, I wouldn't be where I am today. Skateboarding is an incredible sport, but I know people talk down on it. But this piece of wood with wheels has allowed me to travel and meet people and learn life lessons." (nbcolympics.com, 02 May 2021; midweek.com, 15 Aug 2017)

SHAUN WHITE INFLUENCE
He says he was motivated to pursue skateboarding due to a performance from US skateboarder Shaun White that he saw at an event in 2007. "I was eight years old and for a little early birthday present my dad got tickets to X Games XIII. While I was there I watched a lot of my heroes like Shaun White, Bucky Lasek, Bob Burnquist, and many more. While watching Shaun's practice I saw him trying the same run over and over and getting frustrated about not being able to land it. He was able to land it one time before the finals. When it came down to the final event, he put down his entire run that he was working on and ended up winning his first summer X Games gold medal. Seeing