Paul Rodriguez Jr.

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paul rodriquez

Paul Rodriguez with switch
Born December 31, 1984 (1984-12-31) (age 23)
Chatsworth, California, U.S.
Occupation professional skateboarder.

Paul Rodriguez Jr. (born on December 31, 1984, in Chatsworth, California, U.S.), He goes by the name Paul Rodriguez, without the "Jr" because he is not a "Jr." as he does not share a middle name with his father., and is also referred to by the nickname P-Rod. [1]

Contents

[edit] Life as a Pro Skater

[edit] Skateboarding

Paul Rodriguez Jr. obtained his first complete skateboard during the Christmas of 7th grade. As did his bestfriend Kevin Osorio. [2] At the age of 12, while attending Birmingham High School, Rodriguez began team skating for Valley Skate & Surfand, then to the newly formed Oneighteen Boardshop. Shortly thereafter, he signed with DNA Skateboards.[3] Later, he left for City Stars team and then signed with Girl Skateboard Company in 2002, where he later turned pro.[citation needed]

Rodriguez skates 'Goofy' Stance (Right foot forward, Left foot pushes), but is more known for his style and his ability to make tricks done in switchstance look effortless. He tends to skate switch, which is evident in all of his video parts. He's also known for shutting down various skatespots with ease [4].Paul rides on a 7.5 deck.[5]

His first competitive credit at ESPN is the 2001 Slam City Jam in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where he placed 1st. He rose swiftly in the competitive ranks, taking 3rd in the Slam City Jam competition just one year later. In 2002, he was named TRANSWORLD SKATEboarding's "Rookie of the Year".[6] In 2003, he took a bronze medal for achieving 3rd place in street skating at the X Games. In 2004, he took gold there for first, a feat he repeated in 2005.[7] signing up with the resurrected Plan B team, to which he currently belongs.[8] Paul is the only Hispanic to receive a pro-model shoe from Nike. The P-Rod 1 and 2 are the models Nike released, which became hugely popular and have a modern day design.

[edit] Films and video games

In 2001, Rodriguez appeared in the City Stars video, "Street Cinema". In 2003, he appeared in the Ty Evans/Spike Jonze-directed skateboarding video Yeah Right!. Rodriguez's own skateboarding video, entitled Forecast, was released in 2005. In 2007, Rodriguez made an appearance in the Nike SB video "Nothing but the Truth" and starred in two films: Street Dreams, directed by Chris Zamoscianyk, and Vicious Circle, directed by Paul Boyd. Both films are in post production. He is also in the process of making another skate video, entitled "Proof", which will be released in Summer 2008.

He has also appeared in three of the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games: Tony Hawk's Underground, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland/Sk8land and Tony Hawk's Project 8 as well as EA Skate.

[edit] Notable sponsors

In January of 2004, Rodriguez signed a sponsorship deal with Nike,[9] which has released a line of shoes named for Rodriguez, including the P-Rods, the Zoom Air Paul Rodriguez and Paul Rodriguez II. Rodriguez was the first Mexican-American pro skater under Nike's sponsorship.[3] Rodriguez has the distinction of being the only person to receive a pro model shoe with Nike, and only the 5th athlete in history to have a Nike shoe named after them.

In addition to Nike SB and Plan B Skateboards, Rodriguez is also sponsored by Silver Trucks, Hubba Wheels, FKD Bearings, Active Rideshop, Nixon Watches, Boost Mobile, Mountain Dew, Incase Designs and Fathead.com.

[edit] Miscellaneous

After dabbling in websites such as Myspace, Paul decided to create one of his own. Partnering with his good friends Jereme Rogers, Terry Kennedy, and Dan "The Man" Abadi he created Sk8Site, a community similar to Myspace but specializing in the Interests of its creators. The website went live as of August 1st, 2007. Paul is also the only person to appear in both a Tony Hawk game and in the video game Skate, for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.Except Appleyard

[edit] References

  1. ^ Paul Rodriguez. Retrieved on 2007-10-27.
  2. ^ CAVE, Steve. (August 6, 2004). P Rod Comes Of Age at X Games X. Accessed July 6, 2007.
  3. ^ a b QUIÑONES, Ben. (June 16, 2005. Chicanos and the Man. LA Weekly. Accessed July 6, 2007.
  4. ^ http://www.getcreepy.com/news/video/paul_vs_jefferson.mov
  5. ^ Plan B Profile. Accessed July 13, 2007.
  6. ^ OHIO DAVE. (June 09, 2003. The Fifth Annual TransWorld Skateboarding Awards. TransWorld Stakeboarding Magazine. Accessed July 6, 2007.
  7. ^ MOTE, Chris. (March 5, 2005) Girl Skateboards Press Release. Accessed July 6, 2007
  8. ^ Plan B Team: Rodriguez Plan B Skateboarding. Accessed July 6, 2007.
  9. ^ EXPN Profile Accessed July 6, 2007.

[edit] External links