Tareas !

Rodney Mullen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
John Rodney Mullen (born August 17, 1966) is a professional skateboarder who practices freestyle and street skateboarding. Mullen is credited with inventing numerous skateboarding tricks, including the kickflip, heelflip, impossible, and 360 flip. Mullen has appeared in many skateboarding videos and has co-authoredan autobiography entitled The Mutt: How to Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself with Sean Mortimer.
In a 2009 video, Mullen summed up his passion for skateboarding:
I fell in love with skateboarding because it was individual. There were no teams, there were no captains... it was completely opposite of what I saw in so many sports: It was creative.
Biography
Early life
Mullen was born inGainesville, Florida, United States, and began skateboarding at the age of ten after a neighborhood friend introduced him to a skateboard. He promised his worried father, a dentist, that he would cease skateboarding the first time he became seriously injured. Mullen began practicing whilst wearing a complete pad setup, as part of the deal with his father, and spent time with his sister's surferfriends, who skateboarded on weekdays. Mullen became obsessed with the skateboard and practiced for many hours on a daily basis.
Skateboarding
In 1978, having owned a skateboard for less than a year, Rodney placed fifth in the Boy's Freestyle at the U.S. Open Championships at Kona Skatepark in Jacksonville. Skateboard manufacturer Bruce Walker saw his performance and sponsored Mullen through WalkerSkateboards in 1978–80. Mullen's biggest influence in skateboarding at the time was Walker pro skater Jim McCall. He was coached in his early years by Bruce Walker (who also coached a young Kelly Slater).
In later years, Mullen was coached by Barry Zaritzky, aka SIO Barry. When his family moved to a farm in a remote part of Florida, Rodney began perfecting his flatground techniques in the familygarage. He said the isolation and lack of terrain naturally influenced him toward freestyle skateboarding. Rodney cites July 1979–August 1980 as his "most creative time". He put together a string of 30 straight competitive amateur victories in the late 70s, mostly in his home state Florida, culminating in a win at the Oceanside Nationals in June, 1979.
Rodney Mullen, 1988.
In 1980, the 14-year-oldMullen entered the Oasis Pro competition, defeating world champion Steve Rocco. Mullen later turned pro as a member of the Bones Brigade sponsored by Powell Peralta. Powell Peralta was co-owned by Stacy Peralta, who Mullen highly admired. Mullen competed voraciously throughout the 80s—often frustrating competitors and judges with his consistency and progressive ability. By 1990, Mullen had won 34out of 35 freestyle competitions that he entered, losing only to fellow Bones Brigade member Per Welinder due to falling over in his run. Mullen established the most successful competitive run in the history of the sport.
Despite Alan Gelfand's fame for inventing the ollie air (Gelfand's maneuver being primarily a transition-oriented trick), Mullen is responsible for the invention and developmentof the street ollie. The ability to pop the board off of the ground and land back on the board while moving has been the most significant development in modern skateboarding. The invention alone would rank Mullen one of the most important skateboarders of all time.
Throughout the 1980s, he invented the majority of skating's ollie and flip tricks, including the flatground ollie, the kickflip, theheelflip and many others. These tricks are now considered an essential part of modern vert skateboarding and street skateboarding. In early 1989, Mullen left the Bones Brigade to join World Industries as a principal investor with longtime friend and former rival Steve Rocco. The choice was a gamble since Powell Peralta was an established company, while Rocco's upstart company was struggling and...