In the world of skateboarding Ricky Glaser is a legend.

With more than one million followers on social media, his own merchandise brand, a host of lucrative sponsorship deals, and most recently headhunted to live in the USA as a pro skater, the 30-year-old is one of a handful of people on the globe making a full-time income from skateboarding.

But it was in Cowes, at the age of 13, taking part in a competition at the Cowes skate park, that he got his first big break. “I won the competition, and I was given a board and a t-shirt,” he recalls. “Island Surfboards saw me and thought I was good. I showed them a video of my best tricks and they became my first sponsors.”

Ricky – whose mum Grazyna Mackiewicz lives in Cape Woolamai – says it was even surfing buddies on the island who first inspired him to take up skateboarding at the age of eight. “When I was growing up I’d visit my grandma in school holidays. It was great because she was in skating distance to the Cowes skate park,” Ricky says. “The park was small but skateboarders are creative. We tend to work with our environment, always finding ways to skate, whether or not there are good facilities.”

Currently based in Los Angeles – where he lives with his winter Olympic snowboarding girlfriend Jenise Spiteri – he still has strong family connections to the island. After Covid restrictions lifted, he flew to Australia to visit his mum, as well as his 97-year-old grandmother who lives in Melaleuca Lodge in Cowes, who both came down to watch his meet and greet with young fans at the Cowes skate park. “What I’d like to do eventually is come and go between the US and Australia.”

During his visit, he spoke up in support for a regional skate park on Phillip Island. “For young children there are a lot of playgrounds on the island, but there’s nothing for teenage kids,” he says. “A skate park is a positive thing for a lot of people. They should give it a chance.”

Ricky says residents should not be concerned about the impacts of a skate park. “If people have concerns it’s based on their own perception, not reality. If you go to a skate park and talk to anyone, you’ll find that’s not how skate parks are. But if you don’t build facilities that’s where kids will start skating where they’re not supposed to, like at schools or on the edge of the street.”

Even though Ricky showed enormous skateboarding potential from a young age, on the advice of his mum he went to university, studying a Bachelor of Film and TV at Swinburne, graduating in 2012. He worked in a variety of random jobs before the evolution of social media proved his entrée into the global skateboarding world.

“I’d been skateboarding for fun, with sponsorship, but at 25 I started to post videos – not just photos – on Instagram, doing skate tricks and that’s when my following grew. Instagram video is so suited to skating. I did difficult tricks and they went viral overnight. Even respected skate publications began commenting. It snowballed from there.”

In 2020 he was offered a full-time job with Braille Skateboarding in San Francisco, ever since working as part of a team to post daily skateboarding videos on the company’s YouTube channel, which has 5.7 million followers, mainly male aged 16-35. Through Braille he has released four signature decks (the wooden platform on a skateboard), including a “Rikimite” tribute to Australia.

In addition, Ricky posts his own content to his personal social media, including TikTok and YouTube, which has more than a million followers and where some of his high-level tricks videos have been viewed more than 35 million times. He also has his own personal line of merchandise, I Like Sk8, which sells t-shirts, hoodies and other products through Braille.

“The videos are all about getting more people excited in skateboarding, so it can be outrageous and outlandish, a spectacle. For Braille we’ve done videos like skating on a rail across a pool, doing tricks on a skateboard made from glass, and another was doing a difficult trick on a skateboard made from an axe.

“Not many people make money from skateboarding and it is tough to make a living like I do.”

Not surprisingly – given the degree of difficulty of the tricks he performs – Ricky has suffered his fair share of injuries. “I’ve broken five bones: finger, toe, ankle, wrist and knee (he still has five screws in his knee) and of course I’ve torn a lot of ligaments.

“I’ve been skating for more than 20 years so five bones is not too bad. I’m healthy now and always make a full recovery.” He says there is considerable pressure to be both fit and creative. “Skating is really, really physical, demanding, and you always need to feel in good shape.”

He explains that his professional skateboarding differs to Olympics. “I’ll sometimes try 200 times to do a difficult trick and land it one time, whereas Olympic skateboarders have to be sure they can accomplish it on the day. All skaters are really determined. It’s the same now as when I was a kid, persisting in learning a new trick. At a skate ramp everyone can relate to the feeling of accomplishing a trick for the first time.”

As taxing as it is, he says there is no use-by-date for skaters, with many continuing into their 50s or opting for other opportunities in the same field.

Ricky says he has always enjoyed skateboarding largely because of its freedom and individuality. “I had a huge amount of energy as a kid and it takes a lot to skate. I’ve surfed, rollerbladed, biked, done gymnastics and athletics. I was drawn to it because it’s individual and you don’t have to rely on a team, or the conditions to be right, or a field.

“It’s the convenience and simplicity but at the same time so complicated and intricate."

www.youtube.com/rickyglaser