Michael Stefaun

Michael Stefaun

Age: 37
Birthday: March 2, 1969
Height: 5’ – 10”
Weight: 183 lbs.
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Hazel
Skating since: 1974
Skating pools: 2002

I Started skating at age 5 back when a skateboard was a lot cheaper than a bike. I skated street and the occasional “piece-of-shit”mini-ramp while bouncing across the U.S. (a different school for every grade) until I graduated all 4 years high school from Virginia. I moved back to California in 1987 and worked in the oil fields of Bakersfield rite out of high school to save money for college. Moved to Northern California for a year and a half but couldn’t bear to not be near the beach any longer. A great friend from Bakersfield, Gary Seagraves (now a local shaper in La Jolla) called me out of the blue between semesters and asked what I was doing? He had just moved into a new

pad in Mission Beach and described it to me…11 hours later, I was on a greyhound bus with a backpack, a duffel bag, a skateboard and $600 bucks.
Vert was dying in the early 90’s and street, of course, was endless and we skated Mission Beach everyday from 1990 to 1995. In 94’ I won a stupid show called Sandblast and was able to start a skateboard-ramp blueprint company called Custom Ramps. With the proceeds from Custom Ramps, I purchased my first vehicle at age 26, a Toyota truck. Skating went from my main mode of transportation to weekend joy rides to nonexistent. In 94’ I began snowboarding which has become a huge element of my life to this day. Ultimately, skating fell off to a point where I probably didn’t even stand on one for over a year. I persued another dream of starting a construction company. This took several years to really get going. I was licensed in 1998 but we really didn’t start moving until 2000. We now have 7 full time employees and are fortunate enough to build some of the most beautiful multi-million dollar homes in the La Jolla.
Sometime about 5 years ago, the local YMCA opened a skatepark in Mission Valley where I started to get back into it. They had a really great mini-spine-ramp and I was able to session it about once a month for almost a year until they closed it down, thus went my second skate wind. About a year or so after the closure, they opened the new Mission Valley skatepark at a new location in Clairmont, even closer to my house and now with a real skate pool!
I remember after about 20 minutes of riding the pool my first day, saying “this sucks”. It was so hard to pump let alone grind. The transitions were different all over and I was simply overwhelmed. I stuck with it for about a year before I really even had any fun. It was all work that first year. All work and all pain! I look back at photos from the first and second year and I am completely padded up from head to toe, aching everywhere, it was miserable to just walk most of the time.
The time between my second and third year is where it all came together. I began to really excel and was able to acquire quite a list of tricks, old and new. Sometime between the first and second year of Clairmont I was approached by a new Skateboard company called “Pool King” looking for pool skaters. They asked if I would ride on their team and ultimately shape a model for myself. It was a great feeling being asked to do something like that, it is something every rider of any sport hopes to be able to do.
It wasn’t long after that that the other sponsors fell in place: Tracker trucks thanks to owner Buddy Carr and Pleasure Tool bearings thanks to fellow team rider Jeff Tatum.
I remember hearing from everyone, “your too old to be skating or snowboarding.” This is pretty funny considering I am usually the youngest of the guys I skate with. The age range is usually under 18 or over 35. It is definitely not just for kids anymore. My best skate bro’s are my age or older and rip as hard now as they every had. Each week we get better and each week we learn a new maneuver.
Staying active is truly the fountain of youth!


		Michael Stefaun


	Michael Stefaun Age: 37 Birthday: March 2, 1969 Height: 5’ – 10” Weight: 183 lbs. Hair: Brown *Eyes:* Hazel Skating since: 1974 Skating pools: 2002 I Started skating at age 5 back when a skateboard was a lot cheaper than a bike. I skated street and the occasional “piece-of-shit”mini-ramp while bouncing across the U.S. (a different school for every grade) until I graduated all 4 years high school from Virginia. I moved back to California in 1987 and worked in the oil fields of Bakersfield rite out of high school to save money for college. Moved to Northern California for a year and a half but couldn’t bear to not be near the beach any longer. A great friend from Bakersfield, Gary Seagraves (now a local shaper in La Jolla) called me out of the blue between semesters and asked what I was doing? He had just moved into a new pad in Mission Beach and described it to me…11 hours later, I was on a greyhound bus with a backpack, a duffel bag, a skateboard and $600 bucks. Vert was dying in the early 90’s and street, of course, was endless and we skated Mission Beach everyday from 1990 to 1995. In 94’ I won a stupid show called Sandblast and was able to start a skateboard-ramp blueprint company called Custom Ramps. With the proceeds from Custom Ramps, I purchased my first vehicle at age 26, a Toyota truck. Skating went from my main mode of transportation to weekend joy rides to nonexistent. In 94’ I began snowboarding which has become a huge element of my life to this day. Ultimately, skating fell off to a point where I probably didn’t even stand on one for over a year. I persued another dream of starting a construction company. This took several years to really get going. I was licensed in 1998 but we really didn’t start moving until 2000. We now have 7 full time employees and are fortunate enough to build some of the most beautiful multi-million dollar homes in the La Jolla. Sometime about 5 years ago, the local YMCA opened a skatepark in Mission Valley where I started to get back into it. They had a really great mini-spine-ramp and I was able to session it about once a month for almost a year until they closed it down, thus went my second skate wind. About a year or so after the closure, they opened the new Mission Valley skatepark at a new location in Clairmont, even closer to my house and now with a real skate pool! I remember after about 20 minutes of riding the pool my first day, saying “this sucks”. It was so hard to pump let alone grind. The transitions were different all over and I was simply overwhelmed. I stuck with it for about a year before I really even had any fun. It was all work that first year. All work and all pain! I look back at photos from the first and second year and I am completely padded up from head to toe, aching everywhere, it was miserable to just walk most of the time. The time between my second and third year is where it all came together. I began to really excel and was able to acquire quite a list of tricks, old and new. Sometime between the first and second year of Clairmont I was approached by a new Skateboard company called “Pool King” looking for pool skaters. They asked if I would ride on their team and ultimately shape a model for myself. It was a great feeling being asked to do something like that, it is something every rider of any sport hopes to be able to do. It wasn’t long after that that the other sponsors fell in place: Tracker trucks thanks to owner Buddy Carr and Pleasure Tool bearings thanks to fellow team rider Jeff Tatum. I remember hearing from everyone, “your too old to be skating or snowboarding.” This is pretty funny considering I am usually the youngest of the guys I skate with. The age range is usually under 18 or over 35. It is definitely not just for kids anymore. My best skate bro’s are my age or older and rip as hard now as they every had. Each week we get better and each week we learn a new maneuver. Staying active is truly the fountain of youth!