Simon: How did you handle school when you first turned pro?
Tosh Townend: I dropped out. When I was a sophmore, I looked at my dad and said, 'I make more money than the teacher and the principal put together, why do I need to be going to school? I can do everything I need outside of school. It's all about street smarts and common sense.'
Simon: So, what did your dad say?
Tosh Townend: He was cool. He said, 'Well, if you're going to be coming out of school, you're going to be coming into the school of life and becoming an adult. And he helped set me up a lot too and helped me get contracts and sponsors. My dad never went to college. He was a pro surfer, so when he was 18, he was off riding waves in Hawaii and Australia.
Simon: What did you like like most about school and what parts did you think sucked the most?
Tosh Townend: I was pretty into math and I was stoked about learning the history of all over. I was also into geography, like looking on the maps and where we were going to go and stuff like that. I didn't like P.E. because you had to dress up. I was like, 'I'm going to skate after school. I don't need to run these laps around the block or around the field.' I didn't like science either - it was just too nerdy for me.
Simon: What was it like to design your own skate shoe for Emerica?
Tosh Townend: It was cool. They just gave me a basic design and I made little changes on things like materials and where I wanted mesh or how thin I wanted the tongue to be. I would decide on the width I wanted it to be and where I wanted it slim down and stuff like that.
Simon: What's the worst injury you've had skateboarding?
Tosh Townend: I've broken my wrist twice, the left one, right in the middle. I've also rolled both my ankles over 20 times each and had surgery and I've torn the ligaments and broken little bones. That's why I wouldn't mind becoming a pro surfer at some point. I'm hurting myself too much skateboarding.
To read more of Simon's interview with Tosh Townend, click here.
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