Skate or die. For Christ. Maybe.

Here's a story I filed with KTUU today about Preston Pollard, a Christian skateboarder and all around good guy.

Pictures and words here, video at KTUU.com.

Definitely check out the video on this, edited by Carolyn Hall. It's in the upper right corner of the story.

Skateboarder rides toward California dream
by Casey Grove
Sunday, July 20, 2008



ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- There's plenty of skateboarding going on in Anchorage if you know where to look for it. And one local skateboarder is riding his dream, and his faith, to becoming a pro athlete.

This summer 20-year-old Preston Pollard is taking his show on the road to the Lower 48 trying to go big as a professional skateboarder and beyond.

Pollard has been at the heart of the city's skating scene for years. But there's more to the skateboarding phenom than that.

There's a charisma and positive attitude that people notice right away.

"Preston, he's a really cool guy," skater Daniel Jackson said. "He's really fun to skate with. He sets a real good example for everyone, so he's really cool."

"He's a good skater. (He) influences a lot of people. (He) influenced me to keep skating," Trabyn Richhart said. "I was about to quit but, saw all videos online. It kept me skating."

Pollard has been a counselor at a Christian skateboard camp and toured more than 40 states with a group called Boarders for Christ.

And while it's Pollard's skateboarding talent that's gotten him sponsorships from clothing and skateboard companies he says his goal is to reach the youth.

"I'm here for the kids. I'm here just really trying to be positive. There's not enough positive in this world, so that's where I come in," he said. "I'm trying to just get a lot of kids together and say, 'Hey you don't got to do this to be cool, you know, you can be yourself. Skate, have fun, treat everybody the same.' "

Preston says his faith is taking him places he never thought he could reach.



"My faith, the number one thing is God. Before I do anything, I pray. 'Help me through this, this and this situation.' Without Him, I feel empty," he said.

Pollard started skating around age 7, when his dad bought him his first board. He's ridden many more since then on Anchorage's pavement.

"It was tough, you know, like trying to find different spots, different locations," he said. "I had my little crew, a group of like 10 guys, we'd skate up at Fred Meyer's, skate those curbs, get chased out almost every day."

With several sponsors under his belt, Pollard is moving south and following his dreams.

"I mean, if you like to dog mush, this is the spot, this is the spot to do it at. You come here," he said. "It's the same thing for skateboarding. I'm going to go to California and I'm going to learn from the best and do stuff like that."

Pollard calls the move a dream come true.

Justin DeWolf is a friend of Pollard's from high school who says Pollard inspires him on a daily basis.



"He's in it 100 percent. He is skateboarding is what you would say," DeWolf said. "When he's skating he's happiest. When he's not skating, he's talking about skating."

Pollard says Jones Soda Company will soon print his picture on the labels of more than 40,000 soda bottles.

This week, he heads back to Anchorage after teaching at a skate camp. In August he'll begin his second year on the Boarders for Christ Tour.

Contact Casey Grove at cgrove@ktuu.com