DSC 0365

Photos by Asia Morris.

Decidedly one of the most significant stories for this year’s Dew Tour is the inclusion of Hawaii-native and Encinitas-based Jordyn Barratt in the bowl competition—the first woman to compete at the Dew Tour ever.

This is her first time in Long Beach and her first time competing in the tour. Barratt submitted herself through the Podium Skate skateboarding app where, through the Dew Tour Am contest, officials chose skaters in an effort to cast as wide a net as possible in the search for new talent and as a way to level the playing field, said tour officials.

Although Barratt didn’t end up qualifying on Thursday (there were only 12 athletes out of 50 who were able to move on to the semi finals) she’s still without a doubt an up-and-coming skater to watch out for.

“I’m excited that Jordyn qualified for so many reasons,” Dew Tour GM Adam Cozens said on the Dew Tour website. “Womens’ skateboarding is something that’s been on our radar, for sure. It’s been a constant conversation. With the rise of skaters like Lizzie [Armanto], Nora [Vasconcellos], and now Jordyn, I think every contest is working towards including womens’ skateboarding as part of their event.”

The Post caught up with Barratt before her qualifier on Thursday, and asked her what it takes to compete with the best of the best. Read on for a bit of insight on how this young talent stays the course of athletic excellence.

DSC 0495

Post: How do you feel about competing in your first Dew Tour?

Jordyn: I’m really excited, I’m skating against 49 other guys and they’re all super, super supportive of me and they’re all my friends, they’re all encouraging me and pushing me to skate better. So it’s really great being here with all of them.

Are you nervous at all about qualifiers today?

Not really. I’m just happy to be here because I’ve never been at a Dew Tour before and I’m happy to be skating and the course is amazing and all my friends are supportive, so I’m not nervous I’m just excited and stoked to be here.

DSC 0498

When did you decide to enter the Podium Skate app competition?

I was at the skate park a lot with my friends—that I’m competing against—and helping them film and helping them with all that, and then I figured out what they were filming for and someone suggested, ‘Hey, you should enter.’ And so I put my entry in onto the app and I got like 29th or something out of 50, so I’m super stoked.



Although more and more women are participating in skateboard/surf competitions, based on your experience why do you think there are still so few women in skating?

I think a lot of people are intimidated, like the first time they go to a skate park, they’re not sure. The first time you go it looks like chaos and so you don’t know what to do, and I feel like a lot of people are scared or nervous and don’t know how to start. But I see new girls at the skatepark nearly once a week, probably. I see a new girl, and I’m like, ‘Oh hey, what’s up?’ And I see them all the time and all ages, too—it’s really cool—I see 30-year-olds down to like 5-year-olds, so it’s really cool it’s getting all ages, and I just try and be as supportive as I can.

Were you ever intimidated or scared to start skating?

I grew up in a really small town in Hawaii and they had built a skate park and all my school friends were like—they’re all guys, I was the only girl— ‘Hey, we’re going to the skatepark, do you wanna come?’ And I was like, ‘Sure, why not, I’ll try it,’ and I went there and just loved it immediately and I never ever thought, ‘Oh, I’m a girl and I’m skating with all boys, like that’s weird,’ I never thought that. I was just like yeah I’m skating with my friends. So I’ve never really been like that and I’ve never been really intimidated as well, so it’s good.

How do you prepare yourself mentally before competing?

I have a line and tricks that I want to do and I have them in different sections and I think about how I’m going to connect the sections and visualize myself landing my tricks and landing my runs and usually that works pretty well for me. And usually if I visualize it right, I’ll land it, but if I visualize it and I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m kind of scared of that, I might fall on that,’ then I most likely will fall. I’m super mental, skating is super mental, so it just depends on the mindset of my day, really how well I do.

I do if from different views, I do it from a bird’s eye view, I do it from me skating and I also do it from someone else watching. I just kind of do it all the time and see myself and think about how am I going to connect this trick over to this trick and then I just visualize it and connect them, and once it’s time to go I’ve already visualized it a few times. Right before, like when the other people are skating that I’m in my heat with, I don’t really watch them I just focus on myself and what I need. Like do I need water? Okay then I’m good, then I just need to sit here and visualize myself doing it.

DSC 0510

One of your goals is to compete in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, what will it take to be a part of that?

It’s the first year that skating is in the Olympics, and so nobody knows how you’re going to get there yet. It’s still up in the air, but it’s coming along and will probably be announced really soon, because it’s only three years out.

Follow Barratt on Instagram @jordynbarratt and check out her website here.

Asia Morris is a Long Beach native covering arts and culture for the Long Beach Post. You can reach her @hugelandmass on Twitter and Instagram and at [email protected].