Download issue as PDF - SLUG Magazine

Tyson Bowerbank is growing up and blowing up.
Tyson Bowerbank, BS 5-0.
Go With the Flow:
Tyson Bowerbank
By Steve Goemaat
sgoemaat411@hotmail.com
Over the past couple years, skateboarding has progressed to a level of
insanity, being pushed mostly by the up-and-coming youth. Nyjah Huston
has been throwing back-lips down handrails since he was 11, Chaz Ortiz
makes double flip feebles look effortless, and Tom Schaar recently pulled
the first 1080 on a skateboard ever. If you’re thinking, “Who on Earth is Tom
Schaar?” that’s normal, because he is 12. Having first set foot on a skateboard
at the age of 8, Tyson Bowerbank is a prime example of the up-andcoming.
With a resume including Fuel TV, ESPN and a repertoire of high-profile
amateur contest finals, Bowerbank has some pretty high credentials. Now, at
the age of 18, Bowerbank is a solid, humble skater who just loves being on
a skateboard. With a bag of tricks that most kids only have behind an Xbox
controller, this baby-faced Sandy native is on a tear of a come-up and shows
no signs of slowing down.
Bowerbank has been on a skateboard for just about a decade now, and
continues to progress every day. “One day, I started messing with a skateboard
at my mom’s friend’s house and, eventually, I got my own. I liked it from the
start. I would just ride around in circles at the house,” says Bowerbank. He
started entering contests at age 10, competing in the Phoenix Am and making
it into the Dew Tour’s amateur Gatorade Free Flow tour when he was 11
years old. Bowerbank is far from being strictly a contest skater, though. “My
motivation comes from my friends more than anything,” he says. “Skating
with the homies is what pushes me. It’s motivating to see one of your friends
stomp something tight, and it makes me want to stomp something right back.”
This mentality really showed as I witnessed him stomp banger after banger at
Fairmont, skating with his friends and fellow Sk801 homies.
Bowerbank has the raw ability to send a huge stalefish out of a more than
fair-sized transition, and the board control to get a back three kick flip over a
relatively crusty Fairmont step-up that is not for the meek. With skills like this, it’s
no wonder Bowerbank is backed by companies like Monster, Bones, BC Surf &
Sport and Darkstar, who brought Tyson on the team with an experience that
will be hard to forget. “At first, [Adam] Dyet just asked me for all of my
54 SaltLakeUnderGround slugmag.com 55
Photo: Jake Vivori
Photo: Jake Vivori