Samantha Bruce Interview
September 19, 2008 @ 12:03 PM - Features: Sports
Can you give us a run down of your average day?
The usual morning ritual: wake up, shower, run for the bus, then run for the train. Then if I’ve got work, I’ll do my 10 hour shift at the vans store in Carnaby Street, then come home and just mong out in front of the TV, eating myself into a coma! Then if I’m not feeling too tired I’ll go for a skate for an hour or two. Then go home, change, go out and party. The next morning I’m usually having to scrub extra hard in the shower to get rid of all the marker pen that’s been graffitied on my arms!
If I have a day off then I’ll probably go to my friends and skate their mini ramp or go for a push at my local park to which they’ve just re-done Meanwhile 2 street course, which is really smooth and the perfect size to learn on.
And if you could have the perfect day, what would it include?
Waking up feeling fresh, with nice weather; it doesn’t even have to be perfect, I’m just getting bored of seeing rain now! Then having a good brunch to set me off for a good skate, followed by a shopping spree at Primark! Having a day without injuries, plenty of falafels and smoothies to get me through a sunny day of perfect skating, but we can only wish eh!
What are your plans for this summer?
That is if summer ever comes! Spring and autumn have just seemed to have merged together! I’ve just come off an all-girl skate tour around the UK with the handful of UK girl skaters… Well I say the UK, I really mean doing the main skate spots along the M1! We did one last year and it was so much fun. We crashed on people’s floors and were on a tight budget but managed to get a few giggles out of it. There’s only one more comp for this summer which will be the UKSA championships held in Corby, Northamptonshire, which should be amazing! All the top UK skaters under one roof. Then hopefully visit some other girl skaters in France for a good old schralp!
What’s your favourite place to skate?
Anywhere that’s dry and has good company is good. Although I think my favourite spot at the moment it has to be Meanwhile 2, as it’s a 5-minute skate from my house and is just great to learn stuff on. On top of that, there’s a great chippy across the road too. Get fat, burn the calories off. Brilliant!
Do you still get nervous before a big contest?
All the time! I hate big crowds of people watching me skate, it gets my heart racing and my hands start to shake! Just having a hundred or so people just watching you skate and then skating up against your mates too! I break out in a sweat and get light headed before I’ve even stepped on my board. MC’s commenting on what you’re doing, or in our case, British MC’s doing what they’re best at and just hurling abuse at us for a spot of encouragement and a few giggles. It’s always an ice breaker. I must admit I do push myself a lot harder to skate better in a comp with all the pressure, but I always prefer skating in Jam format where you have a couple of other people skating with you so the attention isn’t all on you.
What is the atmosphere like behind the scenes?
It’s a right laugh! It’s really cool and chilled. Everyone’s really supportive of each other, and you usually always see the same faces at the contests, so everyone is friendly with one another. We all have a giggle before our run, chatting and just having fun with everyone. Talking with all the pro’s and getting free food and drink. That is before our run starts. Once we’re up, that’s when we poop ourselves!
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