Hey Emile, where are you from?
Hi dude! I’m from Belgium, the little country with all the fries, chocolate and beer.

Which of them makes you skate best?
Chocolate, because there is milk in there. Maybe I should try blending them all together and see what happens then?

Don’t do it. It’ll turn you into a mongo pusher!
WOW thanks for telling me that, wouldn’t want to do that now would  I? Unless you’re trying to sabotage me.

When did you start skating?
I started street skating when I was little, but never got good at it. I can do the basics such as Ollies, 180s and stuff, but I live in the middle of nowhere so I always had to skate on my own. I started longboarding a little over one year ago.

Do you still ride small hard wheels on a popsicle deck?
Yes I love to ride bowls and snake runs so I still have a skate deck with hard wheels on it. And I’m planning on getting one of those reissue 80’s decks, they’re so cool! Sometimes I take my skate deck for some fun slide sesh (trying) to do some bluntslides and stuff, it’s cool.

How did you get into longboarding?
I woke up one day and thought I had invented a new sort of skateboard. Haha no I saw some guys at school with really long skateboards and they looked cool, that’s when I looked it up on the internet and I hit some videos of people dancing, free-styling and downhilling on longboards, that’s when I got my first longboard, a Globe board lol.

Does your street skating experience help with your new found love?
Uhm yes I think it helps a bit, not that I’m that good of a street skater but it helps for starting to longboard. I surf (and windsurf) too that helps as well for me.

Do you still skate alone?
Yes because I live in the middle of nowhere, and there’s almost no longboarders in my area, except for some people that just like to “cruise”. But I’m lucky to live in quite a “hilly” area, I can’t complain. I have loads of gnarly narrow freeride roads through woods and fields, it’s so nice to freeride and downhill here, in the middle of all the beautiful nature. You see rabbits and shit!

Why don’t you have any friends?
I do, there are some cows and horses that follow me around when I skate here. But most of the time I go to other places, or I get friends to come over and skate here. I live in one of the best parts for freeriding in Belgium, so friends usually don’t hesitate to come over.

So that’s why you like milk…
No comment.

How long did you ride the globe?
Hahaha I rode it for one month, then I sold it and got a Loaded Tan Tien, had fun on that board but soon I realised that I wanted to go faster and that didn’t go to well on the Tan Tien. That’s when I got my first stiff downhill board, the Kebbek Max Erwin!

Is there community growing where you are?
Where I live not really, but there are some crews in the bigger cities, but they mostly stick to dancing and freestyling. But we have a cool group of people from all over Belgium that are all about downhill. There’s Blutcher, there’s a crew near the sea that’s called Beernem Longboard crew, also a new young crew Freebird Downhill & Longboard crew, expect to hear some big international things from them in the next year! So it’s cool, but the majority of downhillers isn’t in a real crew and we just meet up all together and skate fast! We could use some more female longboarders though(!!!).

Going fast is your poison?
Yes you could say it’s my drug, I LOVE going fast, I couldn’t live without it. Especially when you’re “in the zone” while rushing down a hill, I wan’t to go skate NOW!

What is the zone?
Well for instance, at the Wunderbarr freeride, the top speed was 75km/h and this was on the last stretch of the track, where you had to take some long and short sweepers at this speed. In that part of the track I was just skating and not thinking about what I was doing or would do next, or what I just did. I was just going fast, taking the sweeper corners in tuck, stroking the grass on the side with my hand. Moments I’ll never forget.

Do you skate with Xavier and his band of merry men often?
Yes! Because the downhill scene is still small (but growing!) in Belgium you always see the same happy faces! Blutcher is really great, love those guys, always a good laugh with them and fun times. Xavier beat me in a ”longest standup slide” contest last week, the little bitch. He went 30 centimeters further than me! I got 10meters and he got, well, 10meters and 30 centimeters. I don’t want to talk about Deen’s distance.

Are you always this upset about your length?
Usually I’m not, but when it comes to Deen’s ridiculously epic skating I just can’t help but be jealous haha.

Who organises the comps?
Freebird Downhill & Longboard crew and myself organised that one. It was a slide and kicker jam, with some contests in it. Sickboards, Twits Leuven, and some other local shops sponsored the event and the prizes. It was their first event and it was a big succes! Xavier from Blutcher and Axel & Cédric of LRBX were there as well and when they say the event was great that’s a BIG compliment!

What other sorts of skating makes you happy?
Downhill is what I like most, but freeriding with friends, going down some narrow, steep roads in a forest, doing gnar standups  and having to adjust to other people within a meter of you is right behind downhilling. Now I’m trying to get a bit more in freeriding and dancing as well. I got a Rayne Rival from Sickboards (thanks a shitload for that by the way!!!) for my holidays in Spain the next few weeks, so I’ll come back to Belgium with a bit more skill in freestyle and dancing haha.

Do you organise many events?
Well I want to organise loads now! And since I’m teamrider for Sickboards and working for them a bit, I’ve got some good support to make it happen! So expect loads of cool stuff going on in Belgium soon!

Where in Belgium?
Everywhere, you didn’t hear it from me but I heard from one of my cow friends that there’s going to be some sort of Longboard Cup crossing the country.

A longboard cup?
Yes, races and other kinds of contests with some sort of point system, and some big prizes in the end I guess!

What do you ride?
At the moment I ride the Xtensionboards Sick-nature Vimana model, made by Koek. Surfing on SurfRodZ RKP fixed 8mm trucks, flowing on Riptide bushings, and shredding gnar on DTC wheels for racing and small square lipped Rayne prototype wheels for freeriding! (THOSE WHEELS ARE RAD)

When did you get sponsored?
Not that long ago, I think a bit more than a month, can’t really remember haha! The other teamriders saw me at wallonhill and Sickboards was still looking for someone to represent them in Belgium. Then at Wunderbarr they had to pay attention to me and see if I was a good boy and all that. And after that they asked me to be teamrider! Best thing that’s happened to me so far in my longboard “career”.

You’ve only been skating for a year or so, that’s pretty quick!
Yeah I’ve heard that before haha, but I still want/have to improve a lot! I was kinda surprised, I didn’t think I was good enough. There’s so much I still want to improve about my riding, that’s why I want to ride as much as possible with Deen and Taco so I can improve faster!

Who are Deen and Taco?
My 2 pet skaters.

Erm… you have ‘’pets’’ who are under 18, is that legal?
Yes, I had them sign papers, I’m not stupid. I just have to give them some urethane in the morning so they listen to me.

Seems legit. What’s your role in the Sick family?
Well I’m a teamrider and work in the shop sometimes, but it’s a 2 and a half hour drive for me, so when I go, I stay for a few days. And now I’ll be doing some representive kind of work for them towards skateshops in Belgium. And I’m “de belg” (the Belgian) of course haha. Taco, Deen and I are kind of Lisa and Martijn’s kids. But you already knew that about my pets.

You’re now part of TED.
Hey that’s cool! Thanks man.

What sort of stuff does TED get up to? 
Shredding gnar and drinking (too much) tequila. What I’ve learned so far is, when you draw penises and moustaches on Deen’s face while he’s sleeping, the next day he’ll rape your board and put yellow paint all over your griptape. What I’ve learnt about Taco is that he’s a metrosexual and likes to show people his nipples.

You worry me.
In what way?

I’m trying not to think about it!
Hahaha lol, you should come party with us sometime you’ll understand.

Will there be bacon?
There’s always bacon, and girls, and tequila. About hills I’m not sure, as the Netherlands are flat.

Is Taco walking yet?
Yes he is, one leg is twice the size of the other, but everything’s fine.

What was the first event you went to?
My first ‘event’ was carless sunday in Brussels, I went downhill for the first time there, on my Tan Tien. That’s when I got bitten by the downhill germ. My first freeride was Wallonhill Spring Edition this year.

And by the speed wobble germ?
No I’m immune to speed wobbles.

How was Wallonhill?
The spring edition was rainy. Very rainy. But a good experience and I learned a LOT there, like getting to know how to react and behave while riding in the rain, it’s a whole different way of downhilling. Predrifting in the rain is different as well, and you have to try and keep your weight above your board. Riding in the rain is technical but loads of fun. The summer edition was cool, first day sunny and hot, second day rain.

Have you been to any races?
I’ve been to one race so far, REB Challenge in France. It was a small but very cool and fun event. The track wasn’t that fast but very technical (you had to cross a railroad…), and you get loaaads of food and drinks, very nice organisation there! The qualifying system is different than in the IGSA. The first day we had to race 8 times in groups of 4, every time vs different people. You got points doing this and by those points you qualify for the race the next day. So you ride all weekend. Unfortunately the race day was very rainy and they let the riders decide what would happen. The race got cancelled and they used the points of qualifying to determine who won.

How did you do in the race?
I got 26th out of 42 riders I think in the qualifying I had some bad luck with people falling in front of me and hitting them so lost some points in those cases. I think if the race went through I could’ve improved my position and gotten into the top 20, but the race was cancelled which was quite a bummer for me. But there are loads of races still to come! I was quite satisfied with my result for a first race.

What are your plans for the rest of the season?
I’ll probably go to KNK, Giosteka, Chuyer, Koffeeschnapps. I’m on holidays in Spain during Kozakov and Peyragudes, which is quite unfortunate. But I want to keep racing for the next season anyway, I want to improve a bit more before competing, wouldn’t feel 100% comfortable yet if I had to race loads now.

What do you do when you’re not skating?
Thinking about skating haha, maybe cleaning my gear, watching rad vids on the internet. Sleeping eating and stuff, do what you gotta do. Not studying at the moment, doing some small jobs. I like to travel and go find new hills and spots. I can’t live without music so when there are good bands playing I go check them out. I try to have as little as possible of the “no skate” time! Oh and I am a real car and bike freak, so is my whole family. Love taking one of my bikes or cars for a spin through the country side, that’s a big advantage as well for me, I’ve been watching MotoGP and Formula 1 my whole life so I know how to race.

What music do you like to skate to?
Music that makes me skate harder and faster, I love punk, rock’n’roll, hardcore, postcore, postrock, psychobilly, stonerskate bands, SKA, mostly older stuff (real bands and by that I mean instruments and not digital), got a good and cool taste thanks to my parents.

Is there anything else you wanted to mention?
I have a hyperactivity disorder, I don’t get tired easily while skating. I might be a bit irritating sometimes. But that’s nothing I worry about haha. I like milk but you already knew that. I hate Belgian weather, I love Spain. I want to see and skate the whole world. Uhhhh I can’t realy think of anything else.

Choose 3 numbers between 1-35.
9, 13 and 666-662

9 – Favourite song to listen to when you skate?
The Action is Go by Fu Manchu!!!

13 – Do you have a pet?
Yes, Taco, Deen and Marcel (my bigass cat).

4 – Who is the best person you’ve seen skating?
Seen with my own eyes in real life or in a video? In real life Samy Cantieni, he’s epic! In videos I can’t realy decide, there are so many rad riders out there.. But seeing K-Rimes or P-Swiss race always makes my pubic hairs stand up straight. No homo.

It’s been awesome talking to you tonight Emily. Good luck in the rest of the season! PS why do you have a girls name?
You just fantasise about me being a girl and wishing I’m a girl because you like me so much. Nothing I can change unfortunately! It was great talking to you too!

Any thank yous?
Thank you Sickboards for everything you’ve done for me so far and will do in the future, thanks to all the people I ride with and giving me the best times and skate sesh’s ever. Thanks to all the Belgian organizers and rad event creators, thanks to my parents for sponsoring me and letting me skate and go to freerides whenever I want to. And thank you for this interview!

Links
http://www.sickboards.nl
https://www.facebook.com/xtensionboards
http://www.coolestparentsever.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1mgMDgefc8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFbtxxwvsPo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMC2-uetuUk
https://vimeo.com/44823966