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Sheckler Skating Way to Stardom - 10/10/07

Ryan Sheckler may be only 17 years old, but the youngster is already dealing with more drama than most grown-ups would dare to tackle.

The reigning skate-park king is adored by thousands of fans, has a tricked-out tour bus taking him from competition to competition, and is one of the most popular sellers in the T-shirt and poster shacks at the AST Dew Tour.

Oh, and he has multiple television cameras and boom microphones chronicling his every move.

"My life, it's just crazy," Sheckler said after delighting a few thousands fans with a nearly flawless run during his preliminary heat of the Skateboard Park event. "I can't even skate around without girls going crazy."

Sheckler, a heartthrob athlete with the cute baby-face of a boy band singer, is a phenomenon among extreme athletes. With MTV trailing him pretty much everywhere he goes, his life is far from normal — even by Dew Tour and X Games standards.

His MTV reality show, "The Life of Ryan," debuted recently and quickly showed the details of his life are not restricted to his skateboard.

The debut episode, which MTV officials claim has been watched by nearly 30 million viewers, and featured some family drama involving his father showing up at a birthday party with his new young girlfriend at his side, while his mother, Gretchen, dealt with the impacts of their divorce.

"I really thought it was more about his life," she said, "and I think you always add an element of drama to things, and that did."

Future episodes, Ryan Sheckler said, will hopefully focus more on his skateboard and less on the circus around him. Whether that happens, though, is almost irrelevant in many ways.

Thursday, with a packed stadium outside EnergySolutions Arena squealing at his every move, Sheckler didn't have much to worry about in regards to qualifying for Saturday's finals (see accompanying story). In fact, his second qualifying run was unnecessary, but he went out and put on a show. As time wound down, he zipped across the skate park, building up speed and launched himself into a backflip.

When he landed, his board snapped in two — an unexpected but thoroughly crowd-pleasing development.

And though his audience appears to be dominated by teenage girls who nearly pass out in excitement when he flashes a smile their direction, his fan base includes adults and children alike.

"We found out he was coming and just had to come," Murray resident Crystal Brown said, after bringing her 6-year-old son, Jake, to the show on Thursday. "He's just obsessed with him."

Jake waited patiently outside the park after the competition, hoping to get an autograph, but was crowded out by the dozens of girls hoping to reach out and touch him — probably to never wash those fingers again.

Young girls holding posters, screaming his name and wearing bright pink I HEART RYAN T-shirts were all over the carnival area at the Dew Tour. His scheduled autograph sessions are always packed.

Normalcy, if there is such a thing associated with the Dew Tour, is but a distant memory for Sheckler. Still a teenager, but now an MTV star and arguably the brightest star on the Dew Tour roster — right along with snowboarding/skateboarding phenom Shaun White — Sheckler rarely has a quiet moment.

"The most normal part of my life is probably going to the beach by myself," he said. "But I signed up for this. So we'll see how it goes."

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