Braden Hoban: "I just think it's fun when things are hard"
Sitting in 20th in the World Skateboarding rankings and fifth amongst Americans, the easygoing Hoban has work to do if he is to represent Team USA at Paris 2024.
Skateboarding
“I got this one, on my stomach,” Braden Hoban says as he lifts his dark t-shirt to reveal a sizeable tattoo etched across his midriff.
“It’s the van that we travel in,” he begins to explain pointing at the bulk of the ink. He then gestures towards the skater on a rail coming out of the inside of the van.
“This is my brother, Leo Romero. There’s a Skateboarder cover of him grinding up this rail, so we put him in the van,” Hoban says as if the artistic decision is an obvious one. “It’s my first tattoo ever. And it hurt. A lot,” he continues with a grin. “That’s probably my favourite.”
The 22-year-old American is casually sitting in the stands next to the park bowl that had hosted the World Skateboarding Tour park stop a week before his interview with Olympics.com. The imposing Dubai skyline in the near distance lights up the night scene and the shadowed corners of the bowl.
His eyes examine the arena closely, the imagination of the prodigious street skater never seeming to sleep on any possibilities.
That instinct - to reimagine the world into a park he can skate in - Hoban developed shortly after discovering street skating at the age of 12 after graduating from his days at the local YMCA skatepark.
“It was more just a way of them to get rid of me,” the American says of his parents remembering how he first started skating at age five. “It was nothing like too serious.“
But unlike so many who try and inevitably fail at skateboarding, Hoban wasn’t bothered by the rough falls and frustrating art of craft that leaves so many beginners behind.
“Maybe because it’s super hard and it’s something that you will never, I guess, master, you know? There’s ups and downs too. But I don’t know, I’m not too sure. I just kind of fell in love with it. And now," he adds almost incredulously, "I’m in Dubai.”
Braden Hoban: "I'm still tripping out"
The leap Hoban makes between the source of his passion and his current position - bidding for an Olympic spot at Paris 2024 - hints a little at the inner mind of the street skater and the rocket-like trajectory he has been on over the past two years.
In 2022, the San Diego native’s world changed dramatically after a string of contest successes captured the skateboarding world’s attention. They ultimately led to Braden turning professional, bringing further light and life to his name.
His daring street antics cooked up by him and esteemed skater and mentor Romero in the very van permanently marked on his skin blew up. And the invites for more elite contests including Olympic qualification events after Hoban was selected to join USA Skateboarding’s official team.
“It’s still pretty crazy looking back on it,“ Hoban says, reflecting.
“I didn't really expect to do anything crazy. I mean, I literally just want to film video parts and skate with my friends, and then with all the contest stuff happening, I was just thrown into this whole different world of skateboarding.
"And, I mean, I was just honoured to even be invited to all these contests. And everything just kind of lined itself up where I ended up going pro. I definitely didn't didn't see that coming and I feel like it was pretty fast. And then it's already like two years after and it still feels unreal.
“Yeah, I'm still tripping out until this day.”
"Whatever happens, happens"
If there are any signs that the sudden shift in his life has had an impact on Hoban's self-understanding, he doesn’t show it. Pressure is not something he says he ever really negotiates with, particularly when it comes to all the contests now filling out his calendar.
“I think I'm competitive, but I'm not, like, serious about it,” Hoban muses. “If you don't have any expectations then I feel like it just goes better for me because I'm not putting any pressure on myself."
He continues: “I think, I just kind of like to have fun, and whatever happens, happens. Because I feel like we're not going to be able to do this forever. So it's like, kind of just have to have fun while it lasts and, make the best of it instead of being headphones in all serious, you know?”
While some street skaters find it difficult to combine their desire to be roaming the streets with the testing intricacies of contest skating, Hoban relishes the opportunity to do both.
“I feel like a lot of people, they see it as like, ‘Oh, like this is taking away my time or I could be out street skating right now and actually filming video parts.' But I don't know, I think there's time to do both," the American says.
“I seriously think it's the best combo because it's like I come out here and I like, sharpen all my tools up at the skatepark because we're skating for so long. And I mean, you do like a thousand kickflip crooks, or whatever you're doing, and you're ready to go on a two-month trip and you just have all your tricks dialled and you're just kind of just ready to skate spots, you know? So I seriously think it goes together so well."
Paris 2024: "It's pretty crazy"
True to his word, Hoban shares that he has at least two trips planned in the van between now and the start of the Olympic Games.
Sandwiched between them will be visits to the People’s Republic of China and Hungary for the Olympic Qualifier Series (OQS): a two-part showdown to decide the final field for skateboarders at Paris.
The same easygoing attitude he emitted as he spoke about his sudden rise and competition style appears again as he talks about the Games and his potential involvement.
“It's insane. It's pretty crazy that I'm in fifth place. I can't really believe it," he beams. "Just to be, like, there and just even close to the bubble or whatever. It's. It's pretty crazy.
“I would love to go and just kind of experience all that, to be able to skate, and it would be awesome. I’ll take that fourth place any time, just to be an alternate. But, yeah, I mean, it would be insane to be able to just look back on that and say that I did that, and that’d be pretty cool for sure.”
To be in with a chance of competing at Paris, Hoban has first to climb the rankings and be one of the top three U.S. skaters. Ahead of Shanghai, he is ranked 20th overall but fifth among Americans.
It’s a tall order but, with the points on offer in the Chinese city worth far more than any of the events in phase one, anything could happen. And it’s precisely in that space - in the unknown where pressure can be stifling - that Hoban, with his uncomplicated worldview that revels in the present, might just spring a surprise.
“Just have fun. Hopefully get in there,” he says with a laugh. “We’ll see.”