"It’s a bit of trauma bonding": Micky Papa on the beauty and pain of skateboarding
As an established street skateboarder and Tokyo Olympian, Canada's Micky Papa knows better than most the mental and focus demands required to succeed. It's why he'll be focusing on himself when the Olympic Qualifier Series begins.
Skateboarding
Having competed in skateboarding's Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, Canadian veteran Micky Papa has high hopes of making a second Games.
Standing between the 33-year-old and Paris 2024 is the two-part Olympic Qualifier Series (OQS) - starting in Shanghai, People's Republic of China from 16-19 May - where the bulk of ranking points for quota* spots will be awarded.
For Papa, a presence on the skate scene for some 22 years, the scenario is one which he feels ready to deal with better than most.
He told Olympics.com, "As you get older and wiser you get a little bit more zoomed out, and sometimes I feel like everyone has the first-person syndrome where everyone thinks all eyes are on them; one mistake and everyone's got the magnifying glass out.
“You can build it up to be as big as you want it to be. You're at this Olympic qualifier in this story in your head and it’s so magnificent. And it just becomes something that's so overbuilt.
“What is nice is to have one Olympics under my belt and be like, 'Wow, I got to do that! That's amazing.' If I get to do another one, that's a bonus. It's not the end all, be all, make or break. It's just how many more can I do?”
While not getting too caught up in the hype, Papa enjoys the challenges posed by competitive skateboarding not least the mental aspect.
“I think how do you anything is how you do everything,” he repeats throughout the interview like a refrain pointing at just how enmeshed skateboarding become with his wider thinking.
**“**I think skateboarding gives you a really great self-inventory. So you get to know what it is that compels you. For certain people, it’s monetary things. For certain people, it’s something like a gold medal or something tangible. But, for me, it's just I know what I'm capable of and I want to rise to my own potential. So my competitiveness goes internally.
"There's a huge war almost going on inside myself where I know I'm not the most fearless guy, but I know if I can manage that fear with my competitiveness, my competitiveness can actually overtake my lack of fearlessness and push me to that next level.
“Whenever there's a challenge that presents itself, that's all I want to do. So if I'm not good at something, I'm going 100 percent into it. If I'm good at it, naturally I probably lose interest in it. Which is weird, but I'm like, all right, I want to do this until I figure it out.”
*National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective teams at the Olympic Games, and athletes' participation at Paris 2024 depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation.
Click here to see the official qualification system for each sport.
Micky Papa: "It becomes this evolving snowball effect"
When it comes to the origins of his deep-thinking and resilient attitude, Papa puts it down to his nature.
Growing up in poverty in Vancouver - one of Canada’s biggest cities - skateboarding promised a way out for him both physically and mentally. When it entered his life he didn't let it go.
“I’ve always been a curious guy. I was the kid asking why all the time” he reflects. “I love to get into the details and get down to the bottom. And then once I get it, I'm like, can I get it better and understand exactly every single part of how my body is working? And that's just something that is a bit innate to me. I've been like that whether it was school or skateboarding or anything else I take interest in.”
The drive to understand the intricacies of sport helped Papa initially progress until eventually, the object of his focus shifted to those around him.
First, it was his older brother, then it was others in the skate parks. The hunger to beat them drew him further and further in.
“It became this thing where I was like, where could I take this? Could I be at the level that takes me to professional? And then your mindset evolves and obviously, that little kid mentality that I want to be better than this guy changes and you just want to be better than you were yesterday. And it becomes this evolving snowball effect. That next thing you know, you're like, wow, I got to skate the Olympics and I'm going for another one. Where did the last 22 years go?”
Micky Papa was part of the first cohort of skaters to compete in an Olympic Games at Tokyo 2020
Micky Papa thrives on "the grind" of skateboarding
Papa doesn't deny that he is driven by hard work.
“I like the grind,” he says flashing a smile as additional proof. “Just being right in it; working on something every day."
While some might be put off by the pains, aches and inevitable failures that come with learning to skateboard, he finds the delayed gratification rewarding.
Another reason for his dedication to the sport is the bond he has with the skate community he became part of as a youngster.
"The sponsors that I have to this day were involved in my childhood, and I probably wouldn't have been able to keep skating if it wasn't for them," he says candidly.
"And then with that comes a lot of older guidance and people that understand you. So this outlet that can lead you to so many things is just kind of invaluable. So I just have no idea where my life would have went if I didn't have that."
The Canadian also points to the shared experience of skateboarders, no matter their level, trying to improve or learn a new trick.
He says, “It's a little bit of trauma bonding, you know? Everyone is dying out there but loving it at the same time. So you recognise the struggle when other people are trying to do a trick, whether it be something basic or you learned a long time ago. But it's the same struggle at all times.
"Whether I'm trying the hardest 'nine-club' trick or my friend is trying to do something more basic that struggle is the same struggle I'm going through. It's all in your brain and you know what you're capable of, and I want to see you get over it because I've been there a million times. So, we just all just kind of push each other like that.”
Micky Papa: "Whatever I'm going to try, I'm going to learn"
With two top-15 finishes to his name from phase one of the qualification process for Paris, Papa arrives at OQS ranked 27 among street skaters and fourth among Canadians.
With only the top 20 in the rankings in line for quota berths, he will have to find another at Shanghai, and in Budapest - host of the second OQS in June - if he is to make that Olympic appearance.
Given his best result - 13th - came more recently at last December's Street World Championship in Tokyo, Papa appears to be on the right path to making the top 20. But he's not getting carried away.
“I’m not trying to think too far in the future or too far in the past, but what my history is telling me right now is whatever I'm going to try, I'm going to learn," he said. "So let's make sure I'm on the upper end of what I'm capable of, and not to the point where I'm going to fall and just keep going with that because a lot of people are going to get excited by all this, be overwhelmed, think they're going to have to go crazy and have that magic Hollywood moment.
“And I'm like, this is real life. You just got to do what you do all the time.”