Carlos Rosa

I first started skating downhill on my longboard back in 2013, made the transition into street and freestyle skating in 2014 after my friend Gio passed away downhill racing. I haven’t stopped skating since his death and I eventually started devoting more time to learning freestyle in fact I landed my first kick-flip on his 18th birthday about 2 weeks after his death.

Although Rodney Mullen has been an influence on my life the real people who have influenced me is my brother and my father who coached me through every sport and not just in sports but life as well. I also consider my good friend Alex as one of my mentors. If it wasn’t for Alex I have no clue what I’d be doing today. He gave me the guidance I needed and saved my life.

I used to play basketball on a highly-skilled team of which all my teammates went on to play Collegiate basketball. Maybe it would have worked for me too if I wasn’t the only player under 6 foot on the team, but I made up for it being an elite scorer.

We live fairly close to Cape Canaveral and get to watch several launches a year. Sometimes it terrifies me when I see one in the sky, but then I remember it’s not a missile.

I try to skate as much as I can probably 2 to 3 hours a day. There’s only one other guy I know that does freestyle skating out here so going to the World Round-Up last year to meet and skate with other freestyle skaters was awesome. I loved the atmosphere with so many freestylers from different parts of the world and under one roof all showcasing their talents. As funds were tight, I took a bus from Florida to Vancouver, Canada. It was a four-day trip, but well worth it.