Skateboarding
Let's take a deep dive into the skateboarding life and times of the boy from Deerfield Beach in the United States who made his dream come true!
Jamie Foy has walked the line to have the most indisputable pro career of the modern skateboarding era. There is a theory in skateboarding that with every generation that passes, the mantle of top pro becomes ever more precarious. As the baseline standard of skateboarding continues to rise everywhere all the time, there are more and more skaters jockeying for a relative handful of positions in the pro ranks.
In this new era, talent alone is not enough when everyone is so talented: as Kenny Rogers sang, “If you’re going to play the game, son, you better learn to play it right”. Foy might be at the top of the game now, but the American started out as an unconnected skatepark kid with dreams alone for company.
01
Back where it all began
The remarkable thing about this now internationally-famous skateboarder is that he still lives in the same Deerfield Beach community in Florida where he was born and raised, close to where his lifelong friend Zion Wright also hails. The youngest of three siblings, he is remembered as a rambunctious toddler who already skated well enough aged just four to have entered his first contest – where he won a year’s supply of pizza as the youngest competitor.
He quickly caught the eye of local board shop Island Water Sports who became his first sponsor through owner Linsey Cottrell, with whom he remains close until this day. Soon a regular face on the regional contest circuit, winning state competitions as far afield as Georgia and Pennsylvania, Foy was also entering the highly-competitive ‘blow-up’ contests Boardr Am, Zumiez Best Foot Forward and Am Getting Paid – all the while attracting the attention of team managers confounded by the all-round ability of the unknown kid from South Florida.
02
A handrail pioneer and much more besides
Although he is instantly associated with being the absolute handrail maestro of skateboarding today, that gnarliness is only part of his skateboarding make-up. A superb ledge skater, he also skates transition (particularly concrete) better than almost any of his street-skating peers save possibly Grant Taylor. As he himself observes of his broad palette of skating ability: “Every day I’m thinking of something new to try or something that hasn’t been done before. That’s what gets me excited to go skate.”
03
In 2017 his life changed forever
In 2016, his eyes set on the pro skateboarding prize, Foy moved out to California with Wright and set about blowing the skate industry apart. Within a year he was Thrasher Magazine’s Skater Of The Year, a stepping stone to joining the skateboarding pantheon as an all-time great alongside the likes of Tony Hawk and Danny Way.
04
Becoming a legend
Foy filmed seven full video parts for different sponsors during the run-up to his first Skater Of The Year award, most famously for director Ty Evans’s cinematic opus The Flat Earth, which included the unprecedented first-try Frontside Crooked Grind down the proving-ground El Toro handrail which enshrined him in skateboarding lore.
On the basis of these accolades, Jamie turned professional for Deathwish Skateboards and a new skateboarding star was born. The Floridian footage machine would next film a truly wild section for Red Bull's own 2020 full-length film You Good?, before wowing crowds across Europe on 2022’s Red Bull Drop-In Euro Tour.
05
Returning to his roots
2022 would see Jamie returning to the draughty warehouse in Tampa where his mother would bring a younger him to skate, as he won the career-defining Tampa Pro contest.
In 2024, Jamie redefined progression and productivity in professional street skating by dropping back-to-back, era-defining video parts in the shape of New Balance’s ‘Intervals’, Spitfire’s ‘Charred Remains’ and Dickies’ ‘Honeymoon’.
Inevitably becoming Thrasher’s Skater Of The Year 2024 as a result, Jamie achieved double skateboarding immortality as only four skaters ever to win it twice in the accolade’s 35-year history.
A complete skateboarder right at the top of his powers in this current moment, you get the feeling that Jamie Foy may yet only be getting underway!
06
Jamie's career highlights... so far!
- 2014: Best Trick Winner, Tampa Am
- 2015: 1st Place, The Boardr Am
- 2016: 1st place Am Getting Paid
- 2017 Solo part in The Flat Earth
- 2017: Turned Pro for Deathwish Skateboards
- 2017: Thrasher Skater Of The Year
- 2020: Solo part in Red Bull You Good?
- 2021: Solo part in Deathwish Uncrossed
- 2021: X Games Best Trick Winner
- 2022: Winner, Tampa Pro
- 2024: Solo parts in Intervals, Honeymoon, Charred Remains
- 2024: Thrasher Skater Of The Year
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