Athletes - Rodney Mullen

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	Athletes - Rodney Mullen

Rodney Mullen (born August 17 1966, Gainesville, Florida) is a professional skateboarder, considered one of the most influential skateboarders in the history of the sport. He has invented a large number of skateboarding tricks throughout his career.

Early career

Mullen started skateboarding on borrowed boards when he was and at age 11 he got his first skateboard. His father opposed his son's wishes to practice the sport, however, he finally agreed to give Rodney a skateboard on condition that he always wore pads, with the understanding that if he were to ever get hurt, he would have to quit. On January 1, 1977 he bought his first skateboard. His first sponsor was Bill Murray at Inland Surf Shop where Rodney used to skate in their carpark. He rode a Walker Skateboard in his first contest at Kona in Jacksonville in 1977, placing third in Boys Freestyle. The 10-year old attracted the attention of skateboard manufacturer Bruce Walker and immediately became sponsored by Walker Skateboards. For the next 3 years, Rodney never finished less than first place as an amateur, winning nearly 30 contests, mostly in Florida, and culminating with a win at the Oceanside Nationals in California. His coaching influence came mainly from Bruce Walker and Barry Zaritsky. In 1980 at 13 he turned professional by winning first place at the Oasis Pro in San Diego, and began skateboarding for the legendary Powell Peralta Bones Brigade team. Stacy Peralta became Rodney's new coach and sponsor.

In 1988, Mullen appeared in the feature film Gleaming the Cube, alongside fellow Bones Brigade team members and movie star Christian Slater. Mullen's other videos include The Bones Brigade Video Show, Bones Brigade Video II: Future-Primitive, Bones Brigade Video III: The Search for Animal Chin, and Bones Brigade Video IV: Public Domain, the Rodney Mullen vs. Daewon Song series, Globe Opinion, and most recently Almost: Round Three. He also appeared as a guest on That's Incredible!.

His autobiography The Mutt came out in 2004.

Later career

In 2003, Rodney released his autobiography, "The Mutt: How to Skateboard and not Kill Yourself". It tells the nearly complete story of his life from when he was a little kid with "torture boots", to when he proposed to his girlfriend Traci.

He continues to revolutionize the world of skateboarding and inspire kids all over the world who watch his videos, as well as help to keep freestyle skateboarding alive. The number of skaters who claim to skate freestyle sharply increased after the release of "Almost: Round Three".

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Rodney Mullen ]

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Athletes - Rodney Mullen

Early career

Later career

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