We recently connected with Matt Suncin and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Matt thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you share a customer success story with us?
I have this student in my program that in one year time has gone from virtually unsponsored, to being hooked up by the some of the biggest brands in the industry and skating in pro competition all at the age of 16, her name is Kylie Frank. We began working together last august (2023) after I found her on social media. I could tell she had a lot of potential after seeing some of her clips. At the time, I was looking for a prodigy student that I could help bring up and guide to finding more success in the skateboarding industry and specifically, reach the goal of becoming an Olympic level skateboarder. It turned out that they had been looking for a coach to help Kylie reach that next level and so the journey began and we started working together to help Kylie prepare for her first Pro-open contest, “Exposure”, which is an international women’s and non-binary skate contest held each year in Encinitas. After several months of training and preparing her run, Kylie ended up having a spectacular performance, placing second overall in the pro/open street contest. This caught the attention of some key figures in the skate industry and earned her a sponsorship on legacy skate brands like Etnies Footwear and Santa Cruz Skateboards.
This marked the beginning of our continued journey together with the goal of getting Kylie into the biggest contests in skateboarding. Following Exposure, Kylie got an invite to “Jackalope Fest” which is a new action sports contest series that brings amateurs and pro skaters from around the world to compete for a cash grand prize. There first stop being in Virginia Beach, where they set up the whole course right on the beach front and have multiple contest events going on all weekend including Street & Vert skateboarding, Rock Climbing, and Base Jumping. Qualifying day happened to be the same day as Kylies 16th birthday and she ended up taking first place to secure her spot in the finals. Not a bad way to celebrate a sweet 16! The next day Kylie competed in finals along side some other very talened skaters from around the world. It came down to landing her three of her hardest tricks in the contest and with just a few minutes to spare, Kylie landed a massive kick flip down the stair set to conclude the competition. We ended up having to wait until the very end of the night to hear the results so anticipation was at a maximum. It felt like first or second place could be a coin toss, but they announces the results and named Kylie as the winner, taking home the first place medal, an all expenses paid trip to the next Jackalope fest, and the cash prize of $7,500. Kylie was ecstatic and I was beyond proud of her for the monumental victory.
Since then, Kylie has been invited to compete in major pro contests such as Street League (SLS), and the Rockstar Energy Open and we’ve been waiting patiently for the invite to compete in the Olympic qualifying series, the World Skate Games. It’s been an incredible year and journey with Kylie and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Matt Suncin, I’m the owner and operator of The Sk8 Coach Skateboarding School based in San Diego, California. I’m from Mesa, Arizona and I started skateboarding at the age of 10 and quickly found a passion for it. Where I grew up, skating was not a very popular sport or activity and I had very few friends at school to skate with. It made me feel kind of like a rebel and an outsider, but that’s what I liked about it because it set me apart and made me unique. A few year into skating, I became very fortunate to have the only indoor skatepark in Arizona open up just a mile away from my home. They offered skateboarding lessons so I begged my mom to sign me up and ended up taking lessons there for 3 years before asking for my first job as a skate instructor over summer. It’s here where I ended up finding a passion for teaching and working with kids. Getting to share those first moments of success with them and being a mentor gave much so much fulfillment and made me realize it was my purpose. I worked there for eight years, all throughout getting my education in high school and college. Just like in skateboarding, I loved being an individual and leading my own path so when it was time to figure out what to do for a career I dreamed of being an entrepreneur and working for myself. In 2016, I created an instagram account to highlight the skills of my students while capturing many of the amazing moments we shared together and market my services to the local community. The Sk8 Coach was born and from there I was dedicated to making skateboarding lessons my full time job.
Since then I moved to San, Diego to expand my operations and be in the mecca of the sport, with the weather to operator year round. I’ve had my fair share of ups and downs as most do in starting a business, but over the last 4 years we’ve been able to grow and create a sustainable clientele basis to keep myself and my employees busy. I like to say we are a full-fledged skate program, offering virtually anything related to skateboarding. Private lessons are our main offering, which allows parents to book lessons at there convenience on our website anytime we are open. We also offer semi-privates, group lessons, and summer camps. On Saturdays we host traveling camps where we load up the van and take kids out to skateparks all over San Diego and even LA sometimes. We do lunch at In-N-Out and the kids have such a blast so it’s one of my favorite services that we provide. We’ve also partnered with a few local schools to host after school clubs where we bring out our mobile skatepark which is basically a trailed loaded full of skate ramps and we set up in there parking lot or basket ball court and do our programs on the go. We work with over 100+ kids every week and it feels like my childhood dream come true getting to help kids skate while at school. Charity events are also a passion of mine, so whenever we get a chance to support under-served youth and bright a kids day, we always say yes to those opportunities. I’m currently working on figuring out sponsorships for kids that might not be able to afford skateboard gear or instruction so that’s another thing I’m really looking forward to creating in our program and one of the things I will be most proud of.
At the end of the day, my goal is to help grow skateboarding along with helping our students find personal success on and off the board. I feel absolutely blessed to have the life and career I have because of skateboarding and getting to do what I love for a living is definitely a dream come true. Even though I’ve been teaching since 2010, I always feel like saying that this is just the beginning, because I know theres always something new and exciting around the corner.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
When I first move to San Diego from Arizona, I got a job at an indoor skatepark doing lessons and running the front office. I had just enough money to pay the first months rent in a little room at this lady’s home I found off craigslist. While this job seemed promising and I was able to meet a lot of people and make some great connection, unfortunately, the promised hours and wage that I would make did not come to fruition. I ended up not having enough money to pay rent so I slept in my car for the first week of the second month in SD, until my manager realized I was staying at work and offered me a little storage shed to crash in until I could get on my feet. I lived at my work for about 6 months until I decided to start doing lessons on my own time outside of work to try and make enough money to get my own place. The owners found out and even though I was doing lessons in another city, they decided to let me go. So I ended up losing my job and my place to live and was pretty much out on the street. I ended up renting a little storage unit to store my stuff and slept in my car while only having a few clients to do lessons with to make any money. About 2 weeks goes by and one day as I’m moving my bed from my storage unit to my truck, I end up pinching a nerve in my lower back an become nearly paralyzed. With my little bit of savings I had left, I stayed two nights at the cheapest nearby hotel I could find to try and recover. I was in agony physically and completely deflated emotionally. I didn’t have money to go to a hospital and had no one in California to help. I remember having to crawl out of bed to use the bathroom and I never felt so helpless in my life. After two days I had just enough strength to walk to my car and then drive back to Arizona. I’ve always been an optimist but this experience felt crushing to me. I had to move back into my parents at and try to figure out what to do with my life. I ended up starting my program back up in Arizona with just a few loyal customers that I had and worked random jobs on the side to try and make a living. Summer rolled back around and it got too hot to do lessons so I decided to give the Californian dream another shot. After moving back, it was a slow summer of lessons and doing Uber to make enough to pay rent, my dreams of being an entrepreneur seemed a lot farther away than I was hoping for, but I never lost hope. I knew in my heart I would rather struggle working for myself than give up and get a “normal” job. Then one day while I was driving back home from work I got a call from an acquaintance that I had never spoken to but knew only through the skate industry. I was surprised she was even calling me so I picked up the call eagerly to know what it could be about. It turns out, she had a job offer for me. In early 2018, skateboarding was inducted as an Olympic sport for the 2020 Tokyo games and many countries around the world began to assemble there teams. China’s National Skateboarding Team was looking for coaches and after several recommendations, I was selected to join there team to help them prepare for the Olympic games. I really couldn’t believe it. They offered me a three month contract with a good salary, meal stipend, and apartment. I gladly accepted and it became one of the highlights of my life and career. When I came back after three months in China, I had more clients reaching out than ever and was able to kickstart my skate school back up with a new notch under my belt and confidence that this time I would make my entrepreneurial dream a reality.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
Like any reputation, I’ve earned mine as being a great skateboarding coach and mentor through years of hard work, dedication, and passion for my craft. I’ve always wanted to be the best at what I do and I while I never felt like I was gifted with talent, my strength is that I’m willing to work the hardest for what I want. Running a business and being your own boss sounds nice for most people but the reality is that the work never stops and there is always room for improvement. When things go wrong, the only one you can blame is yourself. I know when I make a mistake, I have take full responsibility and learn from them so to do better in the future. I think that’s the biggest part in having a good reputation because everyone makes mistakes and so much of your reputation relies on how you’re able to handle and move forward after something goes wrong. It’s easy to make excuses, but it’s not hard to be accountable. Be consistent and reliable in helping other people and it will all come back around to you later on. Oh, and treat others how you would like to be treated. The golden rule is golden for a reason!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thesk8coach.com
- Instagram: thesk8coach
- Facebook: The Sk8 Coach
- Linkedin: Matt Suncin
- Youtube: The Sk8 Coach
- Yelp: The Sk8 Coach
