At 8 years of age Max Barrera picked up a skateboard. Three decades later he is still perfecting his skills, though his sights are now set on the next Olympics. He was born in Guadalajara and was originally encouraged to pursue the sport by his mother, who wanted to keep a hyperactive child entertained. Since being taught how to skate by family friends, he has eternally chased the feeling of freedom he experiences once on a board. “Skateboarding was very underground,” says Barrera, “we went from being the weirdos or the bad boys to being Olympic athletes. [The sport] is here to stay.”

 

At the beginning of his career his style of skating was Park – which involves skating in skateparks and focuses on transitions – but after moving to Mexico City, due to the lack of skating venues at the time, he started to practice Street – where the athlete skates on staircases, rails and other elements found outdoors.

 

At 20, Barrera decided to “live off off skate,” and opened his own skate shop as he felt, “there wasn’t really a skating scene [in Mexico]”. He managed it until he was 24 ­– while simultaneously participating in competitions in various countries like Brazil, Costa Rica, and Australia. When Vans offered him a sponsorship, he decided to close his shop and move to North America. “My store was robbed so I took that as a sign to move to LA to improve my skills in the place where skateboarding was born,” says Barrera. He stayed in the city for 13 years, where he grew professionally and was featured in key skateboarding publications like Thrasher. “I thought that by leaving my country everyone would forget about me, and it turned out to be the opposite,” says Barrera, “they were paying attention to what I was doing.” He returned to Mexico when Vans presented him with the opportunity to become a Team Manager, which allowed him to offer  support and guidance to young skaters in Mexico while Vans provided them with a salary, and a budget for competitions and to create video content to promote their skills.