The first time I met Yulian was a couple of years ago in Los Angeles. From the beginning I liked him, because in addition to being Colombian, specifically from Bogotá (where I’m from), he is a very humble person with an innate talent. I had the fortune to skate with him several times and I was impressed with the way he skated, the tricks that he constantly did and learned. It was amazing to see how he learned new tricks, he thought of them in the moment and executed. As if inside his brain he collected all the information and computed the solution to the problem (the trick). The other thing is his diversity when it comes to skating, he can skate ledges, rails, stairs, ramps, pools, manuals, and more. What is in front of him he deciphers and looks for a way to have fun.
Like many, I grew up with several favorite skaters, usually the famous ones that were in the magazines and videos, and had products with their names, the ones you see on “television”. But over time I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and skating with several Colombian kids (young adults to be precise), who are not only talented, they are warriors and humble. These kids have become my favorite skaters in front of my eyes. And best of all for some reason they respect me and push me to skate better. It’s an honor to know Yulian, who is undoubtedly one of them.
Interview by Andres Alfonso
How and when did you start skating?
I was around 12 years old, I was leaving school towards my house and I passed by the Guavio park and I saw that there was a construction site, it said “skatepark”, which would be one of the first skateparks in Bogotá and there was only one hole and I kept walking but with that curiosity. A few months later I came back and it was a bowl and I was all amazed by what my eyes saw, I wanted to throw myself with whatever it was, so my dad bought me some used roller skates for 3,000 pesos (the equivalent of $1) but I wanted to ride the skateboard so I bothered him and we went to the flea market and he bought me an old school skateboard (we called them “ballenas”) for 8,000 pesos and from there everything started
What was your first skateboard? where do you get it?
An old school “ballena” with blown bearings, at the flea market
How did you learn to skate? Who taught you?
I started to go up very often to the “El Guavio” bowl and I met the boys who were also learning, but my skateboard was very screwed up and they made me one with spare parts and it was like a mixture of everything, different trucks and all. But as most of us were learning, we had to learn without a guide or anything, it was like doing math on how to lift that fucking board lol and when someone learned something, they told us how they did it and so on
What were your favorite skaters and videos when you started?
A friend had only two videos, Elementality vol 1 and Lakai Fully Flared and well that’s what we knew and because everyone’s favorite was Mike Mo, we wanted to dress up and skate like him, and then taste change over time and so on.
I really like the shots of you in Bogotá, you make the city look very beautiful and your tricks are very good, when do you start to explore the city and film tricks?
From the first months. Let’s take into account that El Guavio is in the mountain, you go down and you are already in downtown. I used to go up from my house (Las Cruces, to El Guavio) and I was with my friends, but El Guavio was only a bowl and we wanted to slide and jump down stairs so we were going to wander the streets of downtown at night, more than anything “Los Septimasos” (La Septima is a main avenue in Bogotá) and so on. I already knew that I had a fixed spanking (punishment) from my father because, what I was doing at 1am on the street when I was 13 years old. But still my friends and I had a used camera and we started filming things in almost all the spots in downtown
What are your favorite spots in Bogotá?
Downtown in general, and La Candelaria, which is the historical part of the city, very beautiful and with many spots
What does Bogotá have that makes it special?
Bogotá is a very fast-paced city, very large and the climate is not very hot. The spots, the floor is not very good but that is what makes it unique when it comes to skating, the architecture, the energy of the homies (friends), you will always meet someone new whenever you go out, and you have many options where to go, and wherever you go, each place has a story to tell
Who inspires you?
The people who are always supporting me and the skaters who are also going very hard in Bogotá. You can imagine, a third world country where if you hardly buy the board, you don’t have enough for the shoes and you still manage to get ahead, those are the ones that inspire me
In the video for Skaterror – Made in Hell – your part is divided into two “sections”, one in Colombia and the other in the United States, was that on purpose?
It was a project that we had been working on before I came to the United States, I kept filming and Andrés Rodríguez (Demalgusto Visual) told me “let’s do two sections, one from here and the other there,” the idea sounded good and we kept filming here but there were many tricks pending in the US section
How many tries did the Bluntslide take at El Campin? what’s the story of the day? did you plan it?
Those who have gone to the spot know that it can you get 10 minutes or 3 attempts, that day I had 7 or 10 and the security guard came. I did it right when he came but that was the wide angle shot. We left, we reviewed the take and the microphone was off and I said “let’s go again and this time let’s film it with the fish eye”. We arrive, the guard is coming and I do it like in 2 attempts if I remember correctly. That day I did not believe them, I was flying from the joy
For me you are one of the most complete skaters that I have seen, how do you think the tricks? and what is the process of learning a new one?
Thank you! I have always been very curious about all forms of skating and I really like skating everything, practicing from manuals to vert helps me a lot to learn, but it all starts before I go to sleep. For some reason I start to imagine tricks out of nowhere, the next day I go and try them, some work, others don’t. Something very curious is that many of the tricks that I have filmed in video parts I have learned at that very moment, sometimes it is easier for me to learn on the street than in a skatepark
You recently participated and won a skate contest where you had to publish a different trick for 31 days, how was the process of thinking about what to do and where to film the trick every day?
It was really fun, it was called “Tricktober”, it consisted in that every day in October it was time to do a specific trick but at first you could use tricks already used but later they changed it to only recent tricks, and it had already been two weeks so I started doing them all from scratch, and I wanted to do each unique trick and in the process I recovered and learned many tricks but there were some that cost me a lot but it was very cool
I saw that you started skating vert and it seems incredible to me, how is it going with that? who inspires you? would you like to film an all vert part?
To be honest is like another world. You skate much faster but calmer, it feels very cool, more timing, more airs and things like that. One dude that inspires me in particular is a skateboarding legend in Dallas called Mike Crum, he was a pro back in the day and at his age he does some tricks that leave me speechless, he has a unique vibe and he always teaches me when we skate. The truth is, I would like to film an all vert part, sometimes I dream of catching lots of air and I imagine angles of how it would be filmed. If things line up it would be very cool to do a part
You are part of the new generation of Colombian skaters who are constantly learning and improving. Putting out very good tricks and with real possibilities of living from skateboarding, which other Colombian skaters should we know?
Thank you! There are too many, the opportunities are so few that it makes them try twice as hard, several examples would be Johan Mogollon, Kevin Monsalve, Johnny Zapata, Sebastián Valencia, Juan Polania, Kaleth Castro and many more!
How is the skate scene in Colombia?
I left the country 3 years ago and from what I have seen a lot has changed, more skateparks, new talents, new skate shops, new brands, and I have seen more union of brands and skaters and new skating styles are being created. I believe that soon Colombia is going to be one of the great exponents of talent in the global skateboarding industry, although there is obviously much to learn
What do you miss most from Colombia?
First of all, the family, all the homies with whom I skated, Sundays of “ciclovía” where everyone went downtown to skate and you met new friends and the energy was cool, “Los Septimasos”, Friday night skate sesh, and then hang out with the homies, play guitar and hang around La Candelaria and El Chorro de Quevedo and my mom’s food obviously
Some time ago you moved to the United States and began to skate and visit different places, how is your life here? How has being here influenced your skate life? do you feel that it is better?
It was a very abrupt change at first. I went from living in my parents’ house and not having everything but living well and skating every day, to looking for my own meals and dividing the schedule to be able to skate, there were very hard times and I was in a dark place in my head but things began to improve and it has been a lot of learning, I have grown a lot in many areas as a person.
Being here my vision of skateboarding changed a lot and it has been better being here and I have met many people for whom I am very grateful, as well as you, I won’t forget the day that out of nowhere you came with groceries for me and Pollo., the skate level is very colossal here and that motivates me a lot to progress and get the best version of myself and it is a constant learning every day with people guiding me along the best path, although I also love my homeland and I love skating in Colombia
How did you get your first sponsor?
Well, it all starts like this. I’m in the National Park skating and I meet this person called Erick and the dude is really nice and he tells me “kid, come by one of these days to Gallerias (mall) and I’ll give you a board” I didn’t see him again until like 3 months after, when I went to Gallerias, where all the skate shops are. I see him and he says to me “look kid is second-hand board but it’s good” and that day I didn’t believe him. Time passed and there was a new store on the “Telecom” spot called “Trucos Skate Shop”, I spent all day in downtown skating after school and I always ended up skating on the Telecom spot and out of the moment they asked if I wanted to skate for them and said yeah. They would give me food and clothes but since the situation wasn’t the best, it was difficult for them to give me shoes or a board. So one day I meet Erick at Telecom and he tells me “Yulian I’m going to make a team, do you want in?” (At the time it was called Skate Home, now it is Skaterror) and I said yes. We took a taxi to Galerías, he asked me the size of the board I ride and I was very small and told him the smallest he has. He takes out a brand new Birdhouse skateboard (I had never been able to buy a new board due to lack of resources) and almost crying, I told him thank you very much. He took me under his wing and it has been 10 years and I am still with Skaterror
What are your current sponsors?
Skaterror (Bogotá) – Rhythm Skateshop (Dallas)
You have been skating for more than 10 years, why do you keep skating?
I’m going on 13 years and the truth is that skateboarding is my complement in life, thanks to that my whole life and the way I perceive it, I totally change and I love being on a piece of wood. That feeling is unique and I want to continue doing it for the rest of my life if possible, total happiness!
Any last words?
Thank you for conducting this interview and for wanting to know a little about what life is like for a middle-class boy from a ghetto neighborhood in Colombia. What he has achieved. And we all can, it is just believing in ourselves and paramount not forgetting the reason why we skate, for fun!
Follow Yulian on Instagram @yulianroa
