Local Athlete Heads Overseas for International Scooter Competition
On a recent beautiful Friday evening, the Cooper River Skate Park in Cherry Hill was filled with the sounds of wheels on rails, boards scraping the ground and skateboarders discussing their moves.
But all activity seemingly came to a halt as Nick Tedrick, 26, backflipped through the air off of a quarterpipe on his scooter. As he got back in line, a group of teenage boys stood smiling in anticipation to watch him a second time.
The local skaters aren’t the only ones that will get to watch Tedrick’s skill in his unusual hobby, as it isn’t just a hobby, but a profession. Next week, Tedrick is off to Paris, France, to participate in an extreme-scootering competition.
Since his adolescence, Tedrick has been acquiring his scootering skills. He grew up in Woodbury Heights and attended Gloucester County Institute of Technology. As a kid, he rode bikes and skateboards for a while before picking up the scooter and focusing on that since he was 12.
Soon he was noticed for his incredible skill, and put on a professional team after
proving himself and winning various competitions.
He said he won his first competition in 2014, and has since traveled the world for contests in locations like Australia, Peru, and England. Tedrick is now headed to Paris for what the scootering community calls a “Street Jam,” which will be his second time at that particular event.
“I actually won that competition a couple years ago,” Tedrick told us, proving himself a seasoned scooter-er.
He is sponsored by a company called Ethic DTC, which provides his travel and housing while he stays there in exchange for him using their scooters to compete.
This year, the competition is hosted by his sponsors, and will take place in the streets of Paris. The basis of the competition is essentially to make a short film showcasing the talents of Tedrick and his teammates.
“You get to pick four other scooter riders, and then you guys basically get a week in whatever city is chosen,” Tedrick said. “You have a week to film a video and at the end of that week you get judged based on the video – that’s the tricks in the video and the actual filmmaking.”
Scootering is a relatively new extreme sport. Tedrick is on a team of around 20 people that travels to competitions.
His Ethic DTC team is based out of France. When he goes, Tedrick will stay in an Airbnb with his teammates, who are from all over the world.
“It’s only me and one other person from the US,” Tedrick said.
Tedrick said the sport is still growing, and the competition in Paris will be host to around 300 scooter riders all coming together from across the globe.
We asked Tedrick what he wanted people to know about his underground sport, and he responded, “how much all the different professional riders put into the sport to try and get that recognition we know it deserves.”
You can follow Tedrick as he scooters his way across Paris, and wherever else in the world the sport takes him next, by following him on Instagram.
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