NEW YORK, SUNDAY, JULY 15, 2007
It's a Kids' World On the Halfpipe
By MATT HIGGINS
BEN LOMOND, Calif.
Perhaps it was inevitable that skateboarding would produce the 9-year-old Puehse twins.
With tremendous talent, Nic and Tristan Puehse (pronounced PEW-zah) of Shingle Springs, Calif., outside Sacramento, have become a grass-roots marketing phenomenon. Their ability has taken them to China and onto ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show.'' They have 14 sponsors, including Nike and Gatorade. And they are the stars of one of the most popular skateboarding videos on YouTube, a clip that has been viewed more than 2.5 million times since it was posted in January.
None of this would have been possible without the support of their father, Michael, a man with a vision, a video camera and a marketing plan.
"If they continue to progress like they're doing, there's no doubt they're going to be pro," said Michael Puehse, who has helped his sons' careers by sending videotapes of the boys to potential sponsors since they were 6.
De Ville Nunes has been trying to sign the Puehse twins to a contract. Nunes is the team manager for Powell Skateboards, which backed Tony Hawk when he turned pro in 1982 at 14, surprisingly young for the time.
Nunes typically scouts the league events in Southern California. It is a competitive milieu. Two skaters that he had sponsored, ages 9 and 10, were signed by a rival company.
Nunes said he was impressed with the Puehse twins' willingness to try any terrain or trick. But he acknowledges that their interest could turn away from skateboarding. In five years they could be icons in their sport. Or they could be burned out, bored and over it.
For now, the Puehses have simple goals. ''My goal is to become a pro skateboarder and do the MegaRamp before I'm 10,'' Nic said about a nine-story ramp that launches riders more than 70 feet.
After that, the sky's the limit.
Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company
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