{"id":94814,"date":"2022-01-07T17:48:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-08T01:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/?p=94814"},"modified":"2023-09-20T17:56:04","modified_gmt":"2023-09-21T00:56:04","slug":"lizzie-armanto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/lizzie-armanto\/","title":{"rendered":"Lizzie Armanto"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LIZZIE ARMANTO INTERVIEW BY INDIGO SMITH<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANTHONY ACOSTA AND DAVE SWIFT AND OLGA AGUILAR<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breaking the barriers of skateboarding, Lizzie Armanto turns every hurdle into a mere steppingstone. Armanto\u2019s love for swift round wall and buttery pool coping comes effortlessly, demonstrating to the skate world how to be stylish and shred. No matter how heavy the slam or unfamiliar the obstacle, she crushes any roadblock in her way. Lizzie Armanto is a skateboarder at heart who bestows respect to skateboarding history while creating her own.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce I\u2008went to that event, being around all that energy of people that were pushing themselves and just skating, and pushing their limits, it was contagious and I found the place I wanted to be.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hey Lizzie! It\u2019s Indigo.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nice to meet you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You too. I want to concentrate on your loop experience and skating full pipes, but I have a few other questions I\u2019d like to ask first if that\u2019s all right.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay. Where were you born and raised?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was born in Simi Valley, but I was raised all over Los Angeles, with Santa Monica being the place I\u2019ve lived the longest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When did you start skating?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started skating when I was 14 at the Cove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did skating get on your radar?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My younger brother wanted to try skateboarding and my mom signed us up for the Cove Skatepark. That was one of the options we could do after school, either that or the library. The skatepark was a lot of fun, so that\u2019s where we would go after school. It was nice because we could go there and I didn\u2019t have to really watch my brother. I could just be in the park and do my own thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s awesome. I have a little brother who skates too. Do you still skate with your younger brother?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He skates to get around, but he\u2019s not really skating skating so to speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did y\u2019all push each other when you were younger?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the beginning, kinda. When we were starting, there was some competition, but then he pretty much slammed on flat ground and chipped his tooth and he was over skateboarding for a bit. It was something he came back to, but he was never as passionate after that experience, which I totally understand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I get it, not wanting to lose any more teeth. Did you have a crew at the Cove?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the beginning, I would go with my brother. At some point, I started skating with my neighbor who lived upstairs and I was meeting other people at the Cove. If I wasn\u2019t skating with them, I\u2019d skate with the older guys at the skatepark because they would be sessioning and you could just join them and they\u2019d be cool. They were very friendly where everyone else my age was kinda dumb. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What got you to keep skating and progress from cruising to shredding?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I saw someone skating the flow bowl at the Cove and they made it look really easy, and something just clicked. I understood like, \u201cIt\u2019s that simple.\u201d I had this feeling that if I kept skating, at some point, it would be that easy. Then I started getting boards from Santa Monica Airlines, which is like a historic skate brand, and they asked me if I wanted to skate at the Pro-Tec Pool Party, which at the time was the biggest bowl event, I didn\u2019t know that, but I was like, \u201cYeah. That sounds cool.\u201d It gave me a reason to put more tricks together. Going to a contest, I wanted to make sure I knew how to do something, so I started practicing. Once I went to that event, being around all that energy of people that were pushing themselves and just skating, and pushing their limits, it was contagious and I found the place I wanted to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
FS INVERT AT BELLMAR\u2019S. PHOTO \u00a9 ACOSTA. FINGER FLIP LIEN TO TAIL. PHOTO \u00a9 ACOSTA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When did you start going to the Combi?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started going there to practice for that Pro-Tec Pool Party, which was in 2009. After that event, I started going to as many contests as I could. The following year I won my first event, which was a big deal. From starting contests and being like, \u201cThis is awesome,\u201d I was pushing myself so much over that summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was the first contest that you won?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. The first event that I won was one of the Florida Bowlriders contests. In 2010, I also won the Women\u2019s Combi Classic. They had separated the men from the women to give them their own event. It was cool but, at the same time, it felt not as cool because the men\u2019s contest was such a big deal. They built stands and people from all over would come. The women\u2019s event was small in comparison, but it was a different time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now it seems like there are more viewers on the girls events than ever. The time I met you, in 2013 at Florida Bowlriders at Kona, you gave me your board. It stoked me out to go to Woodward that summer. That same year you got first place in Barcelona at X Games. What was that like?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. At that time, I feel like women\u2019s events were really small and they paled in comparison to the men\u2019s events. The prize purses were sad and there were only so many girls, and the scene was much smaller. It was a really big deal for X Games to add women\u2019s park, because it had a prize purse that was $30,000, which was very significant at the time because if you could win a contest then you could support yourself, relatively. It basically opened up a lot more opportunities. Also, going to X Games, it was like having the check mark of being validated. It was a really big deal and then they just cut it off the next year. I don\u2019t think they had funding because they went so big on the tour in 2013 that the next year was just cut. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who were you skating with at the time?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back then I was still living at home in Santa Monica with my parents and going to as many events as I could, but also trying to figure out what I was doing with my life. I was going to SMC, which is the local community college, and just driving to Combi all the time. Whoever was there I would skate with. I would go with Allysha Le, who is my best friend. Some of the locals, like Chris Russell, would go all the time. We would skate with a lot of the legends, like Christian Hosoi and Jeff Grosso and all their friends. Wherever there was a session we would go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was it like having those legends around you? Do you think it pushed you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They would just go there and have fun and try tricks and we would just go there and do the same. In a sense, I think I\u2019m lucky that I didn\u2019t grow up with skating because I didn\u2019t know how influential those dudes were. Obviously, when you are with them, they are awesome and have good energy, but there\u2019s not this preconceived idea of who they are, so you just learn about them organically. It was like, \u201cThat\u2019s just Christian.\u201d And it\u2019s Christian Hosoi, and he\u2019s a really insane dude who has lived this crazy life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re like, \u201cI skated with Hosoi,\u201d and people are probably like, \u201cWhat?\u201d But it\u2019s just a normal Tuesday at the Combi.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. Living in Southern California, we are definitely spoiled with a lot of good skateparks and amazing skateboarders and good weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you have someone taking you to new parks? How did you discover backyard pools?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On ConcreteDisciples.com, you could look up local skateparks in different areas. Also when you become friends with other skaters, they are like, \u201cWe are going to go to this park,\u201d or \u201cYou should check out this park if you go over here.\u201d Also going to contests and traveling, you start seeing all these different parks and the locals will tell you things you should hit up. It was also seeing photos and videos. For backyard pool skating, it\u2019s just making friends with people who do that. I\u2019m not going out looking for backyard pools, but I have friends who will do that and I\u2019ll join them to skate. It\u2019s such a skill to know how to find backyard pools and navigate those territories. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s this second of just sky, loop, and then sky on your peripherals. it goes by so quick.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What pushed you from skating parks to loving pools? It\u2019s a different scene.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the skatepark, I was always drawn to skating in the pool at the skatepark. For me, when you first start, it\u2019s always the biggest thing. Once I was doing it, I just had the most fun there. Some of those people would go skate in backyard pools also. It\u2019s one of those things. It\u2019s really similar to skating DIY stuff because it was made to skate, but it\u2019s imperfect. When you go skate in a backyard pool, it\u2019s not made to skate and a lot of the time it\u2019s not perfect. It\u2019s a challenge and I feel like it\u2019s one of those things that, if you can do it, there\u2019s like this classic thing to it, or mysticism or magic, or whatever you want to call it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s so cool. I grew up watching you and Allysha Le tearing up pools. It was so gnarly. Props to y\u2019all. Do you prefer pool coping to metal coping?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. Pool coping is my favorite. I have a ramp and it\u2019s all pool coping. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s a dream.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s crazy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So you\u2019re doing all these competitions. Did you have any sponsors besides SMA? How were you going to these contests?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would go online and try to find the cheapest way to get there and lodging. I would see if there were friends nearby and stay at their house or see if I could go with other people that were traveling there. I would have to make a budget beforehand. I feel like none of my friends had to do this. It was only me. I see the value in it, but it sucked. My parents would pay for it and, at some point, I started getting help along the way. If I placed well, I would get a little bit of cash and that would fund that trip or the next trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did you get on Birdhouse? Through the contests or did you know Tony Hawk?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2013, at the Bondi Bowl-A-Rama, the Australian bowl contest series, Grosso was there and he was asking me what board brands I wanted to be on. I had never really thought about it because I got boards from SMA and, at the time, when you looked at a magazine it was all street skating. All the core companies, they just showed street skating, so I felt it was hard to relate to based on that. Also there weren\u2019t women on any of those companies or that were being highlighted. When he asked me that question, I looked at what was out there and I felt like Birdhouse was the closest one I could relate to because they had a team that was a mix of transition and street skaters. Obviously, Tony, he\u2019s a vert skater, so I put it out there to all my friends that knew Tony, that I wanted to ride their boards. Word got around to him and then he reached out to me and said he wanted to take me on demos. I started travelling with them and he told me he wanted to put me on the team, which was really cool and special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you go on tours outside the USA?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On one of my first Birdhouse tours, we went to Canada and went to three different cities. Then we did demos in Australia, Portugal and Argentina. At some point, we did a demo in Mexico City. There was a lot of cool places we went and I think the biggest tour we did was when we went to Europe and brought the whole team. Tony had all these vert demos set up, but there were also street demos in line with it. We would go to a park that had both or they had a big bowl. Some of them were organized, like festivals, and other ones were renegade, like Birdhouse coming to a park. It was really cool. It was the first time I was traveling with the team and it was for two weeks. I was really nervous because I was worried if the team didn\u2019t like me that would be a big bummer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you skate with anyone on the team prior to going on tour?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I met some of them for a demo in Ohio, but I only went for the first day or two of the tour and then I had to go. The Europe tour was my first whole trip with them. Skating-wise, they\u2019re really gnarly, and they\u2019re all characters, so I was shy and scared. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Were you travelling around in a van?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were traveling all over Europe, so we would take flights to different areas and have vans. At one point, we took a bus to the next place, and that was crazy. We stayed in hotels, which was nice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cool. I want to ask about Grosso since he was your mentor and friend. What was it like skating with him?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was fun to skate with him. I started skating with him at Combi and he would bring his boombox and he had his crew and everyone was super nice. They would all go there to have fun. It was casual. Everyone would end up trying something and sometimes we would all end up trying the same thing and you could ask for help. I feel like Grosso seemed like this big scary dude, but once you talked to him, he was really nice. I always thought of him as a big teddy bear. He could also be moody, which was relatable. Growing up, you don\u2019t see that side of most people. I thought he was really empathetic and easy to relate to. He would ask you about what\u2019s going on. He had hundred and one stories and he was an amazing story teller, so he would tell me all these fucked up situations. He would have really good similes, or go into Greek Mythology and I thought that was all very sick. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right on. What kind of tricks were your go-tos for contests in the beginning?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I learned inverts, it felt like a big deal. Going even further back, I remember when I learned front smith grinds, and I was really shocked because, in my head, you had to be really good to learn how to do that. It was weird because I wasn\u2019t really good, but I could do this trick. I don\u2019t know, my mind was blown. I grew up skating with Allysha, like I said, and, in my head, she has been ripping forever. She has mute airs on lock, and I still can barely do mute airs. I can do them, but they suck in comparison. I remember trying to learn backside airs and I kept early-grabbing. I couldn\u2019t figure out how to late-grab. It was at a point where her and Elijah Berle\u2019s little brother, Evan Berle, were yelling at me, \u201cLate grab!\u201d I didn\u2019t understand how to do it, but it was really funny because I was like, \u201cHelp me,\u201d and they\u2019re just yelling at me. It was a really funny time at the skatepark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you and Allysha still push each other?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. We still skate together. Usually, we don\u2019t go to a session with tricks that we are planning on doing. We just let it happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I learned how to do Indy airs by watching Allysha do them. She\u2019s rad! What year did you get sponsored by Birdhouse?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is that the same year you got on Vans?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the same year, I got on Vans officially. In 2013, I started getting shoes. Then, at the end of 2013, I slammed and tore my PCL, so I couldn\u2019t skate. My parents were like, \u201cYou should start taking more college classes.\u201d At that same time, I was like, \u201cI need to focus on skating, go to PT, and try to figure out how to make skating work for me.\u201d My parents weren\u2019t stoked about my decision, but I knew if it didn\u2019t work out I could go back to school. If I went back to school and got a degree then, it was just going to be harder to go back to skating because, like physically, you don\u2019t get the years back from when you\u2019re younger, so I knew that was the time. I started getting boards from Birdhouse and I started getting shoes from Vans, so I had my gear covered, but I wasn\u2019t on contract with anyone, so I found a manager. At the time, having a manager was not normal, but I felt like that was what I needed to negotiate my contracts and figure out how to make skateboarding work for me. When you go to the industry and try to advocate for yourself, and say, \u201cHey, pay me this much money because you should,\u201d it doesn\u2019t really convince anyone to put you on contract and take you seriously. Having a manager, they can see the deliverables that maybe a sponsor would need and how they could use you, and make the relationship mutually beneficial. For me and, in my parents\u2019 eyes, that was the verification that I was doing the right thing and I had a \u201cjob.\u201d I was really stoked that I could focus on skating, so that changed a lot for me. Also it was not having the stress or pressure of feeling like you\u2019re floating. There\u2019s a lot of pressure being a young adult to figure out what you are doing with your life. With something like skating, it\u2019s not a 9-5 and there are not many guarantees. Even if you make it that far, there is still a lot of uncertainty that you have to deal with, more than the next person.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
FIRST FEMALE TO COMPLETE THE LOOP. PHOTO \u00a9 DAVE SWIFT<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Constant change. So you\u2019re on Vans and Birdhouse. Do you have other sponsors?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was getting wheels, bearings and trucks, and I had miscellaneous sponsors through the years. In 2015, I got on Monster, which was a big deal. Obviously, being on a board brand is really important for skateboarding-wise. Being on a shoe brand and an energy drink, you can be financially stable and have the freedom to pick and choose what you want to do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So you can keep skateboarding because of these sponsors, and were you making money from contests as well? Had equal prize money come about yet?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That didn\u2019t happen until 2018. It was the Vans Girl\u2019s Combi Pool Classic to first level the prize purse and then everyone else followed suit. I think that same year or the year after, WSL, the surfing league, did the same thing. They did this huge PR story about how the men and the women are now equal.   Skateboarding did it first, but they didn\u2019t toot their own horn about it. Maybe they should have. Vans was the leader of that charge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was Kristy Van Doren, right?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. It was her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s cool that you are a part of the team that started that opportunity for women and it\u2019s starting to be more universal at contests. When did you go pro?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2017, I put out my Thrasher part. Let me back up. We were filming \u201cSaturdays\u201d and I was already filming my Thrasher part but, then \u201cSaturdays\u201d came along, so I just filmed for both, doing the best I could with the time given. They told me that they were going to film Tony\u2019s intro part and it was a block from my house at Brighton Zeuner\u2019s ramp. I slammed at the beginning of that week, so I could barely skate but, obviously, I\u2019m going to show up, just be there to support and see if I can even skate. I get there late because all the dudes are always late, so it\u2019s not a big deal. I guess Axel knew about this and he\u2019s stuck at the house with me just stressing. Everyone\u2019s texting him like, \u201cGet Lizzie over here now. We\u2019re all here.\u201d I\u2019m like an hour or two late. I was like, \u201cLet\u2019s make lunch and then we\u2019ll go over there, maybe I\u2019ll do laundry and then we\u2019ll go.\u201d I was just making up stuff to do because I\u2019m not skating, so it doesn\u2019t matter. Also Axel can\u2019t say \u201cHey, you need to go,\u201d because it\u2019s not his thing, and there\u2019s no way for him to do anything, so he\u2019s just stuck. Eventually, we get over there and everyone was like, \u201cHey, Lizzie, what\u2019s going on?\u201d Everyone\u2019s being super nice and I didn\u2019t even think twice about it. I tried to skate and I literally hung up on a backside air. There was another one where I fly off the ramp. Usually, you just bail and slide out, but there was one where I tried to do something and just went off the side of the ramp. I was like, \u201cI\u2019m so sketchy and out of control.\u201d I ended up slamming on my elbow again, and I have a swell-bow, so I went in to get ice. Then Tony\u2019s wife is like, \u201cHey, Lizzie, come here!\u201d Someone else goes and gets me ice, and I just hang out and sit with her on the grass in front of the ramp, watching the session just kind of feeling like a fool, to be honest. Jeff falls and that year or the year before he had neck fused together, and he was riddled with different injuries and he was struggling with getting back on board. You didn\u2019t really bug Jeff when he fell, you just let him do his thing. Tony goes up to him and is like, \u201cAre you okay, Jeff?\u201d Then Jeff is walking over all dramatic and then he pulls out the mag, and gives it to me, and it\u2019s a photo of me that Burnett took, and it\u2019s at that ramp. It was really surreal because in my lifetime there was never a woman on the cover of Thrasher, so it was really hard for me to believe that I was on the cover. I was tripping and, next thing I know, Tony pulls up and hands me my board. Then my mom shows up out of nowhere. I just started crying because it was overwhelming, but it was really cool and amazing. I was tripping over there being so many people there on a Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s crazy. You had no idea you were going to go pro?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I knew it was going to happen at some point. They were coming out with the video and trying to figure out how they were going to turn everyone pro, because they weren\u2019t going to turn everyone pro at the premiere and I didn\u2019t think they would do it off my first part. I had dropped that Thrasher part and I just thought they would give it to me later. Also, they showed me the mock up for the graphic that they were going to do for my first board and it was terrible. It was so bad. I told them, \u201cYou can\u2019t do this.\u201d So I reached out to an artist I had looked up too, a local artist in Santa Monica. Fortunately, he was able to put something together, so we had the graphic, which was cool, but you never know when it\u2019s actually going to happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wow. When did you get your first Vans shoes colorway?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With my first colorway, they let me do this capsule collection, and it was super rushed. I had input on it, but there were no samples. It was just an idea and sent. I tried to do a mock-up of this Chinatown print, like the Chinatown pajamas. I tried to do my own play on of that. I thought it was cool. Now, in retrospect, after I\u2019ve done a couple collections, I know how I would change it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have the high-top purple ones with the kitties on the insole, the pro version.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s my first real collection where I had time to figure it out, and have an idea, and really see the execution of it. The other one was so rushed. It was awesome that they let me do something, but there wasn\u2019t much thought into it. I was really stoked to do the purple collection. At the time, they were like, \u201cAre you sure you want purple? It\u2019s a really bright color and bold.\u201d Basically, in marketing they are like, \u201cHere\u2019s what sells. Most people want this.\u201d I was like, \u201cNo. This is what I want and this is what I\u2019m going to do.\u201d When it first came out, it was really quiet, and I didn\u2019t hear much about it, but, over the years, it\u2019s one of those collections that people still ask me for, so it\u2019s really cool. I was really hyped to do the slip-ons with the black sole just because it felt like something I\u2019d see in Hot Topic and, growing up, I used to go to Hot Topic a lot. It was fun and we got to do the reflective on it, and I just love all those little details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you ever think about doing your own skate clothing? You\u2019re always so stylish.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, that\u2019s what I do with Vans, technically. It would be hard. I would have to step away from Vans to do my own thing. With the resources there, it\u2019s really fun to do the designs and have someone else do the execution of production. I don\u2019t think, for clothing, that\u2019s my thing. I just like designing. I have the set up that I want and it\u2019s cool because I can focus on skating and whatever is going on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rad. Moving to a discussion about the loop. Did you know what you were getting yourself into when Tony asked you to do the loop? Had you see all of the slams?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hadn\u2019t seen the slams and that was on purpose because, when Tony asked me to do the loop, he asked me very casually. I don\u2019t know how you ask someone to do the loop, but it was something I had to think about. He was kind of like, \u201cPeople who want to do the loop, they know if they want to do the loop.\u201d I was like, \u201cI don\u2019t know if I want to do the loop, but if you take it out I\u2019ll come and make my decision.\u201d He was like, \u201cOkay.\u201d A year or so later, he gets a company to throw an event, so they can bring out the loop. He sends out this group text to anyone who will come like, \u201cWe\u2019re bringing out the loop.\u201d I was like, \u201cOkay, cool, I\u2019ll be there.\u201d I didn\u2019t put too much more thought into it. So I go to the event and everyone was talking about there being less than 20 people who had ever done it and the risk factor is so high. The loop is different than anything else, so it\u2019s like you have to learn a new thing. Seeing it firsthand, it\u2019s so much bigger in real life. So the event was going on and there was a live stream and a crowd and it was crazy. There was so much going on that it was like the worst situation you could be in for trying to learn something like that. You kinda need to be in the zone and focused. Then everyone who felt like they were going to do it had to commit because, once they start taking out the pads, that\u2019s it. You can\u2019t put the pads back in for the next person. Jeromy Green was the first person to do it. Right before Jeromy did it, he went all the way up and around and, instead of carving he went back into the entrance, so he smacked his face, and cracked his tooth, and it was bleeding. He walks over to make it on the next try and he shows me his bloody teeth and it was the last thing I wanted to see at that point. In my head, I was like, \u201cYou\u2019re going to make it or you\u2019re going to die.\u201d He made it the next try, then Charlie Blair tried it and he made it. Then Riley Hawk tried it and he tackled the flat bottom. He went all the way around and literally bounced. It was horrific, but he was okay. They are announcing the whole thing, and it\u2019s crazy, and then that was it. Everyone starts leaving and they are getting ready to take the loop apart and I was like, \u201cWait. We can still skate it, right? It doesn\u2019t have to go down right now.\u201d Some of the people who worked there were like, \u201cWe\u2019re taking it down. We\u2019re done.\u201d Tony was like, \u201cNo. Lizzie is going to skate it. You guys are keeping it up. She wants to try it.\u201d They were like, \u201cOkay.\u201d So I went on the ramp and pumped around, trying to warm up. You can\u2019t really warm up on the loop because it\u2019s just a drop-in to the thing. There is no half doing it. So I started trying it and there were a handful of other people skating with me. I had Aaron [Homoki] come skate with me and he would go into the pads, trying to be supportive. People started getting over it and stopped skating it, and it was literally only Aaron and I. Shawn Hale told me, \u201cJust don\u2019t pump.\u201d At some point, I was like, \u201cOkay, Tony told me this. I\u2019m not pumping.\u201d Then I just locked my legs and didn\u2019t do anything, and I just stuck to the wall. I was like, \u201cOh my god. This is how you do it.\u201d That was the scariest point for me because I was like, \u201cAm I going to do this thing or should I just stop now because there\u2019s no point in continuing on and, at the last second, when they are taking out all the pads be like, \u201cNo, I\u2019m good.\u201d From that point, I was like, \u201cI\u2019m either going to make it and it\u2019ll be fine or I\u2019m going to die.\u201d In my head, I was just kept thinking, \u201cIf you make it, it\u2019s fine.\u201d I kept trying and I got in a rhythm of dropping in and going around and I got a little further each time and then we would take a pad out. We did that all the way up until there was the last pad, and you kind of had to push the pad up, so it was higher, and every time I\u2019d go, it would slip down a little bit and they would let it go. At some point, I was like, \u201cOkay.\u201d I wanted to try it with no pads. So I tried it and then I bailed before I got to the top, but somehow I still went with the momentum and knee slid all the way around. It was crazy, but I was fine. I got back up there and went again, making it mostly through, then I leaned too far back or too far forward a couple times. Then I tried it with no pads five or six times, which is a lot. There was one time I made it out and all the way around, but then five feet later, as I was rolling away, I slid out. I made the loop. I did it, and everyone came and rushed me. I was like, \u201cWait. That wasn\u2019t really a clean landing. I need to do it for real.\u201d Tony tells me to go. So I go up there and I make it! It was  really trippy because you are so in tunnel vision and you\u2019ve been visualizing the same thing, and you get in a zone, and then, all of a sudden, you are rolling away across the parking lot. It was really crazy. I did the thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome that so many people got to see skateboarding for the first time and that was their first real experience of it.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Wow. Did that feel natural in comparison to anything you had skated before?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not like any of that because when you go into it, you don\u2019t turn around. You just keep going. There\u2019s this second of just sky, loop, and then sky on your peripherals. It goes by so quick. Before I even thought about trying the loop, I thought about cradles. It\u2019s like a cradle, but instead of coming back around you keep going into the abyss. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you skated a fullpipe and got high on the walls? Is that similar?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve skated fullpipes and you get up to 10 o\u2019clock or 11 o\u2019clock, but it\u2019s not the same. The second you start getting up high, you start scrunching up and trying to figure out how to come back down. If you are going to loop it, you just keep going this way. You do the thing your body is telling you not to do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which fullpipes have you skated?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve skated Baldy and miscellaneous fullpipes that aren\u2019t famous. I\u2019ve skated fullpipes in skateparks, like Pier Park in Oregon, the one in San Jose and one in Shanghai, China. There\u2019s the one at Upland skatepark I skated when I first started skating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you see Burnquist try to loop Baldy?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. He\u2019s a psycho. It\u2019s really big.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would you think about looping again?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the motivation was there, yeah. It would be sick to do a natural loop, not the one made to skate or even a skatepark one would be cool. It\u2019s one of those things with the risk versus reward. I feel like I\u2019ve done the loop and it\u2019s one of those things like messing with the bull. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was it like going to Baldy?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s just a little hike. If you don\u2019t know how to get to it, it can be longer, but if you go with someone that knows, it\u2019s not any different than skating a backyard pool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was it the same as you see in photos or was it more surreal once you showed up?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gap there is huge and, if you have to jump the gap, it\u2019s scary because it\u2019s just far enough that you are uncomfortable, unless you are really tall and have a long leg span. The pipe is really bumpy because it\u2019s had years of wear and tear. They try to patch it up, but it\u2019s like skating a DIY.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you have softer wheels, or a different set-up, or did you ride the same board?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I ride the same board for everything because it\u2019s too much work to switch everything out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Out of all of the terrain that you skate, what\u2019s your favorite?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel like it\u2019s really based on the session. If you have a good session somewhere, it\u2019s just a good time. A lot of the times that you feel most gratified are when you have to work for it. It\u2019s funny because, afterwards, you\u2019re like, \u201cThat was so fun,\u201d but when you\u2019re there struggling all day, the reality is different. You always remember it better than it was. It is satisfying to push yourself through that process and have a goal and achieve it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hell yeah. You skate the Vans Park Series a lot. Do you have a favorite course?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was one in Suzhou, China, that was really sick. I wish we could go skate that one again. There was another one in Shanghai that was pretty sick. It was after the year in Suzhou. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes a course better? Is it more ledges or big vert walls or what?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the most fun when there\u2019s a lot of transition and the transitions line up right. You know when you go from a deep end to a shallow end, if they don\u2019t do the measurements right, sometimes the shallow end will be too small. You can pump your hardest and you\u2019re barely getting to the top of the deep end. When you have to work extra hard, it\u2019s not as fun. Also, there\u2019s the right measurements and, when it all comes together well, it\u2019s satisfying. Obviously, you have to have the skills to use the  different things too. Sometimes they will make extensions and make the things next to them really tiny, like a little bank, which is a lot of impact, and I\u2019m not really about that. I just like it when things flow, and the work is less on you and it\u2019s built in a way where you have more options than less. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you have a favorite go-to skate spot?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think it\u2019s really just skating with the right people. There are sometimes when you want to go skate with a big group and it\u2019s really fun. Then there are other times where that seems exhausting. You kind of have to just gauge where you\u2019re at. A lot of the time just showing up is the hard part and, once you get going, you don\u2019t even think about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
NOSEGRIND TAILGRAB HUNTINGTON BCH, CA. PHOTO \u00a9 ACOSTA. BS AIR. PHOTO \u00a9 OLGA AGUILAR<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I want to talk about your Mega Ramp incident, not the fall itself, but more about what it was like to come back from that and then go to the Olympics. Besides injuries, which are gnarly, how do you regain that confidence, and that mentality to get back on your board?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, I feel, to some level, that I\u2019m still getting my confidence back on my board. It\u2019s one of things, with any injury where you slam, there\u2019s kind of a cloud of doubt that follows you. The more you skate and time passes, it slowly fades away, but it\u2019s not one of those things where the next day you\u2019re cured. It\u2019s a process you have to just get through. For me, going through my injury, it was kind of the best time for something like that to happen, just because there weren\u2019t any contests going on and no one was expecting me to show up for anything. I felt like I just wanted to have the time to go back to zero and figure out the basic things that I needed, and then everything else after that. I had Axel, and I had my basic needs taken care of and all of the things that I needed to physically heal up. For the world to be in a pandemic and there being no events, no one was expecting anything of me, so it was perfect. Pressure from the outside can be a lot, especially because the Olympics were coming up, and it was a long process to get to there because it was the first time skateboarding was in the Olympics and they were figuring out all of the little details for how it was going to work. Honestly, it was a lot of hurry up and wait to get to these contests, so the whole time you were on your toes with the schedule. The formats kept changing and it was challenging to deal with. When my injury happened, I was like, I just need to focus on getting better and acknowledging what my needs are instead of just telling everyone I\u2019m going to be okay, even though I know I\u2019m going to be okay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When did you get back on your board?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I fell at the end of October 2020 and I was able to push on my board in March, but it felt weird because I was so weak. There is a lot of atrophy when you break your leg and aren\u2019t walking, so I wasn\u2019t rushing to get back on my board. I made a point of not rushing it, especially with the Olympics and because of all the pressure, and I put a lot of pressure on myself too. If we take out the Olympics or sponsors, I know I\u2019m going to do everything I can to make it okay, and I don\u2019t need any outside forces pressuring me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is that why you kept it under wraps, so you could recover without the pressure of people seeing if you were okay?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. It can be exhausting, just reaching out to people individually and saying what happened. Before the video was out, I would tell people what happened and they wouldn\u2019t understand. If you say everything in detail of what happened, it doesn\u2019t sound real. It\u2019s like two car crashes in one. Normally, in skateboarding, you are never really going that fast and stopping that instantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are just a few people riding Mega Ramps, so that\u2019s a whole other game. What was the focus when you first got back on your board? Was it skating pools or vert ramps or cruising in skateparks?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started rolling around a street course to just pump around. Then I was pumping on my vert ramp because it\u2019s a controlled environment and I didn\u2019t have to worry about someone else\u2019s board flying in from across the park. I didn\u2019t really start skating until May when there was that one contest coming up. I was like okay, I need to be able to actually do something. We went on a road trip to Salt Lake and I tried to skate. Your brain doesn\u2019t go back to square one. Your brain knows how to do all these things still. The first couple days I tried to skate as close to how I normally skated and I overdid it. I was so sore and I was struggling with the altitude. After that, I couldn\u2019t skate for two days. We would go to a couple of parks a day and I tried to skate, but even bailing or running out was a lot for me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSkateboarding is a huge part of my life and I love doing it, and I think it\u2019s one of the coolest things in the world.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Were your tricks still there?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the tricks were all there. It was just that I couldn\u2019t trust my body because it was weaker. In my head, I was trying to do the thing and my body was lagging. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was it weird going back to competitions and not being able to do a few of the tricks that you usually do?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was, but it\u2019s kind of nice. Sometimes I will go to contests and I forget that I can do some tricks because you get stuck in a routine of doing certain ones. It isn\u2019t until you\u2019re like, \u201cI can do this,\u201d then you mix it up. It was like, \u201cI can\u2019t do these tricks right now, so what can I lean on?\u201d Before the Olympics, I skated the Dew Tour in Des Moines, and I skated practice way better than I skated in the contest. I actually had a realization during the contest. When they called me to do my run, I was like, \u201cI\u2019m going to do these things.\u201d I put myself in that place where I was focusing and trying to get in the zone. It was the first time that I put myself under pressure again, since my slam, and I just felt really crazy. I felt maybe some level of PTSD from the slam. It was fine. In the end, the contest placing didn\u2019t matter. It was more to prove to myself that I\u2019m good. I knew I was going to go to the Olympics and that was one of my goals, but it was also proving to myself that I can go through this traumatic injury and still be okay. It takes a while for that stuff to process and I think I am still processing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. How did your parents feel about you being in the Olympics?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were definitely proud. That was a big deal.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For sure. I want to talk about your outfit at the Olympics because it was super dope. How did you get the inspiration?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the teams had their apparel bought out by Nike or whatever sponsor. Finland was just me on the team, going to the Olympics, so no one bought it out. That gave me the opportunity to make my own uniform, which I was really stoked to do.  Looking at all the other uniforms, they felt very much like uniforms and not what people skate in. I mean people looked weird. It was very strange to me. I was stoked to have the opportunity to do my own thing and also look like a skateboarder. That part is really important because you know, when you go skate, you want to feel good. If you\u2019re wearing stuff that\u2019s not yours and you\u2019re under all this pressure, that\u2019s not necessarily the best combo for success. It was so hot too and it\u2019s really hard to prepare for that alone. When I went to design my uniform, I just went with thinking, \u201cWhat do I normally wear and what are some things that are really me?\u201d I wanted to do a coverall because, in the past, I\u2019ve really liked those, and I felt like coveralls are more fun. I worked together with my friend Rachael Finley, who runs Hot Lava, so it was really fun to collaborate with her on how to do my Olympic uniform. We did the design in Mammoth, on my first trip since my injury. I\u2019d just started walking on my own and we went up to the snow. It was really cool to get away, I felt like it was much needed, and I had her help me. I knew I wanted to do something that would bridge Finnish culture to skateboarding, and it was the perfect storm having Alvar Aalto, being the creator of transition in pools, and me coming from Santa Monica, also being Finnish and a pool skateboarder. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s an awesome connection. I just loved that you paid tribute to Alvar Aalto. You were one of the first skateboarders at the Olympics. How does that feel?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m really proud to have been a part of it and to represent skateboarding on the biggest stage. I think it\u2019s awesome that so many people got to see skateboarding for the first time and that was their first real experience of it. I think it\u2019s going to get skateboarding to places that probably wouldn\u2019t have considered it before. I feel like all that stuff is super valuable, but it\u2019s also really funny because I feel that the Olympics is this thing that, all of a sudden, I\u2019ve been hit on the head with a magic wand and now I\u2019m valid in the eyes of other people. Skateboarding is a huge part of my life and I love doing it, and I think it\u2019s one of the coolest things in the world, so I\u2019m really happy that I get to do this for my living and live this lifestyle. That\u2019s enough for me. To be a part of the Olympics, I\u2019m super down and that\u2019s awesome and I love what it can do, but I never really thought of the Olympics like other people do. I didn\u2019t watch the Olympics until skateboarding was in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tony Hawk said, \u201cThe Olympics needs skateboarding more than skateboarding needs the Olympics.\u201d Tony Alva has said something similar too. Do you agree?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I do. I wonder if it was Tony Alva or Tony Hawk who said it first because they both said it. Tony Alva sent Axel and I the shirts he did, which was really sick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awesome. How do you think Grosso would have reacted to the Olympics?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think it\u2019s one of those things where he would cheer his friends on that are in the Olympics, but I don\u2019t think he was necessarily about it. It\u2019s not like he was going to go compete in the Olympics. I feel that, with anything, there\u2019s a trade-off. Maybe the people that are at the Olympics aren\u2019t necessarily the coolest of the cool in skateboarding and that\u2019s not the whole of skateboarding. Some people will see this event in the Olympics and think this is the end all, and this is what skateboarding is all about, but there is so much more to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019d be good for everyone to understand skateboarding, not just the Olympics.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. Skateboarding is not for everyone, so I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a problem that it\u2019s there. I don\u2019t think it necessarily matters that some people are not going to get it because, in the end, there are so many people who are going to get it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah. I think the girls skating did a good job of representing skateboard culture with their supportiveness on the deck too. How was it in Japan during COVID? Were y\u2019all able to hang out with each other?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were able to hang out with each other, but a lot of the normal things you\u2019d do at the Olympics were not allowed. It was so hard to be in Japan and not get to go out and experience Japan, but I\u2019m just happy that they were able to have it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FOR THE REST OF THE STORY, ORDER ISSUE #78 AT THE JUICE SHOP\u2026<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LIZZIE ARMANTO INTERVIEW BY INDIGO SMITH PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANTHONY ACOSTA AND DAVE SWIFT AND OLGA AGUILAR Breaking the barriers of skateboarding, Lizzie Armanto turns every hurdle into a mere steppingstone. Armanto\u2019s love for swift round wall and buttery pool coping comes effortlessly, demonstrating to the skate world how to be stylish and shred. No matter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4027,4028,4041],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-interviews","category-skate-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/LizzieArmanto_Loop1_Carlsbad_Swift2018-copy-2.jpg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94814"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94822,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94814\/revisions\/94822"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}