Jeff Dechesare | "Kids pursuing skating is don’t compare your life to others. Just have fun with skating and try to progress every day and people will naturally notice."

Jeff DeChesare is a highly talented skateboarder. His trick selection is unique and full of maneuvers you know of, but you don’t see often. Sometimes his trick choice feels random to watch, almost as if you’re playing E.A.’s Skate series of video games and then do a bunch of double or triple flips. While we are on the topic of skateboarding video games, this is what it feels like to watch while he skates. He is super versatile. In one line, he would do something technical on a ledge, a trick that would finish a game of skate then finish it with a banger down a huge set of stairs.

If you want to see this type of skating for yourself, you can watch his Krux Trucks part called ‘Actual Skateboarding on YouTube’.

The soon-to-be 31-year old is also known as ‘The NBD-Guy‘. When asked how that came about, he explained on a podcast that he tried to learn a new trick every day. Eventually, he ran out of tricks to learn, so he started combining them. For example, he took a hardflip and made it go 360 or added a flip to it. He never had the intention to do all the NBD’s; they just came naturally by being himself. That shines in his videos and his presence on the board, as it feels authentic to watch his skating. He’s got the heart in the right place and is not skating for the wrong reasons.

Jeff DeChesare’s other nickname is Jeffwon Song. As some of the skaters reading this can imagine now, this goes back to Jeff’s early inspirations. Back then, he was watching the newly released video, Rodney VS Daewon a lot. That motivated Jeff to learn Noseblunts as Daewon did them. Soon after, his friend started calling him Jeffwon Song, and DeChesare took that name and rolled with it jokingly. Little did he know that people would eventually begin to associate his skating with his idol’s Daewon.

Your style and creativity on a skateboard are very different than most, flips and large gaps isn’t something easily learnt. What made you start realizing you could pull off these types of tricks?

I never really realized I could do those different types of tricks. I just got bored with the basics and tried learning new stuff that I hadn’t seen too much before.

You have travelled a lot due to skateboarding, what has been your favorite spot to skate or send a huge trick?

I don’t really have a favorite spot to skate but as a kid I always dreamed of getting a trick at Hollywood high so that was pretty cool to turn into reality.

With a board that can spin as fast as yours what setup do you currently ride?

My current setup is an 8.0 board with 52mm wheels. Trucks not too tight or too loose.

You have numerous amounts of clips floating on the internet, what has been your favourite part to film?

My favorite video part that I’ve filmed is called “Wait For It”. It was released in 2018 for Grizzly griptape.

What would be your advice to the younger generation looking to advance or get sponsored in skateboarding?

My best advice to the kids pursuing skating is don’t compare your life to others. Just have fun with skating and try to progress every day and people will naturally notice. I think if someone sees a skater genuinely having fun but still killing it, they’ll get more shine than the person who is trying too hard to impress others.