Today we’d like to introduce you to Niccolo’ Santambrogio
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’m an Italian Skateboarding Athlete. It may be the first time you hear this definition (skateboarding athlete), and by reading my story you will discover why this is so meaningful to me. I was born in Carate Brianza (province of Monza and Brianza), a small quiet town 32km far from the beautiful city of Milan. My Father is a Journalist at the famous economical “il Sole 24ore”in the art and religion section, a university professor and an author of numerous volumes on Christmas and other religious topics too; my mother is a teacher and also a full-time mother; my older brother is a Psychiatrist; and my younger brother a Community Manager and Social Media Manager. So a family that is more on the literary & cultural side, not on the sports one: a “lack” for me! For years I felt this as a wound inside me, but growing up I used it positively as a resource. I decided to ‘shift’ from what I saw as negative and a weakness to being seen and accepted for who I am. This fight became a winning card and is a theme that is often repeated in various forms in my story. And you will see… This behavior, this attitude, this sight, is possible for me only “thanks to the certainty of God’s mercy and goodness.The confidence of being able to move in the direction indicated by Him, without ever lacking His presence and His support” (as quoted by Pope Francis). Because God uses everything (absolutely everything!) to attract us to Himself, to make us experience the beauty of a life lived in His Light… even a wooden board with four wheels 🙂
I have to say, I have American blood. In fact, my grandmother Ketty was born and raised in Boston before moving to Italy. I’m sure I took from her my admiration toward the United States since my young age when I was struck by Batman and his adventures. I was a “hyperactive” kid according to my mother and elementary school teachers.
From this DNA probably comes my natural inclination towards sports and physical activities: I’ve seen it, at first, in my deep passion for basketball and in my NBA dream. My role models: Jordan, Iverson, Kobe. And then around 13-14yo into skateboarding: I literally fell in love with it by following a Punk Rock friend of mine named Stefano, who I’m truly thankful to for introducing me to the existence of that board. Thanks Stefano! I remember the beginnings on my skateboard embracing fully the lifestyle that surrounds it. From the music genre to the parties, smoking and drinking behaviors. But after the first few years lived like that, even if I had achieved notoriety on national soil pretty quickly, something began to move inside me: a contrast between that “underground wild lifestyle” Vs my natural inclination of being an athlete that has been hidden since I started to skate. Because the athletic side was seen from the crew as something not belonging to skateboarding. I was influenced by that concept, ending up believing it too until I felt clear that contrast so heavily deepened inside myself that I made a decision: I love to skate, I want to keep skating, I’m good at it and I want to improve at it. But I’ll do it in the way that most corresponds to my heart. Period. And from that moment, from taking that decision …guys…I got in trouble 😉 ahahah.
Picture this: Me, myself, and I at the bottom of a steep, steep mountain full of rocks, mud, unknown paths, etc…but on top of it, there’s something attractive and shining, a light that awakens me and moves my desire, my heart, my curiosity to go and see. I asked myself: “Should I stay on a quiet and common road where most other people are or should I start walking toward that light?…Even if at this moment I’m alone at starting this journey…Am I willing to take a chance or not?” I started walking and I’m still going! The first thing that brought me back to reconnect with my athletic nature into skateboarding has been dealing with my first injuries. I still have vivid memories of those days when I could not skate due to my first injury and I wanted so badly to go out and skate but reality was I could not do it. Most of the other skaters in this situation were just chilling on the sofa smoking and waiting for the pain to pass. But this way was not working for me. I needed to do something to heal as soon as possible to get back on my board.
So I started to search for good doctors and physical therapists. I progressively got in touch with that world and it fascinated me . I started to know more about the human body and training methodology. I am very thankful to have encountered human beings that immediately made me understand that if I wanted to pursue skateboarding at a professional level, I needed to take care of my body, as all athletes in other sports do. So I started to study more about regularly exercising with a physical therapist and to workout in the gym too. Later on, I attended the Sport & Motor Science University Cattolica in Milan (Masters degree). Nothing has been written in the sports literature regarding athletic preparation in skateboarding, so I needed to study, share my thoughts and feedback with many trainers throughout the year applying other sports’ athletic knowledge with my personal experiences and feedback on my board. It’s been a long process that started to show many positive results in these years in Los Angeles where I’ve reached more clarity and efficiency thanks to the possibility of being around professional Skateboarders, trainers & doctors with more experiences on boards sports. And this aspect of the dedication to athletic preparation and body care in all its components (nutrition, physical therapy, sleep, meditation), basically a disciplined & healthy lifestyle, is one of the main aspects that distinguishes me from many other skateboarders and puts me on another level from them. I’m thankful when people see and recognize this and come to me with admiration because they see the results of serious, hard, hard work. The time I’ve invested in it makes me feel very proud. By starting this journey of being an athlete in skateboarding, it became a natural consequence to decide to start competing “seriously”, not just “for fun” as most of Italian skaters were doing. I grew up prioritizing filming and photo shooting sessions, that’s what mattered most at that time and sponsors wanted more from street skaters, rather than results from contests. But inside myself started to arise the desire to perform as I used to do every weekend when I was playing basketball. The first event I prepared for with this new approach was in 2010 for the first edition of the Italian championship promoted by the newborn Federation. In fact, skateboarding has never been under any sports’ federation or association, for the same reasons I have explained above. You cannot imagine how many conflicts and fighting there has been around this topic. Anyways, in that year I was blessed with the company of a trainer named Michele, who, at that time, was available to follow me closely, both in the gym, as well as the skate park. Watch me and offer specific instructions and ideas to train to be my best for that event. Having someone with me present, in the flesh, during my training and practice has been one of a kind experience, that unfortunately I have not been able to experience again. Trainers are busy and unfortunately my financial situation and lack of sponsorships never allowed me to hire one full time.
At that event I arrived truly prepared physically and technically, in fact I qualified at first place. Wow, I was smelling the Italian championship title, what a dream come true. But something totally unexpected happened that later on made me realize that to compete successfully are not only enough physical and technical skills. What plays a key role is the mindset. Usually, those who placed first in the qualifier, starts the finals last. But all of a sudden judge decided that I was going to go first. This news caught me in a panic. I remember I felt such anxiety arising, legs shaking, and my mind so full of panic and worry because I was not feeling ready. But I had no choice, I had to run at the starting point and try to skate my best even in that terrible emotional state. Thank God I have been able to do a decent enough performance that at least got me on the podium. But not on the higher step. I remember to have skated rigid, not fluid as usual. When I was about to do the last final trick, I was full of the fear of missing the trick. And as a result, I didn’t land it. In that moment after failing at that trick, I remember I remained flat on the ground with my hands covering my face: my perception was that something terrible & catastrophic had happened to me. I could not stand and accept what happened, I lost the championship just because of that judges decision. That has been my first explanation to myself. Blaming other I got pretty upset, I remember being really angry and not paying attention to the people who came to watch me, my family included, for the very first time seeing me skating at a competition. I was totally out of myself. In a mood not at all correspondent to my way of living, normally full of gratitude, happiness and joy. Days passed and that anger soon became a motivation for me to set as a goal to achieve to win the title the following year and I truly wanted to prepare the best for it. At that time, I was not aware that the reasons why I lost it, was mental. I thought I needed to just improve even more at my technical skills. That’s why I decided to explore California, the birthplace of skateboarding. I wanted to see if, in this kind of environment, I could speed up the process to get good enough to win the Italian championship. I also wanted to be in an environment more suited to me, closer to my way of living, with skateboarding as a sport. California, in particular Los Angeles, seemed to be the perfect fit for me.
After months of doing back-and-forth, I’ve been blessed to get an Athlete Visa thanks to the sponsorship of the Italian Helmet company SuomySport: https://www.suomysport.com/en/sponsor/item/65-skate.html. A dream came true! It was 2014 and everything was going great! I was starting to be known around professional skaters and to stack clips daily. But then, I got hurt and I fell into darkness. Anxiety, worries, loss of hope… all negative emotions close to how I felt that day at the Italian Championships years before… but this time it didn’t pass in a few days, it just started to build and become bigger and bigger until I felt destroyed mentally. I touched the bottom line… But God gave me a light, just one positive thought in all that reawakened “my I”: “I need help, I need to share this with someone in the field: I need a sport psychologist”. And at this point, it started an inner journey to deepen myself. It’s funny thinking again about this. Because of injuries I was able to conquer my athletic nature by forcing me to visit doctors therapist and trainers, to heal and take care of my body. Later on, injuries became my biggest fear. They interfere with my progress, slowing the incredible technical and performing progression that I demonstrated in the first years of my career. It became an obsession that soon it took over aspects of my daily life too. I needed to put some order in my life, starting from the fundamentals. The first one was to re-discover who I am. This is tightly connected to how I talk to myself and to my point of view. It is so amazing how we, human beings, can hurt ourselves just with harmful thoughts. And it is such a painful thing. But 100% preventable because it is something fully controllable by us. Which in cases like mine requires some specific training. I have to admit I’ve been truly blessed to find along this journey, a multitude of professionals in the sport psychology field that involved themselves seriously in my need, with love, understanding and passion.
Starting with Dr. Edward F.Etzel (West Virginia University) who helped me to get connected with Dr. Adam ONeil in Los Angeles, then in Italy with Sandro Anfuso and Federica, and to the very present back in Los Angeles with Dr. Robert Neff (Dr.Bob) @MTI (https://mentaltraininginc.com). In addition, all these years, I could count on the company of true friends belonging to the catholic movement of Communion and Liberation (https://english.clonline.org) who, with their presence and witnesses of faith in God, helped me to work on that first point, “the awareness of who I am”, which is an ongoing path that will continue for my whole life (to name few of them: Pietro, Dario e Barbara, Marco Platania, Don Eugenio & CdoSport family, Gibo & CarateSDC friends, Simone Angiolini). In fact, I’ve been on the edge for years of perceiving myself with what I do, “I am what I do” and this became a prison because all my emotions and behaviors were depending on how well/bad I performed during my training and practice sessions: a life depending on my results, I value for what I do. And so if I perform badly, or if I get hurt and cannot do my work, I count as a Zero, my life is horrible and has no sense to be lived. By following this companionship, I was able to deepen in my faith and relationship with Christ, present here and now. I came to understand and experience that I have value before any accomplishments or failure, way more before that: I am and I have value because Someone loved me in origin by choosing to create me and keeps loving me now, every morning when He gives me the opportunity to open my eyes and to see, to live and experience reality in all its aspects. By following this companionship that Obsession became a Positive Obsession, it turned into the possibility to even more discover who I am by staying in close relationships with Christ present here and now, in every instant of my daily life, literally in everything I do and see. From the most common thing as could be a delicious Italian pizza to my daily training and skateboarding practice. This is simply wonderful.
With this solid companionship, with the work with those Sport Psychologists and with the essential love of my family, I’ve been seeing lately my life reblooming. In particular, each of the Sports Psychologists I worked with put some seeds in my mind that helped me to grow in awareness of my mental hangups and weaknesses and in how to respond efficiently to them. I created such solid roots and in this last year in LA working with Dr. Bob, I’ve made huge progress. He stands out in this field and I highly recommend him to any athletes who may experience some struggles mentally. He’s the best! He has immense knowledge in the field and has developed an efficient methodology of first teaching and transferring knowledge to the client through plenty of readings and advanced technologies (such as MentalApp) and then to practice those skills with exercises and tools. Trust me: it’s hard work, but totally worth it. With Bob I have been able to start working more specifically on my “winning mindset”, which consists of all the mental skills necessary to develop and strengthen, in order to perform at my best in every circumstance and go from being a great athlete into an exceptional athlete; a subtle but decisive and meaningful difference. And I need to become exceptional because I desire so badly to win that Italian Championship title, the flame is still burning! What drives me now is to see if it’s possible for me at compete with a completely new mindset, the new winning mindset I’m working hard to build, feed and strengthen daily. And I’m very committed to this. Also, because after the 2016 announcement of skateboarding acceptance into the Olympic Games, my goal is to earn my spot in the Italian Olympic Team! Could you imagine how meaningful it would be for me to get to this point? Representing the proper country at competitions, it’s something to be extremely valuable and meaningful if you consider all the paths I’ve been on since my first days on my skateboard. The argument about Skateboarding should or should not be a part of the Olympic Games has been a very much discussed topic, and after years of debates the official notice arrived in the 2016’s summer. Once I heard about it, my heart jolted. And it started my mission toward Tokyo 2020.
I had to deal with an abundant amount of obstacles and challenges till the most recent COVID-19, which imposed on the world to cancel all competitive events and adapt strategies and decisions. For what I know now, Tokyo 2021 is confirmed and skateboarding too, but no competitions schedule yet which most likely means that will be taken valid only the 2019 season results, meaning for me no possibility to go. So what?!? All finished?!? Not really…the year 2020 has been for me a decisive moment of growth on physical technical and especially on mental aspect so that I now truly know what it takes to be on an Olympic preparation path and I’m feeling more equipped and mature to face all those challenges the path will present along the way, with full confidence in the Lords presence, support & love; and with openness of heart and mind to see, live and accept what He has ready for me. And reality tells that in three years, there will be already another Olympic opportunity: Paris2024! Funny that talking during a dinner with pro skater Micky Papa about how sad it was to not even have a chance to compete this year toward Tokyo, he immediately stared me in my eyes saying: “Nicco! There will be Paris2024!”. It shocked me at first because of the craziness of this, mainly related to the age I will be. He saw my reactions and concerns and he continued asking me a favor: “please Nicco, from now on just focus only on today, what you have now, and do it at your best, and you will get there”.
As a Catholic, I believe in the Presence of The Holy Spirit of Christ operating through the person’s flesh. And that to me has been a clear event of that. God spoke through him and called me on a new mission. Not only, He’s so kind and merciful that He also told me the methodology: the full engagement, value and commitment in the instant. Whatever I’m called to do in every instant, by saying my YES to it, that will contribute 1% to get me closer to Paris. And to all the naysayers questioning my age, I respond with a Michael Jordan speech at an interview: “You know, we are all old. And sure, we are tired, it’s been a long season. But mentally we have a vision, we have a finish that we have to obtain. And sometimes you have to do it when you’re old and you’re tired. And I think it is a test of your will to succeed when you have to deal with some of these negatives. And I’m pretty sure by the end of this play-off, you will see the old and the tired people we’re very, very young and strong mentally”. HAVE A VISION (https://youtu.be/NidqtkXq9Yg) And also with this passage taken from Luke’s Gospel: “Nothing is impossible for God!” (Luke 1:26-38) Concrete steps will be necessary to earn my spot in the Olympic Italian Team, starting from bringing home that Italian Championship Title.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I start to say that thanks to the specific mental training, my perception of obstacles and challenges has drastically changed over the last year. Dr. Bob taught me the “Storm chaser approach” and I’ve started to apply it to skateboarding and to life too. It is based on the belief that adversity is good, adversity is like a gift, and if I see like that I can accept it and take it with gratitude because through that challenge, I see a possibility of growing and getting better. Adversity is necessary to become great. From a Technical aspect, my biggest obstacle and challenge has been to adapt my natural skills of street skater into a competitions setting. Skating at contests is different from street skating. It’s like a marathon is different from a 100m, it’s always about running but different performance, skills, and training methodologies are involved. It’s a process that I started to work on more specifically from 2016 after the announcement of Skateboarding in the 2020 Olympic. And I’m still working on it. Because getting familiar with those obstacles (especially those that go downstairs and gaps) has not been immediate due to my mental difficulties in my perception of them.
When I started skating there were no skate parks in my area. In fact, I learned in the streets. On the ledges in front of the City Hall and on flat bars built by the father of my dear friend Pau. We were skating everything we found in my town and around the area, but mostly on flat surfaces. So that’s the ground where I build my fundamentals. So when I started joining the first contest, I immediately felt some discomfort. And with the years, I now understand where that discomfort was coming from. Because at that time, I was just feeling it and not understanding. I was not that mature yet and sadly, there was no one to help me to understand it. With no coaches, it was hard to figure things out with so few years of skateboarding experience. My response to all those ramps and obstacles on inclined surface was causing me fear. And technically those obstacles, especially those going up on bumps, needed to be approached with more speed and with a different body weight distribution then I was used to use on flat ground. So it’s been truly challenging for me to figure all that out in all these years to improve my performance at competition. So it started a learning process, a new career for me from that moment in 2016 when I made the decision to focus all my energies in becoming a contest skater to reach the Olympics. Being in America around the professionals with more experience at competitions helped me to get valuable information about their methodology. Especially the relationship with pro skaters Norman Woods, Mike Piwowar and Miky Papa sped up my understanding and opened my mind a lot to change some of my approach of practicing in the skate park. I’m very thankful for them.
From a Physical aspect, I had to deal with some injuries along the way, this is an inevitable part of this job. It must be said that with experience and time and thanks both to the athletic component and healthy lifestyle along with mind training, chances of getting hurt can be reduced a lot by: 1) controlling at best all controllable factors; 2) by using an appropriate progression at practice and managing wisely the training load; 3) having an equip of professional doctors & therapist that you trust. I want to thanks John Brichese, Paolo Parente @TakeCare, Dr. Motta, Dott.ssa Esposito, Marco Barnaba Fra Magda @MIB Fitness, Jon Jon Park, Jorgen De Mey, Dr. Eddie @Bdx (LosAngeles). Also, I have to say that from my experience with every injury that I got was an opportunity to grow, to deepen into my faith and my relationship with God. I believe that everything happens for a reason, so also injuries happen for a reason and in these tough moments, it is essential to beg even more to our Lord Jesus Christ who himself faced terrible pain and suffering on that cross and ultimately overcame it thanks to His total faith and trust in His Father’s love. This is something worth reflecting on. It is exactly what I was talking about earlier: after the struggle you have the rebirth, a new beginning. And as much you can, live the injury moment in this Light, the flourisher and fruitful will be the return. And this is another example of how much sports are a training field for life. That’s why I’m so thankful for being an athlete because by doing this job, I am ultimately learning how to better live my life in every aspect.
From a mental aspect: this has been the toughest challenge of my life and I’m still fighting. It is becoming so clear to me now how slowly and unconsciously during my youth, I’ve established strong bad habits at my way of thinking and looking at things that started to show clear warnings’ sign in 2010 at that Italian Championship. And thanks to the journey started in LA with Dr. Adam, then In Italy with Sandro and Federica and most recently with Dr. Bob, I’ve been able to first grow in awareness and recognition of it and to start working to establish new positive habits. Something extremely tough, believe me, especially when at the beginning skepticism and inner resistances dominated in me. But by putting trust in those people encountered (clearly sent by God to me), working hard and maintaining patience and faith, I started seeing results and life began to bloom and everything became an open window with fresh air that enters. I wish I started way earlier to take care of my mindset, I believe this is something that must be taught at school from an early age. It is so essential to learn how to deal with thoughts and emotions because from thoughts and emotions come actions. Thoughts, emotions and actions are tightly connected. Lastly, from a logistical aspect, the lack of sponsors along the way has been a big roadblock to me. I had to do side jobs to sustain myself and count on family and friends’ support when I faced emergencies.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My work consists on a daily basis to train all components required to perform at my best at competitions: physical, technical, mental. My current routine starts at 2am when I wake up and do my morning prayers. Then I start with mobilization and physical therapy work, with specific attention to my feet, which plays an essential role in my sport. Right after, I have breakfast and while I digest, I do some mental training. Once finished with it, I start my athletic workout (every day I’ve a different program focused mainly on strength & stability & agility & cardio, all basic components well balanced among them according with the training load of the period, the events scheduled and always listening to the present moment) and right after I have my lunch: it is so important for optimum glycogen replacement to catch that window right after workout. Nutrition is another masterpiece of my regime, I cook the most part of my meals on Sunday when I have my day off from training (and run all errands such as groceries, cleaning my room and cooking) so that I save time on this during the week. Then I typically have a 15-20 minute nap before starting to teach or before going to practice (according to my client’s schedule, I typically arrange lessons in the second half of the morning or in the second half of the afternoon). At the skatepark I work either on new tricks, on tricks I need to master and also on contest simulations. Lots of work but also lots of fun! Typically I’m done with all this by 4pm when once at home, I start my recovery work in the cold water of the pool and with mindfulness practice. After dinner, I take care of my social media (Instagram in particular), I review and save all my notes from the day of training and then I start my pre bed routine which consists in foam rolling stretches and posture, all good stuff to get ready for the next day! I typically go to bed between 7 and 8pm. Nutrition, Sleep, Mindfulness and Relaxation practice, Recovery work: all essential components at every stage of an athlete’s career and especially when getting older. A lot of discipline is required but the benefits you get out of it make it so worth it.
Mine is a more technical skating style. I’m well known and recognized for my clean and effortless style, for my composure and balanced posture on my board. In particular I’m specialized and known for my Switch stance & Nollie skills meaning I can ride my board at both stances very comfortably. It’s like if you can write both with your left and right hand without any significant difference. Thanks to this skill, I get more points at competitions, judges value a lot of tricks done at switch and nollie, especially if executed with ease. What I am most proud of, for sure, is my first appearance on the Italian skateboarding magazine called “6 AM”, when I was 15 years old. It was a sequence of a Nollie NoseSlide performed down a hubba (a ledge that goes down a set of stairs) in Barcelona, Spain, during my first skate trip outside Italy. I remember like it was yesterday the process behind that accomplishment, the joy of landing it and the satisfaction and surprise when I opened the magazine and saw myself for the first time in print! Talking about the press, in 2016 I recorded a documentary about my career, my American experience and about my dream too, you can watch it here: https://vimeo.com/152154490 Password: losangeles Hope you enjoy it! 2016 was for sure my “my golden year” in terms of accomplishments on the international scene. It started with the invitation to do Demos and signing sessions in Guatemala during the Skateboarding Day Event with Colombian Pro Skater Camilo Henao and French Pro Skater Bastien Salabanzi (Video Report: https://youtu.be/AFFNxTjZhmI)
Then I’ve been the first Italian skater to have been accepted to skate the world-famous contest TampaAm through video footage submission, you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/jAa0EFhWpfI. Truly a dream came true! Competing among the best skaters in the world has been an experience so worth and decisive for my growth. And the most recent accomplishment I’m very proud of is my first win at a contest in California in 2019 at the famous Vans Skatepark in Orange County. What a moment! All the hard work to get it that day has paid off, but mostly once again I learned a lot and got so much useful feedback on what needed to be improved next. Skateboarding is an endless learning process and this is one of the aspects that attracted me from day one and made me fall in love with it.
What sets me apart from others is my athletic approach to skateboarding, to live skateboarding as a dedicated athlete. The artist and good friend JDV Plus’ witness could best describe it:” I remember when I first saw you at the rink in Mar Vista, I was struck by your warmup. It felt like I was watching a real athlete prepare – someone who is actually seriously dedicated to the sport/athletic side of skateboarding. It’s fascinating for someone like me because I on the other hand am drawn to the artistic/style side of skating and much less so the competitive side. So that was very interesting to me. It became clear to me, through first observing you and then getting to know you a little bit that you are very serious and passionate about skateboarding. It is inspiring to me! I love your dedication bro.”In addition to JVD Plus words, a quick comment from one of our last conversations with my mental coach Bob can witness about it too. We were discussing how realistic it could be getting to Paris2024, and he stated: “Paris is sane, in my opinion. Your work ethic alone makes anything possible. The only things that could stop you are injuries, fear of injuries and lack of money.” In connection to this very last point (lack of money), I’d like to spend a few words and use this opportunity to further explain why he said that. The reality is that Skateboarding is not a “rich sport” as soccer (in Italy) and baseball football or basketball in the USA. Since I graduated at University, I had to do side jobs in order to pursue my passion and my goals. Thanks to my Master degree at Sports and Motor Science by University Cattolica of Milan, from 2010 till 2013 I worked as a skateboarding instructor by a local skate park in Monza: I’ve been a pioneer also at this in Italy, giving private and group lessons and organizing summer camps for kids and adults too. It’s been a great period of my life that I will always remember, especially for the value of the human relationships established with all those kids and families and with the owner of the Skatepark Riccardo Tagliabue: thanks again Richi!
In addition to it, in the years 2016-2017 I worked also as a personal trainer by one of the most important European Gym chains: Virgin Active. Clients loved me because I was truly taking good care of them often remaining extra hours. But the internal policy of such a big company was more toward the “selling” part rather then “the quality and the real health goal of the work”. And this contrasted a bit with my soul, that’s why I left after a year. I want to give a big shout out to my dear loved Aunt Giancarla who, because the gym was almost an hour far from my hometown and I didn’t have a car, loaned me her car in order to allow me to do this job and to logistically make it work with my training schedule. She understood really well how important it was for me to be able to do that job in order to keep my dream alive. My aunt has always been my first supporter and I’m so thankful to her. But I haven’t been without a job for longer, because very soon I decided -thanks to friends suggestion- to apply to become a Professor at a public middle school: I did it and boom! Got hired. By teaching Sports to an average of 20/25 kids a class and also by following privately kids with cognitive disorders, I realized how much I love the educational field and how much I get out from it for my life too. The freshness and joy for life of those kids has been a truly daily gift for me. I worked as a professor for three years before going back to LA in summer of 2019. Working for the Italian State has been financially a guarantee of stability. Although it was quite limiting to my training because I had to accept the schedule they gave me. Thankfully I’ve been blessed by colleagues that took in serious consideration my skateboarding passion and goals and have been very collaborative: I want to thank in particular Prof. Valentina Guido at Scuola Media Koine in Monza and the Head School Master Dott.ssa Malvina Poggiagliolmi, Prof Valcamonica and my colleague Luciana e Francesco at Scuola Media Croce Lissone: Thanks A LOT for all the support and good times together. When I came back to LA in 2019 and decided to remain committed to my skateboarding dream, I had to face the same issue: how to sustain myself.
At first, I worked as a skateboard instructor with coach Chris at Pacific Skate School; but I needed more income! You all know how expensive it is living in LA and how expensive it is to do a sport at a professional level (training memberships and equipment, medical treatment, travels, hotels, etc.). So thanks to that Italian experience as a teacher, I started to work to develop my own business as an Italian teacher for Americans: to be an entrepreneur is definitely more challenging and risky than working for someone, but I soon realize it gives me the time flexibility I need in order to make fit all the amount of hours of trainings I need to remain at a higher level of performance and to keep improving because the competitions with kids nowadays truly reached a crazy level. So I created a program that clients really like because it’s customized on their needs: mine is a Real Life Italian Class! When Covid started, I had to adapt and starting doing it online: I remember that at first, I was a bit concerned that I could maintain the same quality standard I’ve been able to show in person, but it revealed to be not at all a problem and actually it fitted much better with my training schedule because the avoidance of LA traffic. It took a bit to create a decent network that allowed me to at least pay my bills. But still not enough to guarantee a stability in this city, because in all those times unexpected circumstances happened -to just name a few: 1) the theft of my Macbook from my room in the house I was sharing (by a company which provides therapy to drugs and alcoholic persons in the Valley)…I know it was not the best trustable place to live, but…you know…gotta take what was enough affordable; 2) I’ve been victim of a scam call: lacking of knowledge in the American social security administration field those guys put me in fear and I fell in the trap losing all my money in just one shot; 3) COVID, which in the long term started to influence a lot of people finances with drastic consequences on priorities – I had to face critical moments and it has been essential the help of my family in Italy and of some of my friends of the church here in LA: their concrete support showed to me how important it is in life to grow solid and strong relationships based essentially on love, and to be able to constantly give it back in any possible way, even if very simple, when comes from the heart could be extremely meaningful. Simplicity is a key in life. Therefore, I’m using this opportunity to reach out to everyone who could be interested in learning Italian! Please do not hesitate to contact me. Moreover, what could be even more beneficial, would be to find sponsorships. If there are any entrepreneurs, investors and sponsors who could be inspired by my story and willing to be companions in my challenging journey, please contact me! It would be truly a relief for me. Because all the sacrifices and the risks I’ve been making and taking in all these years have been worthy experiences that strengthened and built me up helping me become the athlete and human being that I am now. But now is the time to finalize my goals. Finding a sponsor would definitely provide financial stability that would allow me to focus even more on my work.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
This is a very interesting topic because it is so tightly connected with skateboarding, and I’ve been discussing a lot with my mental coach Dr. Bob about it. What I’m learning is to strengthen the belief that taking risks is something beneficial and necessary in a path, especially when reaching for greatness with inevitable high standards as in my case. So to put myself at risk turns out to be something good and necessary to become excellent at, as long as I prepare well enough! Meaning: focusing extremely well on preparation becomes the key to take risks and to deal with them positively. How fascinating and innovative this sounds, right? That’s why, in my specific case, as you have read in the previous section about my work, I dedicate my entire day focusing on all those details under my control in order to be best prepared to take those risks when it comes down to performing a trick on a tough obstacle. What brings calm in that precise moment it is to be aware that I’m in control and that I can minimize the risks by using progression, by being aware of my current physical state, by getting really clear about my controllable (using tools such as imagery work) and by remembering my “reasons why” it is necessary to risk by taking that step. From my personal experience, this last one point is fundamental and tightly connected with my faith in the Lord. In fact, if I listen sincerely to my heart and I trust that I’m moving in the direction He’s showing to me (which requires to take those risky steps too) with the confidence that along the way I won’t miss His Presence and His support I can be ready to face everything with an ultimate sense of inner peace and gratitude.
It’s interesting to see how any sport, when approached seriously, with passion and love, can be the place to learn how to live our life too and to deal and respond to risks in daily life the same way you would on the field. One of my major recent risks I took has been during the summer of 2019 when I got back to LA after three years in Italy. The purpose of the trip was initially to just verify with concrete facts if the flame inside myself was still present and if my technical skills were still present and realistically could be improved by putting myself in competition with the best in the world. And just after the first few weeks of my staying, I got the confirmation that yes I was still skilled enough and committed enough to resume my path to Tokyo 2020. But I had to face the financial issue already experienced in 2016 of being by myself without other sponsorships besides Suomy, so I needed to find a job quickly that could allow me to live in Los Angeles. It seemed something impossible to figure it out in just a few days before my flight back, but something miraculous happened. I got connected with a skateboard instructor named Chris who runs, in my opinion, one of the best skates schools in the world (https://www.pacificskateschool.com/welcome) because of his approach and philosophy behind it, the methodology and programs he created are very well done and ahead in the times because they’re based on clear and profound values, which is to provide both the growth of the kid as an athlete and as a human too. Basically, the same exact approach that I developed with my own skateboarding school in Italy. That’s why just a phone call between us was enough (he was on vacation in South Africa in those precise days) to understand that we could collaborate together really well.
So without even having a personal meeting with him, I made the decision to risk and cancel my flight back to Italy and to not renew my contract with the Italian Middle school I was teaching: I left a secure way of income and stability of life in Italy (but without skateboarding done at a professional level) to give me the possibility to pursue my dream, well aware that it would be a tougher life but totally available to say my “YES” to every circumstance along the way. Thanks very much Chris for giving me that opportunity and for the great times together! And a similar situation recently happened when during spring 2020, I was supposed to be back to Italy to start competing to earn my spot in the Italian Olympic team. COVID-19 happened and all competitions were suspended. My family wanted me so badly to be back because of the security of the full coverage of Italian Health Insurance system, but my flight was canceled repeatedly: there was no way to go back. What complicated even more the situation was my Visa expiration in May 2020. I had to make another decision with multiple risks involved: Do I want to remain in the USA in the pandemic and ask for an extension of my Visa in order to keep going in my preparation here in LA, even if with the obvious uncertainty about skateboarding competitions’ future and possible financial struggles ahead due to Covid? Or do I want to go back home at the first occasion possible and be safer but knowing I won’t be allowed to re-enter in the States for at least a year or more (without a Visa approval and due to immigrations restrictions for Covid)? If you have arrived to read till this point, you all may guess which one I took 😉
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: http://www.niccosantambrogio.net/
- Instagram: @niccosantambrogio
- Facebook: NICCO (public-athlete) – Niccolò Santambrogio (private)
- YouTube: https://youtube.com/user/NicoSantambrogio
Greetings
I would like to thank God for the gift of life and for His Presence, abundant love, mercy and sustain in my life.
Thanks to you Sid and to the Voyage Staff for this incredible opportunity and to my friend and great artist JDV-Plus for the referral.
Thanks to Michael Jordan, Kobe and Rocky Balboa for being role models to me as hard working and passionate athlete.
Thanks to Paul Rodriguez for being my most source of inspiration in skateboarding.
And thanks to all the dear people that are accompanying me in my journey, in particular: my mum Tiziana, my dad Giovanni and my brothers Jacopo & Filippo, my aunt Giancarla and his friend Guido, all my relatives; Angele & Nicola Mastronardi’s family for being a true second family for me showing incredible understanding, support, love and company during the critical time of the pandemic; Maureen @Vincenti Restaurant in Brentwood (the best Italian Restaurant in LA); Patsy & Brent Maddock, Jane & Bil; Mr. Guarino and his wife; Mr. Spina, Ellen Azizian, Simone Angiolini and his family; Christian Peters; Juan David De Jesus, Adriana Alanes & Atilio Musa; Pope Francis , Father Carron and all my friends of the Communion and Liberation Movement and of CDOSport; all the priests I know in Italy and here in LA; Mr Yemm and his assistants at Wolfsdorf Immigration Law Group in Santa Monica; the President of WorldSkate S. Aracu, the President L.Basilico and the Coach D.Galli of the Italian Skateboarding Federation; all the sponsors that supported me along the way, especially a big shout out to my first ever sponsor Malas Clothing (thanks a lot Fabrizio Malaspina for believing in me at the very beginning); my Team: Umberto e Jim of Suomy, DrEddie at BDX Sport Academy, John Brichese and Dott.Motta, Dr Adam ONeil, Sandro, Federica, Tami & DrBob at MTI; the CC crew and all the Italian skateboarders I know; Brian Schaefer @Skatepark of Tampa , Rob Meronek @TheBoardr, skateboarders Manny Santiago, Norman Woods, Miky Papa and Mike Piworar, Gene and all the locals of ElSereno Skatepark, Cove Skatepark, Stoner Plaza and of all the other LA’S Skateparks I practice: THANKS for sharing with me memorable moments of skateboarding together. SKATE4LIFE! – NICCO
