Lacey Baker won the Skateboard Street gold last year in Austin and could very well repeat again. But there’s a lot fans likely don’t know about the California native. Like the fact that she works full-time and simply does skating on the side.
Lacey is further proof that the X Games are still in their infancy. Just like baseball players more than 100 years ago, most athletes have other jobs on the side to support themselves.
Of course in the instance of baseball, mega stars eventually came along: Ty Cobb, Cy Young, Babe Ruth. Is Lacey the female version? She could be … well, only in much better shape than the Babe.
Girls getting their due
Josh Helmuth: I’ve covered X Games for a few years now and have only interviewed a small handful of female athletes. Tell me, what’s it like being a female X Gamer? It seems like more girls are starting to get their due.
Lacey Baker: I don’t know how it affects me gender wise. Obviously it’s getting more popular and the competition is getting higher and higher. It’s just fun and it’s cool to see all the girls progressing.
Preparation
Josh: What do you do to prepare? Do you have any rituals or do you just try to relax?
Lacey Baker: I try to keep it pretty low key. I mean I work all the time so I try to skate as much as I can and just chill and be healthy. Try to make good decisions ya know [laughs].
Lacey’s full-time job
Josh: I read that you work full time as a catalog designer?
Lacey Baker: I’m a graphic designer. Yes, I work on catalogs but I do all kinds of s**t: fliers, logos, whatever … products, photography and I do freelance work.
Josh: Do a lot of X Gamers work full time?
Lacey Baker: Um, I don’t really know. I know Alexis is in school getting her Masters in architecture. Ya, everybody’s doing their own thing and they skate too.
Josh: So with your full time job, how much time do you actually have to skate and practice?
Lacey Baker: Well I work Monday through Friday from 7:30 in the morning to 4:00 so I can skate after work or on the weekends.
Josh: Wow
Lacey Baker: But I also have other s**t I have to do on the weekends, like chores and crap.
Josh: [laughs]
Lacey Baker: I skate when I can … Like, I usually get one day a week in, or two.
Josh: It’s pretty amazing what you’re doing then considering that you can only skate part time. Some of these athletes focus on it year-around it seems.
Lacey Baker: Ya, all day every day. If that’s all they have to do that’s all they have to do. And if they’re getting paid to do it they don’t even have to think about it. Some of us have to make it by other means. But I kinda like it that way. Trying to skate for money sometimes takes the fun out of it I realized. So when I got a job I was way more content when I would go skate.
Goofy footed
Josh: Whenever I ‘googled’ your name, “goofy footed street tricks” popped up. What does that mean exactly?
Lacey Baker: Well, ‘goofy’ is a stance. So you’re either regular or you’re goofy. And then I guess I’m a street skater … that’s kind of a weird way to put it, but ya, my stance is goofy and I skate street.
Josh: So if you’re goofy footed does that mean what you do is more finesse, more stylish?
Lacey Baker: No, it’s literally just the way you ride a skateboard. If you’re goofy your right leg is forward. So you push with your left. If you’re regular it’s the other way around.
Josh: Weird. So you push with your left leg? Are you left handed too?
Lacey Baker: Yeah. I don’t think that has anything to do with me being goofy but yeah.
Josh: I haven’t rode a skateboard in a long time, but when I did I pushed off my right foot. That would seem so foreign to me pushing off my left. Okay. The more you know. [laughs]
Lacey Baker: Ding.
Related: X Games Austin 2015: Bucky Lasek: Skater, Driver, Dad
Romance
Josh: You know what else comes up when you ‘Google’ your name … Something called “Sweet Land Romance Novels” pops up, by a ‘Lacey Baker.’
Lacey Baker: Oh yeah. Not me.
Josh: [laughs]
Lacey Baker: [laughs] Oh yeah. Not me. I wish it were me. I wish I were writing f***ing romance novels. They’d buy my book.
Josh: So she’s a goofy footed street skater, graphic designer AND she writes romance novels?? I’d be beyond impressed.
Lacey Baker: [laughs] You better believe it.
Josh: [laughs]
Lacey Baker: I actually did see that and I was like, “this graphic design on this book suuucckkkkks.” [laughs]
Josh: [laughs] So are you into any romance at all? Maybe movies? Are you a … Ryan Gosling type …
Lacey Baker: I don’t watch movies too frequently, but I do like watching … whatever… I don’t like obsessively watch movies. I’m usually playing music or doing work, or like, skating.
Music
Josh: Is there any music you listen to right before you skate that really gets you goin?
Lacey Baker: Just whatever I’m super obsessed with at the time. Like, right now I really like Blood Orange. And I really like a band called Shy Girl. But yeah just depends on what I’m into at the moment.
Repeating for gold
Josh: Last year you were at Austin and won the gold in Skateboard Street. So do you feel like there’s any pressure to repeat this year? Or do you have a certain plan?
Lacey Baker: I’m just gonna do what I always do. I mean there’s always been pressure … but I’m just gonna skate it and get a consistent run down and try to focus.
Josh: Whenever you make your run do you really have something choreographed or do you just see how you’re feeling that day and just go with the flow?
Lacey Baker: When I go to the course I like to skate around and see what obstacles I want to skate and in what order. Because you have to hit as much stuff as you can and land everything. So the more I skate it the better run I can get together and land everything when it counts.
The first transcendent female skateboarder
Josh: Obviously there are a ton of great skaters, but even the most casual fan knows Tony Hawk. We’re still waiting on that female version for skating who everyone and their mother knows who they are. Do you think there’s someone out there — maybe it’s you — who could become that iconic female skateboarder?
Lacey Baker: Well, probably at the moment, the way the world is, people tend to gravitate toward girls skaters that look more feminine. So with that being sad, I would say probably Leticia, because she’s so beautiful and she skates really well. But then there’s also demographics too … Ya know it just depends what you’re into. But I think she caters to a pretty wide gaise. Know what I mean?
Lacy and the girls
Josh: Cool. Do you and the other female skaters get along pretty well?
Lacey Baker: Yeah, we’re all homies. It’s all good. It’s fun to skate with everyone. Like, I see Alexis once a year but when we do hang out we’re super tight homies. And Amy is one of my closest friends … I’m with Vanessa right now, and I see Leticia every so often. There shouldn’t be and there isn’t any weird drama. That would just be stupid. [laughs].
Josh: What are you going to do away from X Games when you’re not competing?
Lacey Baker: Well, I made a couple friends last year. And Amy’s coming with a friend. So just might cruise and hang out. There are fun bars to hang out with drag bars and stuff. So I’m gonna go do that stuff and just have a f***ing good time, because then I gotta go back to work.
Photo Credit: Facebook.com/Lacey.Baker.fanpage
