Skater Sees Through His Old Tricks

Hello, I'm Chad Tim Tim. I'm 26-years-old, out of Long Beach, CA, and I’m a professional skateboarder for Element Skateboards.

I think what eventually made me go professional was that I just loved skateboarding and even when I couldn’t skate, I was always thinking about skateboarding.

When my friend stopped skating, I still skated, because I loved it so much. My first sponsor was a little shop called the H20 in Sunset Beach. And then from there, they hooked me up with a a local filmer around in OC, and he gave my tape to the guys at Glove Shoes without me knowing.

I got a phone call from them and they ended up asking, 'Hey, you want to ride for us?' I was like, 'Alright, cool.' So that’s how the sponsors started rolling from there.

My first video part was called New Horizon. It was an independent film and a lot of the local skaters from OC and the LA area were involved in it. I don’t think until probably about two years ago, my Transworld got me noticeable in the skating industry. So those are two of the most memorable videos.

I grew up all over Ocean County. My parents divorced when I was four. I have three sisters, two brothers, and we’re all step-brothers and step-sisters. So it was a broken-up family. I never really had that father figure in my life, because of my parents. My dad was always gone dealing with someone else, and my mom had to work two jobs to support us.

I looked for fulfillment in partying, girls, and traveling. Before God, there was just a full emptiness. I was just trying to look for fulfillment. I met a lot of pro-skaters traveling, and I looked up to them and tried to find validation in them. That just was emptiness all the time, so….

I got into the rave scene for a while, and I was doing a lot of ecstasy and stuff. I remember I took an ecstasy pill, and it didn’t kick in for like a half-hour since I took it, and I was waiting. I was like, 'Man, I’ll just take another one.' I ended up taking another one, and it ended up being speed. And then the ecstasy kicked in right after that, and I basically was up for about three or four days. I don’t remember much. I remember some things, like looking in the mirror and it was like eyeballs sunk into my face, and I was just like, 'Ah man, this is not me.'

And I was alone. The whole four days I ended up being alone because of all my friends. I don’t know where they went, and my heart was racing just because of the drugs and everything. That was probably the lowest point to being completely empty, just thinking of suicidal thoughts because I was completely alone.

In elementary school, I went to Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa. I kind of had those seeds planted when I was at that age.
When I really surrendered myself to God, it was more of a relationship, if anything, like a father figure. And it was a full desperation that I just surrendered my whole life to Him. That changed my life because it’s just a relationship.

I think He’s fulfilled every emptiness that I’ve ever had in my heart. And I can come to Him right now and ask Him for guidance or wisdom, and He’s always there for me.