BOTHELL – Skyler Siljeg doesn’t look the part of a deal maker. Though he looks slightly older when donning his cool sunglasses, Skyler’s not 5 feet tall. He’s still years away from high school, let alone driving.
Like many kids, the Bothell boy who everyone just calls “Sky” likes to skateboard. So much, in fact, that he has devoted himself to accomplishing things on the board that the majority of older kids will never master. And because of that, he’s had corporate sponsors since he was in kindergarten.
Now, about to turn 11 next weekend, Skyler represents nearly 20 different sponsors and seems to be honing business skills along with his skateboarding talents. He’s even writing regularly about skateboarding and his experiences in a nationwide publication.
“He’s asked me, ‘How old do you have to be to own a company?’” said Pam Miller, Skyler’s mother. “I think he has some ideas.”
Being a young skateboarding sponsor isn’t a high-paying job. Instead of cash, sponsored kids typically get free products, and sponsors sometimes cover contest fees and travel and provide other perks.
But that can help keep up with the expenses of skateboarding, which can get expensive for kids who regularly compete around the region.
The payback for the sponsors is having their product name or equipment seen on one of the sport’s standouts. In addition to potentially influencing other skaters’ buying decisions, the sponsored rider might become a big star years down the road.
“We appeal to youth culture, and we know who our audience is,” said Diana Turner, a marketing assistant at Seattle-based Jones Soda Co., which became Skyler’s first sponsor when he was just 5 years old. The company’s name is emblazoned in big letters across the front of the boy’s helmet, and he appears on one of their bottles.
In fact, Skyler’s skating wardrobe from head to toe reveals signs of his sponsors. During a break from riding at Mill Creek’s skatepark, he pointed out the different parts of his skateboard, from wheel bearings to grip tape, provided by sponsors. His shirt, shoes and helmet all represent sponsors. One of the companies, Quiksilver, even supplies his underwear.
The only noticeable attire that didn’t initially come from a sponsor were his Black Flys sunglasses. A fan of the glasses, Skyler had been wearing them everywhere in an attempt to convince the company he’d be a good representative.
It worked. The company made him one of their sponsored riders a few days later.
Have the sponsorships changed Skyler’s view of his original passion, skateboarding?
“Yeah, it’s even funner,” he said.
For a 10-year-old who’s ranked as one of the top 100 bowl skaters in North America and finished last year among the top 10 in the Northwest, Skyler seems well-grounded. After showing the range of products made by his sponsors, he nonchalantly gave away the free samples to his peers at the skatepark. He’s much more interested in riding his board than talking about himself or riding.
His mother said they’ve never sent out “sponsor-me” videos to prospective companies, which some riders have done. Instead, they’ve let sponsors approach them. And Skyler won’t take just any sponsorship deal that comes along, Miller added.
“He just turned down a pretty sweet commercial because he didn’t feel it’d be a good one,” she said. At this point, Skyler interrupted to tell his mom exactly what he didn’t like about the offer.
His criteria for accepting sponsorships is clear and simple.
“If I like it and think it will sell, I’ll say, ‘Yeah,’” Skyler said.
One of the companies Skyler likes is Motto, a Wisconsin-based maker of skateboard graphics and grip tape, the gritty material that helps a rider’s shoes grip the skateboard. Rob Riley, Motto’s owner, said the exposure that comes from sponsoring riders helps spread his small company’s name.
“For me, not being from California (the hub of the skateboard industry), I’m disadvantaged by not having the contacts in the industry,” Riley said. So the grassroots marketing and relationships that come from working directly with riders is important.
Riley met Skyler last year at a skate and surfing industry show held three times a year in San Diego. He said the event opened his eyes to a new breed of young riders.
“There was a degree of entrepreneurship and professionalism among the kids there,” he said. “And Sky was the best example of that I have.”
Turner at Jones Soda said she’s also been similarly impressed by Skyler’s aptitude in dealing with business people. He often talks to sponsors himself.
“Sky’s definitely the exception. We deal with skaters across the country, and we mostly deal with their parents. Even when they’re teenagers,” she said. “Sky’s brain is always working. It does sometimes trip me up and I’ll think, ‘How old are you again?’”
Miller said her son seemed to have his own ideas early on about how to help his sponsors.
“When he was little, we were going somewhere and I didn’t know how much of that he understood until he was changing shirts to reflect his sponsor,” she said.
Since then, he’s kept that up, often giving out free samples of sponsors’ products and willingly answering questions about them. He even samples competitors’ products, such as competing sodas and energy drinks, Miller said.
While she worried at first whether being in the spotlight and receiving gifts from sponsors would spoil her son, Miller said she’s been reassured by the sixth-grader’s demeanor after nearly five years.
“What’s proven over the years is he’s gained a wealth of education and gotten to work with a lot of neat people. It’s been like a big classroom,” Miller said.
While he couldn’t type fast enough at first to answer his own e-mail, Skyler does that now and has learned how to leave phone messages. He has even introduced sponsors to each other, sparking potential business deals.
He’s also trying to pass along what he’s learned on and off the board. Skyler gives skating lessons as a side enterprise and also is advising the city of Woodinville on how to host a skateboarding contest. He also offers advice to other kids as a skateboarding correspondent for Scholastic News.
Miller admitted that when she watches Skyler skate in contests or talk to owners of sponsoring companies, she sometimes has to remind herself that he is just 10 – a kid who doesn’t always clean his room. But she said she’s happy for the opportunity, no matter how much driving or other work it means for her.
“I don’t look at it as a job. I have a blast with him,” she said.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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