Skateboarding was a childhood hobby Brandon Strosser never stopped doing.
His father bought him his first skateboard for his ninth birthday, and Brandon has been skating since.
Now 16 and a junior at Lancaster Catholic High School, he will compete in the Free Flow Tour finals at AST Dew Tour's Toyota Challenge, in Salt Lake City. The competition runs today through Sunday.
The Free Flow Tour is a cross-country skateboard and BMX tour with 50 competitions: 24 park and six vert skateboard, and 16 park and four vert BMX competitions.
Skating star"Vert" skateboarding refers to using a vertical ramp to achieve stunts such as flips and spins, while "park" refers to skateboarding or riding on paved surfaces.
Winners in each of the qualifying competitions advance to the finals in Salt Lake City.
Brandon, of Lancaster, placed first in the Free Flow's stop in Philadelphia earlier this summer.
"It felt really good (to win), because my friends told me about how much fun (the finals) was," says Brandon.
Before the final competition, Brandon and other winners will practice with pros, like 18-year-old skateboarder Ryan Sheckler.
Brandon, though, is looking forward to practicing with Paul Rodriguez, his favorite street skateboarder.
Brandon's favorite vert skateboarder is Bob Burnquist, he says.
Part of the "Flow to Pro" theme also involves the two overall BMX and skate-vert champions and two overall BMX and skate-park champions winning a wild-card spot to compete with the pros in the PlayStation Pro, the AST Dew Tour final, in Orlando, Fla., in October.
Brandon started competing in small competitions months after his ninth birthday.
"After that, I knew I could pursue it," he says.
He has since won many competitions and accumulated a large collection of skateboards.
Although he does occasionally travel across the country for competitions, Brandon says he mostly skates in bigger competitions on the East Coast.
His most memorable wins, he says, were the Playstation AM JAM and Free Flow competitions.
"(Winning competitions) feels good, because when I go to other competitions, they know my name," he says.
Brandon also enjoys meeting up with old friends at competitions.
At home, he skates four hours on average in the evenings after school. During the summer, he says, he skates about six or seven hours a day.
He prefers street skating, though he used to do vert. He likes the tricks he is able to do on the street and the variety of opportunities the street offers, he says, such as railings, flip tricks and going down stairs.
"There are no limits," he says. "You can keep learning new stuff. It's more challenging.
"I basically do it for fun, but I've been thinking about going pro."
EXTREME TOUR
The AST (Action Sport Tour) Dew Tour began in June 2005. Made up of five events held throughout the country from June through October, the event features skateboarding, BMX biking and freestyle motocross.
Champions in each category earn the Dew Cup, based on a cumulative points system, and take home a portion of $2.5 million in prize money, along with a $1 million bonus pool, based upon year-end standings.
The AST Tour is broadcast on NBC, MTV and USA Network and airs in more than 100 countries.
Locally, you can catch it at 2 a.m. (with a repeat at 9 a.m.) and midnight Saturdays, on USA Network.
This year's tour concludes with the PlayStation Pro, in Orlando, Fla., Oct. 16 to 19.
For details, check out
www.ast.com or
www.freeflowtour.com.
Diana Le is a McCaskey graduate and attends Penn State University, Harrisburg. E-mail her at
YourLife@LNPnews.com. 
