San Francisco pro skater Walker Ryan's novel, "Top of Mason"
Walker Ryan got two important things when he was 14: his first skateboarding sponsor and a box of books written by his grandmother. He can’t remember whether it was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or his friend’s older brother who got him interested in skateboarding. Forgive his fuzzy memory: He was 7. At age 10, Ryan started sending what skaters call “sponsor-me tapes”; four years later, he got his first sponsor, the sporting goods chain Play It Again Sports. Skateboarders earn their living from sponsorships, and they start young. It was Ryan’s grandmother, novelist Susan Trott, w...
Source: latimes.com