TPM Episode 454: Shawn Robertson, Legendary Skater
The Powell Movement
Mike Powell
4.9 • 860 Ratings
🗓️ 13 October 2025
⏱️ 81 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Shawn Robertson is up there with the most naturally gifted athletes I've ever worked with. At 13, he was throwing an 80 mph fastball and dominating team sports, then he found inline and rode that rocketship. By the time he was 15, he left Texas on his first plane ever and within months, he was traveling the world, winning contests and putting out incredible street parts all in the name of skating. Now, the poor kid from Texas had all the things thanks to a Levis Sponsorship, working with GAP, plus all the core skate brands. Shawn had "it" and could do anything and still command respect. But an injury, combined with no insurance, forced Shawn to pivot to professional frisbee golf among other things. Fellow wild Texas skater, Ryan Dawes asks the Inappropriate Questions. This is one of my favorite people and episodes.
Shawn Robertson Show Notes:
4:00: Willie Nelscon's Tour Bus, growing up around substances, family of athletes, not having money, rollerblading, older kids, Hoax 2, and Jon Julio
22:00: Liquid Force, Feel the Pull and get 15% off your LF Purchase by using the code Powell15 at checkout
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Best Day Brewing: All of the flavor of your favorite IPA or Kolsch, without the alcohol, the calories or sugar.
25:00: Street skating, NISS road trip, getting sponsors, coming back from Europe to nothing, X Trials, travel and demos
41:00: Elan Skis: Over 75 years of innovation that makes you better.
Outdoor Research: Click here for 25% off Outdoor Research products (not valid on sale items or pro products)
42:00: contests, money, 20K minute, the Las Vegas trip, Tai Pei, sketchy situations, MTV and festivals, Bolivia, no insurance ankle issues, other business, Frisbee golf and breaking his heels
55:00: Inappropriate Questions with Ryan Dawes
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Have a seat on your porcelain throne. |
| 0:02.3 | It's time to talk some shit on the Powell movement. |
| 0:13.5 | Welcome to the Powell movement. |
| 0:16.9 | I'm your host Mike Powell, and this week I'm taking it back, way back, to a time in my life |
| 0:22.1 | when there wasn't any pain or suffering. A time before my wife, a time before my kid. The time |
| 0:27.7 | was when I was team manager for K2 skates. I was fresh off of a year driving a K2 van and trailer |
| 0:33.4 | from skate park to skate park and ski resort in the name of K2 skates and skis. |
| 0:38.8 | That was the greatest job I ever had. |
| 0:40.8 | It was one of those deals where I had $220 a day to spend in Per Diem. |
| 0:45.3 | I had a van and trailer full of product and swag, and I was like the ski shop rock star, going city to city. |
| 0:51.8 | And if I didn't play hard to want, which is my go-to move at that time, |
| 0:55.8 | and probably now, I would have had groupies too. And that incredible job came to an end when I applied |
| 1:01.4 | for a better job, the K2 Skates Global Team Manager position. Fuck the VW sponsorship, the van and |
| 1:07.7 | the trailer that I had on the East Coast, I was upgrading to flights all |
| 1:11.2 | over the world, and I was going to contests in remote places with the best athletes in the world, |
| 1:16.1 | and my job was to act like a glorified PR agent, getting the athletes more media time they could |
| 1:21.5 | possibly ever imagine. And I was really good at that. And one of the greatest athletes of that |
| 1:26.4 | time in inline skating was Sean Robertson, a tough |
| 1:29.8 | as nails Texas boy who was part supreme athlete, part troublemaker, and part kid that every |
| 1:35.7 | mother loved. |
| 1:37.3 | Sean taught me so much about the world of action sports, from how to twist my first spliff |
| 1:42.2 | to how to get someone into the X games that didn't qualify for it. He knew all the tricks, and Sean was the best, and I've been meaning to have him on the show for a while. And I know, it's almost ski season. But don't worry, this is going to be the last non-snow episode in a while, and it's totally worth it. But before I get into it, I want to thank you for listening each week |
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