Heidi Fitzgerald By Sasha La Rochelle

Heidi is one of the coolest people I know. Destroying every pool, vert ramp and street course she skates and being just so relaxed about it. Skating is truly her life's calling. I first met Heidi at the All girl Skate Jam at Skateboard Heaven in San Diego in September of 2000. I remember watching her skate the mini ramps with the spine in between and being very impressed. I ran into her again at Slam City Jam the next spring and there she totally rocked the street course. I started to really look up to her as an inspiration in the skate world. That same year we were two of the girls that skated the MTV Sports and Music Festival in Las Vegas. I was the only little kid and felt a little out of place, but Heidi made me feel right at home.

photo Nicole La Rochelle

It's been more than three years now since our first meeting and she still amazes me with new and gnarly tricks every time I see her skate. I cornered her after the Strawberry Bowl contest a few weeks ago and she agreed to an interview for Real Skate. She recounted her official skating history which began at age 15 when she was in Virginia Beach for the summer. Her dad was buying her brother a new skateboard and she asked for one as well. So he bought her a pink Vision Psycho Stik with rails and a pink tail. Very pink. She had ridden plastic Nash boards when she was little in Florida that were from K Mart, but she had never even heard of skate shops up until that summer in Virginia Beach.

Heidi moved a lot while she was growing up because her dad was in the military. She had lived in 13 states before she was out of high school. But she considers Texas her home state and moved to California after high school. She also lived in Florida for a while but now lives and skates in San Diego. The love of her life is Jimmy the Greek who also happens to be an awesome skater. He is just recovering from a serious leg break and surgery which he incurred doing a demo in Alaska this past summer. She first met Jimmy at a contest at the Basic Pool where she was a judge. After playing phone tag for months so she could interview him for Juice Magazine, they finally connected for the interview. After that they ran into each other again at ASR three years ago during which Heidi had a kidney infection and Jimmy had to take her to the hospital. They've been together ever since.

photo Patty Segovia

I asked her if she has time to work in between skating events and she said she works to make her skating possible. "Live to skate forever", she says, "I'm happier when I'm skating." If she has any spare time left over she loves to play video games and write. With a background of playing soccer all through Jr High and Sr High School, the transition to skating was natural for her. Her first contest was in 1991 at the Jeff Phillips skate park in Dallas Texas. (I was lucky enough to acquire one of his decks about a year ago. Unfortunately, he's one of the great skaters who passed on too young in life). She competed in the 15 and over division and won a plaque which she still has. She has continued to compete in vert, pool, and street contests up to the present time.

photo Nicole La Rochelle

Heidi says some of her favorite places to skate are the Nude Bowl (RIP), Clairmont, Pala Pool, but most of all she loves the backyard pool missions they go on. After the San Fernando Valley earthquake a few years ago, they skated a couple of pools at abandoned houses for a long time afterward. She said they were some of the best she's ever skated. Orcas Island in Washington is her favorite skate park.

Heidi's first sponsor was Surfin West in Simi Valley when she was in 11th grade. Now she rides for Dickies Girl, Autobahn, Lady Daggers, Es shoes, Fab Optics, Randoms, Independent, and Madrid Fly Paper.

When I asked her if she has a favorite trick, she said her absolute favorite trick is frontside ollies, but says she loves it all kickflips, k grinds, frontside grinds, and everything as long as she's skating.

Heidi would like to give many thanks to The Greek and Jim and Steph for their love and support throughout the years.

[Editor's Note: Real Skate is a proud supporter of the All Girl Skate Jam in which Heidi participates, and wishes to thank organizer Patty Segovia for her photo contributions to this article.]