Meet Randall Young

Today we’d like to introduce you to Randall Young. 

Hi Randall, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
My journey started around 2018 shortly after breaking my ankle in a skateboard accident. I was key part of maintaining a skate-shop in Maplewood with owner Dustin Pulley and a select set of friends to skate for the shop (me included). Then one day it kinda dawned on me how little-noticed we are in the Midwest as a skateboard industry. So, without hesitation, I came up with the STL SOTY (skater of the year) AWARD party. With me in-network with so many people who thrive in different lanes, it was easy to bring all aspects together to create a new scene here in St. Louis. so, Mark Johnson and I got together and came up with our organization SynSkateXlub. S.Y.N as an abbreviation for (Something You Need) was created to help local artist and vendors alike prosper and gain recognition for their unseen talents and underappreciated skills from those who initially lived in St. Louis. But due to Mark and I having a wide variety of networks across the US our brand has and still is doing its job in helping to increase our Midwest recognition in the skateboard industry and now MUSIC. So far in this journey, we have held a multitude of community events such as PUSH FOR PEACE and local contest like FEILD DAY as well as a showcase for music artists at local venues. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Nothing was achieved overnight. My teammate and I have completed lots of task and had to jump through many hurdles. One of many issues we’ve experienced includes bringing individuals (who are not like minded) together in the same work place in the past. Organization is a key part in building an infrastructure. I have a real vision that includes the lively hood of everyone. The passion for my vision sometimes cloud other peoples perception of the true goal that has been set out to reach and has caused some internal issues amongst team players leaving us with a high turn over rate. Other than that, things have been rather smooth as far as gettin the community involved in unity. Thanks to KHVT and NOCOASTSKATEBOARDS along with SK8-LIBORIUS for being one of our biggest helping hands. In terms of community outreach and its nonprofit approach, both Sk8 Liborius and Nocoastskateboards have played their part in getting bigger companies involved in our development such as REDBULL ,TRANSWORLD, and our newly developed COOLER BNB.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’ve been a skateboarder for the last 20 years of my life. I have worked with several different local brands and companies helping them get started on their journey. thought out that process I’ve found myself traveling around the Midwest to traveling all over the US skating for these companies. I turned professional for a Florida company called JOKERS DRAGON SKATEBOARDS (back in 2011) which no longer exists and I eventually got endorsed by another Michigan-based company called 420BRANDCLOTHING which also no longer exist to leave me as a free agent as one today’s current status. 

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
I have learned that what we are a part of is bigger than just me it involves the whole community. And we were able to still perform our duties as community leaders and safely bring others together. The crisis in fact helped push people to get involved and get organized on a local scale. Since the beginning of last year 2020, the major companies and artist alike whom has Stlouis set in their sites for performances or skateboard competitions had canceled all events. And that left us to do for ourselves in the safest way possible. And thanks to all who pitched in to help make our events during the crisis a major success 

Pricing:

• private skate lessons 6-week course $250 flat rate includes 1-2 days a week 4-6 hours a day or $30 hourly rate
• showcase event planning $150-$300
• personal merch made $50-$200

Contact Info:

• Email: Synskatexlub33@gmail.com
• Instagram: @SynSkateXlub @skate3hard @SynMediaco
• Facebook: SynSkateXlub
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYtyn9wtoa8Y2J3_SI7LAsg
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-952378745

Image Credits
David Koehler
Nick Lawyer
Jason Trent