“That kid is fearless. No matter what when we go to the skate park, he always gives everything that he’s got. He tries as hard as he can. He doesn’t back or fail,” senior Max Becker says of a close street-skateboarder friend.

Terrence Moore has been skateboarding for six years. He was given his first little board when he was four, but says that he started to seriously take up skating years later. “I was ten when I got my first real board…my uncle took me to the skate park and taught me how to drop – to learn that first trick,” Moore remembers of the day when skating became a big part of him. “I kinda just went for it without any hesitation. Then I got it.”

From then on, Moore has learned plenty of tricks – from going down stair railings to various kinds of 360’s and flips. But with each trick he does, it can take him a lot of time and dedication to master it. “Sometimes it can takes hours. But when I skate, I don’t stop. If I do just one trick, I’ll just run back up and try it again. I can do it for an hour straight,” Moore says.  He has fallen down many times, but other than some scrapes and bruises, Terrence has never gotten a serious injury from skating.

To him, skateboarding is more than a hobby – it’s a passion. It’s his life.

Moore goes to the skate park everyday (usually at Santa Rita), with support from his family and friends. However, he says there can be quite a lot of public discrimination about street skateboarding that he runs into (mostly due to laws and private property policies). “I understand where they are coming from, but I guess sometimes they can be nicer about it…”

A fun fact about Moore is that he is sponsored by the popular drink, Monster Energy. He sent them a video of him skateboarding, and they decided to put him under their sponsorship, Monster Army – a program where they support 13-21 year-old athletes around the world to represent the drink’s brand. Moore says one of his goals is getting a sponsorship from Nike, like his Phoenix friend and idol, Dashawn Jordan. He is currently working on making the video.

Other goals Moore has this year is entering more competitions (he has only entered a couple thus far), and getting good grades in school. Being a senior, his plans after high school is college and in the future, having his own clothing brand and being a pro-skateboarder.

“I definitely appreciate all the support people have given me. Lots of people believe I’ll be pro one day. I definitely don’t want to disappoint them,” Moore comments at the end of the interview.

Find more of Terrence Moore in his Instagram @thatyungt