They grew up together in Hawaii. Now, they're skating in the X Games.

Skateboarders Heimana Reynolds and Jordyn Barratt are proudly repping their home state of Hawaii as they each compete in X Games men’s and women’s skateboarding park this week.

Growing up on Oahu together, Heimana Reynolds and Jordyn Barratt, now 19, learned to surf and skateboard from as young as five years old.

Hawaii is known for producing legendary surfers, but fewer skateboarders come to mind — Christian Hosoi, for sure, but not many more at his level.

So even though Reynolds and Barratt spent their days traversing back and forth between the skate park and the ocean daily, as they both grew up they found themselves drawn to shape their careers around skating. Fast forward 15 years, and now they’ll both be competing in the X Games skateboarding park discipline later this week in Minneapolis.

LONG BEACH, CA – JUNE 18: Heimana Reynolds skates during the Pro Bowl Final at the Dew Tour Skate Competition on June 18, 2017 in Long Beach, California. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images) /

Barratt, for a time, was actually competing at the pro level in surfing and skating. In fact, she made history when, in 2016, she became the first girl ever at the Vans US Open of Surf to compete in both skating and surfing, and she earned a podium spot in skateboarding.

But as any multi-sport athlete can tell you, if you want to win medals, it’s sometimes better to zero in on one sport.

“I was traveling an insane amount and it was really hard to do both surf and skate,” Barratt tells FanSided about that time in her career. “At my first X games in Austin in 2016, I skated on a Saturday and the next day, I had to wake up at 3 a.m. to go to Cabo to do a surf contest.

“I had to choose at that point,” Barratt says. “I surf all the time, but skating was more of my passion.”

It’s the same story for Reynolds, who has been billed as Hawaii’s “next big thing” in skating since he was 10 years old, and who, to live up to those expectations, has had to focus it on as his full-time profession.

“Skateboarding is my professional career that I am sticking with. It’s my passion,” Reynolds tells FanSided. “Surfing’s always going to be my side getaway, to go in the water and just be yourself.

“Skateboarding you can do that too….It’s hard to explain, but I’m definitely going to focus most of my time and energy on skateboarding and keep surfing as that side love.”

Now that these childhood friends have kick(flipped) it into overdrive in their skateboarding careers, they’ve both been reaping the rewards. And they’re cheering each other on the whole way.

“I met Jordyn at a super young age and we grew up skating and surfing all day every day together,” Reynolds says. “It’s super cool to see how much success she has and to see that we both came from the same place and made it to the X Games.”

For her part, Barratt has placed on the podium twice in as many years in the X Games, claiming bronze in women’s park at X Games Austin 2016 — her first pro contest, by the way — and earning a silver in Minneapolis last year.

In fact, since turning pro, Barratt has hardly missed a podium, from the Dew Tour to the La Kantera Pro to Exposure. Though she’s only been at the pro level for two years, she’s now a threat to claim gold in the women’s park contest this week.

She’s also been racking up the sponsorships, now supported by Vans, Pro-Tec, Bones, Independent, Mob Grip, Black & Decker and 187 Pads. Unlike other pro athletes, action sports athletes often have to pay their own way for travel for contests and filming, and the prize money, if they’re lucky enough to win it, isn’t usually enough to support them.

Barratt says the sponsorships for girls in skating are “better than ever” — but she still maintains a dogsitting business on the side out of her home in Fallbrook, California.

As for her plan to claim gold this year? Barratt has been busy improving her repertoire of tricks, as well as — most importantly — being able to stay on her board for a 45-second run. The best trick in the world won’t net you some hardware if you can’t land it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BlCdBrnF6AS/?hl=en&taken-by=jordynbarratt

“That’s pretty hard, to try to do so many tricks in a run,” Barratt explains. “I’m focusing on improving in different areas to try to get gold; that’s my big goal right now.”

Like his friend, Reynolds, who is sponsored by Pocket Pistols, Vans (flow), Proper Rideshop, S1, Independent, 187, Spitfire, Stance and Bones Bearings, is also looking for gold this year at the X Games.

In fact, he’s looking for his first-ever medal in the contest.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj8yo39A5dU/?hl=en&taken-by=heimana_reynolds

In 2017, Reynolds was the third place qualifier at the Road to X Games Park Qualifiers in Boise (June 2017), earning his spot to skate at X Games Minneapolis 2017. He placed eighth in the men’s park contest — largely due to a devastating shoulder injury suffered in practice just two days before.

He still tried to go for it, but the results spoke for themselves.

“I thought, ‘I came all this way; I’m not not gonna skate,'” Reynolds tells FanSided. “I got a shot of lidocaine so I could push through my skating. Last year was a bump in the road to trying to get my medal. This year I’m coming in fully healthy. In practice I’m just trying to get my lines and not go for anything too sketchy.”

They grew up together in Hawaii. Now, they’re skating in the X Games.

By Michelle Bruton | Jul 17, 2018

Skateboarders Heimana Reynolds and Jordyn Barratt are proudly repping their home state of Hawaii as they each compete in X Games men’s and women’s skateboarding park this week.