Ryan Decenzo: One of Canada’s greatest skateboarders
Ryan Decenzo was born July 20th 1986 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He is one of Canada’s top skateboarders with a long list of impressive accomplishments.
In this article we’ll tell you everything about Ryan Decenzo, his career defining tricks, his best video parts, his most impressive contest performances, his sponsors and private life. Read the entire article or skip ahead here:
- Early days in skateboarding
- Ryan Decenzo’s biggest tricks and defining moments
- Ryan Decenzo’s video parts
- Ryan Decenzo’s best contest finishes
- Ryan Decenzo’s skateboard set up
- Ryan Decenzo’s sponsors
- Ryan’s trick tips
- Private life
- Interviews
Early days in skateboarding
Ryan Decenzo started skateboarding in 2000 at the age of 14. Like many of us, he learned his first skateboard tricks in the driveway of his childhood home.
He then stepped things up learning tricks on obstacles at his local skatepark: North Delta. Eventually, he would bus daily to downtown Vancouver, skating and filming at the city’s best street spots with his brother Scott Decenzo.
Ryan discusses the ups and downs of growing up skating in Vancouver in the Red Bull Perspective video below.
Some of his early influences were legendary Canadian skaters Mike Hastie and Rick McCrank who would tear up Ladner Skatepark, another park in Delta, BC on the outskirts of Vancouver.
Ryan was inspired by classic Transworld videos like The Reason, Sight unseen, and In Bloom and was hyped up by local Vancouver rippers in the RDS FSU 2002 video. He also lists Vancouver native Ted Degros, brother of Ben Degros, as one of his early inspirations.
Ryan began competing in local Vancouver area events at only 17 years of age in 2003.
In the winters he would regularly sneak into the Red Dragon skatepark until Moses Itkonen put him and his brother on their flow team, allowing them to skate the indoor Vancouver park for free.
From there it wasn’t long before more people started taking notice of Ryan’s talents and set him on the path towards going pro.
Decenzo brothers in California
By 2005 at the age of 19, Ryan and his brother Scott were regularly spending time in California as amateur skateboarders.
Ryan was an amateur with Darkstar, which was run by Chet Thomas. Mike Stanfield, who was Darkstar Team Manager and filmer brought him out to Terrence, California.
He spent his days skating with Paul Machnau and Galiea Momolu, both Canadian skateboarding legends in their own right. Ryan credits Machnau with showing him the ropes of being a professional skater.
Meanwhile, Ryan’s brother Scott was skating with the Plan B team, which included well known Canadian skater Colin Mckay.
Going pro
Ryan went pro in 2008 after winning the Tampa Am event, the most prestigious amateur skateboarding contest in the world. Check out Decenzo’s 2008 winning finals run in the video below.
Ryan Decenzo’s biggest tricks and defining moments
Ryan has hit so many famous spots and landed so many legendary tricks that it’s hard to pick out just a few career defining moments, but here are a few that stand out.
El Toro
When it comes to legendary spots there aren’t many with the reputation of El Toro. Some of the gnarliest skaters have stepped up to get a piece of this spot and cement their name in skateboarding history.
Arto Saari did a front board on the rail in És legendary video “Menikmati” and Heat Kirchart did a frontside lip slide in “The End”, a classic 1998 Birdhouse skate video.
In 2009 Decenzo stepped up the ante by launching a huge nollie down the massive set. The clip was featured in the Globe shoes video “United by faith 5”. Check it out for yourself below.
Ryan discussed how he first dreamed of landing a nollie down El Toro before going and bagging the trick in real life on the 9 club with Chris Roberts.
Thrasher Covers
Landing a magazine cover is a monumental event for professional skateboarders. In 2009, Ryan was featured on the cover of Thrasher magazine with his brother. Ryan front side flipped a gap right next to the rail that his brother Scott Decenzo front side board slid.
The fact that he got to share the cover with his brother makes it all the more special. Get all the details in the video below.
In 2014 Ryan graced the cover of Thrasher magazine again with a huge blunt slide.
Wallenberg
Another famous spot that Ryan has conquered is Wallenberg. This spot is know for multiple tricks by top pros. Mark Gonzales was the first to ollie the four block. Andrew Reynolds frontside flipped it, Chris Cole 360 flipped it and more recently Brandon Turner switch hard flipped it.
Decenzo landed a first try 360 down Wallenberg as one of the opening clips to his “Enter the Red Dragon” part which came out in 2016.
Ryan Decenzo and Jake Phelps
In 2016 Ryan does the biggest kick flip of his life. The late Thrasher Editor Jake Phelps specifically recruited Decenzo to kick flip the massive double set in the San Francisco Bay area after watching Ryan bust huge kick flips at the Cinco de Slammo competition in San Diego.
Legends like Andrew Reynolds and Jamie Thomas had previously attempted to Ollie the set and walked away empty handed before Diego Bucchieri finally landed an ollie down the massive double set. Nobody had dared to attempt anything else until Ryan stepped up and kick flipped it.
Watch Ryan battle to float one the biggest and loftiest kick flips of all time in the video below.
Ryan Decenzo snow gap
Back in 2014 Rick Mcrank first did a snow gap 180. In 2022 Ryan Decenzo took it to a whole other level when he famously front side flipped the 20 foot or 6 meter river gap off a snow kicker.
Ryan Decenzo’s Video parts
Ryan Decenzo has been consistently putting out solid street skateboarding parts for the better part of 15 years. Read through to discover them all or skip ahead to your favourite video:
- Coastal Riders Welcome Home (2008)
- United by Fate part 5 (2009)
- Dimestore video (2010)
- Hallelujah (2010)
- Forward Slash (2015)
- Enter the Dragon (2016)
- Darkstar Part (2017)
- Autotelic (2019)
- Sender Bender (2021)
- 1990 (2022)
- About a week or so in… Vancouver (2023)
- Till the legs fall off (2024)
Early Decenzo videos include 2008’s “Coastal Riders Welcome Home” video where Ryan throws down some solid street skating.
In 2009 we get the legendary Globe “United by fate part 5”, where Ryan nollies el Toro.
Decenzo then had the ender in the 2010 Dimestore video. These early Dime videos helped establish the Montreal shop as one of the biggest brands in skateboarding.
Transworld skateboarding
After growing up watching Transworld Skateboarding videos, Ryan was grateful to have a part in “Hallelujah” in 2010. He described the filming process as being competitive, which really pushed everyone involved to put out better parts.
He was inspired by working with top level filmers who were motivated to go out and get clips, but he had joined the project 6 months in, so he had to get a lot of clips in a very short period of time. Watch his incredible part below.
Darkstar and Red Dragon parts
In 2015 Ryan has the ender in the Darkstar film “Forward Slash” where he lays out banger after banger.
In 2016 Ryan had a stand out part in the Red Dragons’ classic street skating film “Enter the Red Dragon” where he famously 360’d Wallenberg first try.
In 2017 Ryan released a part for Darkstar, featuring massive rails, sets and gaps.
In 2019 Ryan was featured in the Darkstar film “Autotelic”.
Thrasher releases
The mayhem continues in 2021 with Ryan putting out his “Sender bender” part which ends on one of the biggest 360 flip I’ve ever seen.
In 2022 Ryan followed up “Sender Bender” by releasing his “1990” video part on Thrasher. He continues to prove he deserves his reputation as a top street skating pro.
Recent releases
In 2023 we were graced with a short Red Dragon video featuring Ryan called “A week or so in… Vancouver”.
Ryan dropped “Till the legs fall off” an FP part on Thrasher in 2024.
Ryan continues to film some of the sickest street skating and I’m sure it won’t be long until we see another part come out. Follow his instagram to keep up with some of his street clips.
Not only is Decenzo a prolific street skater with an impressive list of street parts, he’s a serious contender on the international contest scene.
Ryan Decenzo’s best Contest finishes
Ryan has been a force to reckon with on the pro skateboarding contest circuit. Since winning Tampa am in 2008 and going pro, he’s been a contender in all the biggest skateboarding leagues and tours.
Dew Tour
As early as 2013, Decenzo won bronze at the Dew Tour street finals in San Francisco, USA. Check out his finals run with a huge switch tail and a massive blunt slide down the hubba.
Tampa Pro
Ryan then won the best trick contest at Tampa Pro in 2015 with a huge 360 followed up with a kick flip late shuv over the fun box.
In 2018 Ryan placed 3rd at the Tampa pro finals with a nollie heel flip to board slide that set the place on fire. Check out the video below to watch his finals run.
X Games
In 2016 he won gold at the X-games street finals. His run takes place at the 29 min and 34 second mark of this video featured on ESPN, and features a sick kick flip front lip and massive front side flip. He defeats Nyjah Huston and many other prolific skaters to take the win at the competition in Austin Texas.
Ryan continues to perform strong in competitions to this day, recently finishing 3rd at the 2023 X-games street finals in California. His finals run featured an impressive front side flip and kick flip crooked grind.
Street League Skateboarding (SLS)
When it comes to SLS, Decenzo finished as high as 2nd place in Chicago finals in 2023, check out a video of his best tricks from the contest below. It’s impressive.
Olympics
As a member of Team Canada’s 2023 National and development Street team, Ryan is actively pursuing a top spot at the olympics in Paris in 2024.
Ryan Decenzo’s skateboard setup
in this early video from 2010, Ryan discusses his board setup. Skating his first pro deck, the 8.25 lumberjack Paul Bunyon graphic, thunder hollows and bones 52mm wheels.
Fast forward to 2015 and we see that Ryan’s preferences, and sponsors have changed somewhat. He’s still on an 8.25 Darkstar board and bones 52mm wheels, but he’s switched to Indy 149 hollows.
A couple years later Decenzo reveals that he prefers Grizzly Griptape and that he actually rides his board backwards, skating the nose as the tail. He’s also updated his wheel preference slightly, going from a 52mm bones wheel to a 53mm.
Check out the video below to see what Decenzo keeps in his trunk, so he can be ready to take on the gnarliest street spots.
Ryan Decenzo’s Sponsors
Given Ryan’s accomplishments and skill level, it’s no surprise that he has an impressive list of top sponsors.
Currently, Ryan is a part of Redbull’s international team of top athletes and he has a pro shoe with FP Footwear. He rides for Independent trucks, Bones Wheels, Red Dragon Apparel and A Lost Cause.
In 2024 Ryan launched a new skateboard brand 2 cents skateboards. Check out their instagram page.
Quantum Bearing Science, arguably the most technologically advanced skateboard bearing manufacturers in the world, sponsored Ryan Decenzo in 2022, launching a signature series ceramic hybrid bearing in his name. Ryan, who had previously skated only Bones Swiss Bearings, was impressed by the noticeably smoother and stronger Quantum Isotope bearings, perfect for his aggressive yet precise skating style.
Show Ryan some love by picking up his signature series bearings for only $79.99 CAD today.
Ryan Decenzo Signature Series Quantum Isotopes bearings
These bearings are designed for speed and strength. A ceramic hybrid for high impact street and aggressive park skating.
Only 5 left in stock
Ryan’s Trick tips
After checking out all of Decenzo’s accomplishments, video parts and best contest runs, there’s no doubt that you’d wanna be able to skate like him!
Luckily Ryan has created a handful of trick tip videos that can help you out.
First he gives us his tips for 360 flips.
Then tips on front side 360s.
He continues with tips to work your way up to a kick flip nose manual.
Followed by tips to throw down some hardflips.
Tips to help you learn backside smith grinds.
And last but not least, one of Decenzo’s signature tricks, the front side flip.
Private life
Ryan is living the good life. Skating and travelling the world all the while married to a beautiful pilates instructor @jordannaamandaa.
In his spare time he enjoys snowboarding, riding dirt bikes and cycling.
Interviews
Below you’ll find a “Route One Interview” with Ryan Decenzo from 2016 where he discusses life and skateboarding.
Ryan also sat down with Chris Roberts on the 9 Club.
