Perhaps one of the most interesting people I have ever met, Bryce Wettstein is a true original.  From her overalls to her love of all things multi colored to her skills on the ukulele she is truly a beautiful human being.  Bryce was raised in Encinitas, CA by supportive parents who also happened to be skateboarders.  She has told the story of how her father took her to skate a pool in a friend’s backyard and she was fascinated to see how that would work, only to be disappointed that there was in fact, no water in the pool.

Bryce spent her early days skating around Southern California with her family and soon with her best friend, Brighton Zeuner (who also qualified to compete in the Women’s Park Olympics event).  Bryce began to enter competitions and advancing her skills.  She started winning those competitions and by the time Team USA was being put together, was ranked No. 1 in the US and No. 8 in the world for Women’s Park.

At the age of 17, she never thought she would be traveling across the globe to participate in such a historic event as the first ever Olympic Skateboarding competition.  It is definitely a long way from skating an empty pool in a neighbor’s backyard.  We cannot wait to see what tricks she pulls out of the multi-colored patchwork bag of hers when she hits the course at Ariake Urban Stadium.  All of the medals for the Women’s Street Competition were won by female athletes under the age of 18, perhaps Bryce and Brighton will continue that trend!

Cover Image by Jedidiah Woods.