My name is Jes Izaidin from Kuala Lumpur Malaysia and have received the number 900 for the IGSA racing season. I am fourteen years old and have been longboarding for about 4/5 years.
I started skating from the influence of my big brother Jes Muhammad and also inspired me to start longboarding. He was studying in New Zealand at the time. When he came back, the first thing I noticed was the really big surfboard-looking skateboard he was holding.
I took one look at it and was instantly hooked. The first time on it was so much fun, the feeling blew me away. What I love most about longboarding is how the adrenaline and ability to surf on concrete instantly takes control of your body.
I started skateboarding a year before I started longboarding so it was sort of an easy transition. Started doing serious downhill about a year ago after I started to use it for commuting and cruising around on.
The hills in Malaysia are pretty awesome and interestingly fun and some are technical. I started with pretty big hills so I guess I skipped a couple of steps. Bombing a hill with a group of riders is just the best feeling in the world. The longboarding community in Malaysia is small but growing fast. My team, the “Malaya Street Bombers” is an all downhill team.
When I was 11, he brought me to one of the local hills and I was pretty terrified to go down but he told me “once you push off and you’re on your board you have to finish what you started”. I went down and fell, but I never looked back. Those words stuck with me until this day.
Longboarding has changed my life. There is not one day I’m not on my longboard and every chance I get to skate I’m on it.
The first time I raced was at KKB outlaw one of the emptiest, fastest hills in my country. In a competition I realized things were more serious, focusing on the other person and trying to over take them is really challenging and really exciting. Going at corners at high speeds with other people is really scary but that’s something I am getting used to with enough practice. I want to start racing professionally.
Downhill skateboarding is my passion and I would like to keep skateboard racing for as long as I can.