Ross Herrera, owner of Shredz Skateboard Shop and local skateboard mentor, is seeking to skate with skateboard legend Tony Hawk in the Tony Hawk Skatepark Hero contest.

The skateboarder chosen to skate with Hawk will bag $10,000 dollars and take the title of Tony Hawk’s Skatepark Hero.

Herrera, in his contest website post, said he wants “to learn from the best. … He would enjoy my stories, my attitude and my passion for skating.”

Responding to what he loves about skating, Herrera said, “I love that no matter what you can be going through, your background or where you come from, skateboarding is for everyone and is always there.”

He said it has helped him through life in many ways, taken him a to a variety of locations and given him true friends. He further stated that skateboarding is his passion and his talent given him by the Lord.

Herrera said some of his favorite tricks include back smith grinds, nollie and switch heelflips and ollie north, adding that his top favorite tricks are blunt slides frontside and backside on rail ledge or even blunt stall to fake on a quarter pipe.

In response to what he would like to learn from Hawk, Herrera said “maybe to do a 900. … I’m sure he gets that allot (sic), but I would like to learn how to pop good airs in a quarter pipe/ramp, to be able to do a kickflip Indy and nice melon grabs.”

He added that he would like to learn from Hawk’s “wisdom, stories, plans and life,” adding that , “there’s more to the birdman besides skateboarding.”

Voting ends at 6 p.m. July 13. To vote for Herrera, visit skateparkhero.org/2023/rosealdo-r-herrera.