Anthony Shetler Is New To The Dew Tour

East Coaster Anthony Shetler can skate anything. He can destroy rails and street and tech stuff. Although he’s known more as a street skater than a contest skater, the Taunton, Mass. local lives two minutes from Skaters Edge, a huge indoor skatepark, and it’s where he’ll be dialing in his tranny skills to prepare to qualify for the Dew Tour’s skate park discipline. After following the Dew Tour and visiting a few events, he’s ready to join in on the action himself. With a new Celtics-inspired board graphic coming out from World Industries, it goes without saying that the 27 year old is stoked to be skating the Boston Dew Tour at TD Garden, the site of the Celtics legendary parquet floor and his own hometown.

Like Shetler’s deck? Get it now, click the photo

Now that you’ve been on World Industries for a while and got to do a couple trips, how does it feel to be part of the new team they’re building?
It feels awesome. When they called me up and told me they wanted to be a part of World Industries and that they were going to turn me pro, I just got really excited. I felt like that was the next move for me. It’s cool to meet everyone on the team. It feels awesome to be able to help build a brand and just have a say on the team. We’re working on a new promo video right now and I’ve been working really hard on that, so that’s the next goal for us.

Varial H. Flip 12 at Utah University

At what point in your life did it become apparent that you could make a living being a professional skateboarder?
When I was about 17 I first got sponsored by 5Boro Skateboards, and that is when I realized, ‘OK, this might actually be able to happen.’ So once I got that opportunity I just started to work and travel and do as much as I could to get myself out there, and that’s when I realized. I had a little momentum, you know.

What prompted you to want to do the Dew Tour?
Well, there’s a lot of cash involved (laughing). Honestly too another big thing for me is that you guys are doing it in Boston at the Celtics stadium, the TD Banknorth Garden. I remember I went to a Dew Tour before in Utah and it’s just really cool seeing all the stadiums. The one I went to before was where Utah Jazz plays, so it’s cool. I really like the stadiums because I’m a big fan of basketball.  My new graphic actually is like a Celtics graphic where we took it and made it a World Industries spin off. It will be at the Dew Tour along with some T-shirts that go along with the whole Celtics theme. 

Have you heard about the hazing that goes on for newbies on the Tour (joking)?
No, I have not. I hope I’ll be prepared. We’ll see. I’ll handle it the best I can. Hopefully I won’t cry. 

B.S. Lipslide in Tucson, AZ filming for upcoming World promo

Have you followed the Dew Tour in years past of what stands out about the Tour? Did your former Zoo York teammate Chaz Ortiz get you psyched on it?
I’ve followed the Dew Tour for sure. It seems really cool. Obviously you guys have a lot of top pro skateboarders involved in it, so I’ve followed whatever coverage has been on there. I follow all the Internet magazines and web videos. It just looks fun. It looks awesome, looks like it’s a good contest. You guys put up a good prize, got the good skateboarders. I really want to give it a go and see if I can qualify to make it onto the rest of them. That’s really my goal.

Any other stops that you’re really psyched on being at?
Honestly, Boston, man. The Celtics were in the finals. I’m from here. The TD Banknorth Garden means a lot to me. I think this first one in Boston is gonna be the one I’m looking forward to. I know last year I went to the Boston and Salt Lake Dew Tours and we were walking all through the stadiums. I’m hoping it’s kind of the same this year, with the athlete lounge being somewhere cool inside the stadium. I want to see the whole stadium so I’m just really excited for Boston. 

Ever skated on live TV before?
No, I don’t think so.  Just webcasts and stuff like that. I never have but that would be really cool. My family would be very excited to see me and I could give a shout out to everyone.

What are your goals and expectations going into the season? Are you looking to make top-10, top-20 or just qualify?
For me, I’ve never been really known as a contest skater, I’ve done all right in contests, but I’ve never really focused that hard on them.  I’ve been mostly street skating and trying to film. When I was skating for Birdhouse we were working on a video and then I went to Zoo York and we were working on a video until that came out. I’ve just been focused on street skating but I really would like to do good because I can skate skateparks and I’ve skated Tampa Pro and got top-11. For me I feel like if I could do that there, and if I could do it at the Dew Tour, I could get on the Tour. Get a little momentum going and hopefully I could get in top-10, or better. Who knows? My main focus right now is one thing at a time. If I can do well enough to qualify to get on the Tour, that would be huge for me, and then just take it from there and try to step it up.

Backside flip bump to bar at Boston University

You’ve got through Open Qualifiers to land a spot on the Tour, given this is your home turf, do you see that as an advantage or a disadvantage. Does it put any more pressure on you?
No, I don’t think so. I put the pressure on myself, always. I really want to do well. I want to qualify. So basically I’m just gonna practice skating skateparks for a while and try to get my head straight and focus on one trick at a time and while I’m out there try and qualify. If I qualify for this one, then the next one we’ll step it up and do more. Try to get top-10, and so on and so on.

Are you going to have a cheering section of friends and family at the event?
I’m bringing my fiancé and my friend Travis is coming. I’m definitely going to tell everyone to tune in and watch the broadcast.

What do you think the differences are between East Coast skaters verses West Coast?
I feel that coming from the East Coast you gotta put in a little more work as far as trying to film a trick. Usually the terrain is a lot rougher, there’s cracks, nothing’s perfect. People on the East Coast are a little more set in their ways too, so a lot of it’s more of a bust factor because they don’t want you skating on their historical stuff.

I just think it takes a lot of heart to come from the East Coast with the harsh winters and just it’s not as much of an industry here. It’s starting to build with pros like me, Nick Dompierre and Brandon Westgate. We’re starting to get a good handful of pros, so it’s starting to pick up. I think it’s just a little harder here but New England is blue collar, hard worker so I think we’re up to it. I lived in Cali for two years and it’s awesome, but I think they have to deal with just having perfect weather all the time and feeling like, ‘OK, well I just can go out tomorrow and skate.’ It’s the same thing over and over. It’s kind of like Groundhog Day. There are pros and cons to each side, but I think we work a little harder on the East Coast, for sure.

What do you have going on in your life outside of qualifying for Dew Tour right now?
We’ll I’m getting married. We’re engaged and we haven’t quite set a date for the wedding yet. We’ve been together for a while now and we just recently got engaged. That’s a big deal for me. Also, I’m just working on the World Industries video that we’re gonna put out hopefully by winter time.

I’m definitely doing the Go Skateboarding Day on June 21 with the Orchard Skateshop. Orchard Skateshop is going to have a Go Skateboarding Day event and Fuel TV will be there to document it. They just opened up a new shop in Boston and they got a miniramp inside the skate shop so I’m going to go down for that and skate the miniramp and hang out with them.

For all the event details, visit the Dew Tour’s Boston event page here.

The Skate Open includes the International Skateboarding Federation’s (ISF) Skateboarding World Championships at Boston’s TD Garden, June 25-26, and features both men’s and women’s skate park and vert competitions.

Click here for Dew Tour tickets for Boston