Five Favorite Parts With Hayley Wilson

🔑 Intro & Interview by Farran Golding
📷 Photo by Sarah Meurle

We noticed how much real-life connections and childhood viewing habits have informed Five Favorite Parts — with the latter often offering up the left-field selections. Although vert superstardom was not high among the collective youthful aspirations of the QS office, if we ran a vote, then a ledge of any shape or size would undoubtedly emerge as our preferred obstacle of choice. That shared ideal, our sympathy for ledges gone AWOL, and her recent output, make Hayley Wilson an overdue guest here.

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Paul Rodriguez — Girl: Yeah Right! (2003)

I remember seeing Yeah Right! on YouTube when I was 10 or 11. He goes from the most technical tricks to jumping down a set of stairs right after [in a line], which was cool. Growing up, P-Rod was probably my favorite skater and I wanted to be technical like him. Not that that has happened; the smallest scale compared to what he does. A girl can dream.

I didn’t start skating street until I was 12 or 13, so over the last ten years, but this was what I wanted to go towards. I could skate a ledge for the rest of my life.

Brass [Nick Boserio] and I measured a ledge at a park the other day. I had taken a ledge down to a local little skatepark we have and it was perfect. It had Skatelite material so it was weatherproof, the metal [edge] wasn’t too sharp or too rounded. It was seriously the best ledge I’ve ever skated and someone stole it. There hasn’t been a ledge that has satisfied me the same. As long as I can do backside tailslides, I don’t care how high or low it is. Put a flat ledge in front of me and I’m content.

Bob Burnquist — “Dreamland” (2013)

I wanted to be a vert and mega ramp skater, but the closest vert ramp to me as a kid was like three hours away. I didn’t grow up in Melbourne; I grew up in a small town watching the X-Games and mega ramp skating with Bob Burnquist, Elliott Sloan and those kinds of skaters. “Dreamland” is a part I went back to a lot when I was really young. It’s long, like seven minutes, flying over the mega ramp, building random shit and then he jumps out of a helicopter. As a kid, it is so enticing to watch someone fly.

Honestly, what turned me off the mega ramp idea was Jake Brown’s X-Games slam. After that, I was like, “I think I’m alright…” It was viral for skating [at the time]. That clip went nuts.

Bob has a non-skate ender. He’s skydiving. He can do what he wants.

Jack O’Grady — Pass~Port: “Squish” (2023)

In every generation, there has been an Aussie who has put Australia on the map, but I feel like Squish is so different. He’s got that S.F. style with how fast he goes, and all the hills and rails. Being a professional skater and coming from Australia, you have to stick out and Squish really does. We met on the competition scene. I started getting to know him more during Medley [2018], one of the Nike Australia videos Geoff [Campbell] and Chris Middlebrook made. Over the years, we’ve skated, hung out and stayed in touch. Now that he’s moved to the States, I don’t get to see him as much, but it’s cool to run into him.

I’m 23; he’s a couple of years older than me. Coming from on Australia and trying to get on peoples’ radars, I guess now it’s a little easier with social media, but watching Squish, Rowan [Davis], Brass, Lewis [Marnell] and Shane [O’Neil] being able to make it out in the States, and getting on Thrasher’s radar, it makes it seem possible and inspiring to push yourself to get there. It’s cool that we’ve all had the opportunity to do more stuff overseas.

I reckon Jack is one of the gnarliest skaters ever. Watching him and Rowan — sometimes you’re scared to watch when they’re as gnarly as these guys, but you know that they’re so calculated.

Mason Silva: “Take A Lap” by Ryan Lee and Mack Scharff (2023)

Obviously, I know Mason personally and he’s the best dude, but his skating speaks for itself. It’s so powerful but so technical. He’s so calm [as a person], so it’s cool he has that aggressive style in his skating. I love when someone could do just kickflip, but it’s the best kickflip because of the power behind it.

He does front shove the hard way then the frontside flip into that colourful bank over the rail in S.F. [at China Banks.] Watching his frontside flip is so satisfying. The one trick I wish I could do is frontside flips and he does them effortlessly. I was there for one trick in his Spitfire part, so I know how cool it is to be there for him filming.

I feel like a lot of people return to video parts for the song. I’d never listened to [Brian Eno], but it was memorable. What’s cool about [“Take A Lap”] is that he’s still doing it for the love, putting out gnarly shit, but he can just do whatever he wants because he’s done the work. Now, he gets to have fun, but he’s still skating the gnarliest shit. His “low impact” would be my ender.

He’s so chill, so lovely, and really goes to the effort to have a conversation or hangout. I love that guy. With all the skaters I watch, it’s not even the tricks, it’s how they do it.

Anthony Mapstone — Pass~Port: “Anthony ‘STONE’ Mapstone” (2025)

I feel like Anthony is one of the reasons why Australian skateboarding is what it is. We wouldn’t have the opportunities we have without Mappy. The only way to introduce him, is as one of the most iconic skaters to come out of Australia not just in [terms of] skating, but the industry. He started Fast Times [Skate Shop] and grew that business to almost 30 stores in Australia. He’s worked for Globe, he skated for XEN, he’s done MCing on all these tours and contests. He’ll go above and beyond for anyone. His nature is so kind. I hang out with him most days. He has the worst dad jokes. If I’m doing that at 51, I’d be stoked and impressed with myself, so [the fact] that he’s able to do that is incredible.

We didn’t get connected until I was 17, maybe 18, when I got on Fast Times. I’d known him before that, but we weren’t close friends. I’d only just moved to Melbourne a few years prior, and wasn’t in the scene of [people focused on] filming, I was more into contests. It’s funny, when I was 12 or 13, I emailed a sponsor-me tape to a bunch of shoe companies. The tape was probably the worst thing — it’s embarrassing to watch now. I sent it to Chris Middlebrook [Australian videographer and brand/athlete manager at Nike SB at the time], someone at DC, and Mappy, who was the Globe team manager at the time. He knocked me back, which is pretty fun now as he’s one of my best friends. But if that didn’t happen, I might not have gotten on Nike, which came about a couple of months later.

Even if it’s low impact, he makes it look good and chill. I love that kind of skating. There have been a couple of times we’ve had cameo tricks [in each other’s video parts.] That line, that was the hottest day, almost 40 degrees celsius. I was trying to finish my Real part and it was Geoff [Campbell], Mappy and I think Digby [Luxton]. It’s the most perfect spot, finding street hips is pretty rare. We skated for hours and we were dying in the heat.

It’s the perfect match: the most iconic Australian skater, not just skater but industry guy, and Pass~Port, the most iconic Australian skate brand. It represents Australia so nicely.

Previously: Frank Gerwer, Gus Gordon, Max Palmer, Etienne Gagne, Jacopo Carozzi, Nicole Hause, Matt Militano, Evan Wasser, Ryuhei Kitazumi, Sarah Meurle, Vitória Mendonça, Andrew Wilson, Ben Kadow, Chandler Burton, Pedro Delfino, Johnny Wilson, Nick Michel, Wes Kremer, Jordan Trahan, Ariana Spencer, Elijah Odom, Greg Hunt, Zered Bassett, Neil Herrick, Trung Nguyen, Nick Boserio, Elissa Steamer, Casper Brooker, John Gardner, Bobshirt, Brandon Turner, Shari White, Nick Jensen, Tony Hawk, Naquan Rollings, Jack O’Grady, Josh Wilson, Maité Steenhoudt, Jahmir Brown, Una Farrar, Chris Jones, Mason Silva, Beatrice Domond, Mark Suciu, Justin Henry, Breana Geering, Sage Elsesser, Bobby Worrest, Nik Stain, Anthony Van Engelen, Dom Henry, Bing Liu, Andrew Reynolds, Cyrus Bennett, Jacob Harris, Jamal Smith, Paul Rodriguez, Gilbert Crockett, Ben Chadourne, Tom Knox, Louie Lopez, The Chrome Ball Incident, The Bunt, Lacey Baker, Andrew Allen, GX1000, Brian Anderson, Gino Iannucci, Josh Kalis, Sean Pablo, Wade Desarmo, Chris Milic, Chad Muska, Hjalte Halberg, Danny Brady, Bill Strobeck, Aaron Herrington, Jerry Hsu, Brad Cromer, Brandon Westgate, Jim Greco, Jake Johnson, Scott Johnston, Josh Stewart, Eric Koston, Karl Watson, Josh Friedberg, John Cardiel, Pontus Alv, Alex Olson, Jahmal Williams