Stillwater-native becomes first female pro skateboarder for REAL Skateboards

A Minnesota athlete took her love for skateboarding to the top of the sport. Earlier this month, REAL Skateboards officially named Nicole Hause its first female a pro skateboarder.

“It’s pretty surreal,” said Hause. “There are definitely different levels of professional skateboarding it’s like pro contests, are you getting paid, and then having your name on the bottom of a skateboard is the ultimate pro. I’m just so happy to have made it here, it’s crazy.”

The company released two pro model boards with Hause’s name.

The Stillwater-native is known for her aggressive style and stunts. One of the boards is modeled after Evel Knievel’s helmet featuring gold foil, smoke clouds and purple veneers underneath in a nod to her home state of Minnesota. The other board pays homage to an antique tin Hause carries with her that she bought in Stillwater.

“It was something I always dreamed of and felt like it would happen someday but I wasn’t ready for it to happen that day,” she said.

Hause’s parents, Jeff and Missy, surprised her with the announcement at an event in Seattle.

“They really got me,” said Hause. “It was really cool to have my closest friends and family there.”

She developed a love for skateboarding while watching the TV show Rocket Power as a child, according to her mother Missy Hause. Her uncle and aunt then bought her a skateboard for her sixth birthday.

With her help, her dad eventually built a vert ramp at their house for Nicole to use for practice as she advanced in the sport over the years.

Hause’s passion continued to grow and she started her first pro contest by the time she was 15 years old.

“Nicole has a work ethic that’s beyond average in my opinion, of course I would be biased,” said Jeff Hause. “She takes a lot of hard hits, she just keeps getting up. Skateboarding is a tough sport, you know.”

When Nicole started, there were only a few women competing.

“It was like 20 of us,” said Nicole Hause. “You almost knew all of the women’s skateboarders in the world, there were that many, just a handful of us. Then, I just saw this transition.”

Women’s skateboarding made its debut in the 2020 Summer Olympics in 2021. The years of hard work, setbacks and celebrations to this point are now detailed in a documentary that will be show in Stillwater on Sunday.

“Skate Dreams” outlines Hause’s rise in skateboarding and the progress of women in redefining the sport.

“I loved skateboarding,” said Hause. “But I didn’t really want to compete but I didn’t really know there were other options in a way, for women. For guys, you didn’t have to compete to be a pro skateboarder but for women there was kind of only one pathway so I was kind of on that pathway.”

The delay of the Olympics due to the pandemic changed her trajectory. Despite making the team, she decided not to compete in 2021 in Tokyo.

She’s spent the last year-and-a-half filming a video part.

“Skateboarding has really changed for women and you’re able to make your own pathway,” said Hause. “Traveling to all of these places, and filming, and collecting all of this video to have my own video part was such an accomplishment because that’s something I’ve never done, it’s something I’ve always dreamed of.”

Her new pro deal is part of this next chapter of her career.

“It’s very emotional honestly after watching everything she’s done and been through, and all of the work she’s put into this,” said Jeff Hause. “Seeing what it mean to so many people, that was huge for me.”

He added, “Especially as a woman, it’s really important to reach this milestone because not many have done it yet and every time someone does it, it makes it easier for the next generation that’s really a good thing.”

Missy Hause has also noticed a shift in the sport. She shared photos of skateboarding birthday parties from Nicole’s childhood, and said, “She didn’t have any female skate friends, they were all guys.”

More young women are entering the sport now, however, which the Hause family noticed during a recent trip for the documentary.

“This film was in South by Southwest Film Festival,” she said. “Nicole and the other girls, they would go to another skate park and Nicole was like ‘I can’t believe how many female skaters there are.’”

For details about the documentary, click here.