Pictures: (c)Austin Black

Today we introduce you to Next Up Foundation, a skating non-profit organization in Orange County, CA. What’s a better way to present it than a nice talk with the founder himself, Vinicius Tinoco? Enjoy the reading, and think over it!

Hi Vinicius, it’s really a pleasure for us to talk a bit with you!

Ok, let’s start from the beginning, first of all present yourself: how old are you, where do you come from?
Hi! Thanks for the space here at the Candies Magazine first of all! My name is Vinicius Evaristo Tinoco, I’m 29 and I come from a small town in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Skating is surely a very important thing in your life. How did this passion begin? What are the things you love the most about skateboarding?

It begun around ’94 ’95 when I was 12. All my neighbors started to skateboarding and I was the only one in my crew of friends who didn’t have one, then I did some trading with friends who had some spare products then I finally put a skateboard together and after awhile all my friends stopped skating except for me. The things that I like the best is all the life experience that skateboarding brings into our lives…travellings, friendships etc. Skateboarding is extremely powerful and changes lives…skateboarding save lives!

You began as a volunteer for a skateboard program in Brasil, isn’t it? What was that pushed you to approach this reality?

I was invited to join this skate program inside of an youth prison by my friend Sandro Soares who developed a whole skateboarding program as a tool of social inclusion. Our concept is “Skateboarding imitates life”….You fall then get back up and try it again. That goes to skateboard tricks or life’s trials. Also because my own background! I was born in a really poor and violent neighborhood and skateboarding made me who I am!

And then you decided to move in California, where you started a similar program. Why did you decide to move, and why did you choose OC as your destination?

I moved to California because skateboarding in California is the dream of every single brazilian! Skateboarding where the sport was invented is priceless also I wanted to challenge myself and start a new fresh episode in my life. I didn’t choose OC, it just happened to happen like that! At first I was in Hollywood with my friend Ana Paula but I couldn’t stay with her and there was a community of brazilian skaters living out here in OC and I had a friend who was looking for a roommate then I came to Costa Mesa.

And now here we are. Next Up Foundation. Can you resume the steps that brought to the creation of this organization?

Yes, when I was volunteering for that program in Brazil I noticed that was something which I was looking forward to then when I moved to California I brought that idea with me. I told myself that I was gonna do something similar. After taking my time to learn some English and sharing my idea with the right people in order to get some help to get this project off the ground, here we are today with a solid program that benefits around 40 kids , facebook fan page with over 1400 fans. And we have been operating this program for only 9 months. Great success!

I think it’s not been easy to find yourself in a new country, with a foreign language, trying to create this new reality. Did you encounter many difficulties? How did you find the strenght to overcome them and reach your goal despite everything?

I did find many difficulties!! I even considered going back to Brazil but in another hand I thought if I did that I would be a big loser, then I decided to stay and fight for my dreams. It was definitely the biggest challenge of my life!! It was really hard for me but thank God he got me through it and here I am!

What’s the philosophy behind Next Up Foundation, and what are its aims?

We aim for the disadvantaged youth. Those who don’t have many options and opportunities to seek! We want to empower them and help them to understand that they are extremely powerful and they can achieve anything they want regardless nationality, skin collor , financial situation…We want to make a better, positive world. Obviously starting from our community and then spreading our programs through different cities, states and maybe countries!

What are your sponsors?

I have no sponsors for myself however one of my best friends help me a lot, his name is Andre Genovesi and he is also a Board member of Next Up and he gives me boards, shoes, anything I need to skate. Next UP Foundation receives support from Living The Dream Foundation and that’s about it. We need supporters!

How the foundation is perceived by the youngs of the area?

They know if they joint us they will get free gears, free boards, shoes… then it’s not very difficult, actually! Plus they know they will skate with pro skaters and a lot more things… I get along pretty well with all the kids because I skate and I also speak their language.

Why would you suggest to a young to start skating? In what ways skating interact with their everyday life and help them to overcome personal problems?

I would suggest skateboard because it is a GREAT sport which requests a lot of focus and dedication just like our lives. Skateboarding imitates life and vice-versa and the concept of falling and getting back up is the key. When you are skateboarding a lot of times you fall and then you get back up, the same happens in our lives when we make bad decisions or when we make mistakes…we need to learn from those mistakes and bad decisions and do the right thing.

I see many pro skaters are special guests of the found. Is there any highlight you’d like to tell?

The idea of having pro skaters as special guests is to use them as a role model for the kids. They are examples of success on how to overcome obstacles!

What are the next steps for the foundation, and the programs for the future?

The next steps are to expand the program to different cities here in California and then at the right time expand to the whole country!

What would you suggest to the young people of all the world?

I would suggest them to stay away from drugs, violence and all the negativity! Go to school and get you education going! Respect your parents and practice sports!

We’re almost to the end of this nice talk. I want to thank you once again, we really appreciate what you’re doing and we wish you all the best! Last lines are yours, you can add whatever you want!

Thank you CANDIESMAGAZINE for the opportunity! We have a lot of work to be done and we won’t stop! We are trying to do our part on making this world a better place for everybody! The mission continues and remember “It’s Good to be Important but it’s more Important to be Good!

Thank you Vinicius! Take a look at the foundation website and don’t miss to follow them on facebook!