#MeetOurCrew - Stachu Kłusak

From "żywiec poverty" to great Cracow, from the construction site to the Production Department! In a world where busyness and work, often go in different directions, in our company we meet compatriots for whom these two spheres of life combine into one. We are pleased to introduce you to Staszek - a young, but already experienced skater, who is with skateboarding and skiing on "You". He tells about his way through various disciplines. On a daily basis you will meet Staszek in the Hall on Organki Street in Cracow, where he assembles obstacles for your skateparks! In an interview with us, Stachu talks about his work as a skateboard instructor in Hel and training young talents at Streetpark in Krakow - just some of the stages of his impressive journey.

Staszek, you're only 24 - and already embracing sports like skateboarding and skiing - wow. Tell us how you started all these activities one by one!

I started with skiing when I was 6 years old. My dad put my first skis on and pushed me down the embankment. I had to go down, and I did (laughs). That's how my adventure with skiing began. As for skateboarding, I started riding between the end of middle school and the beginning of high school. At first I had a crush on BMX through my brother, but the sport seemed mega difficult and clumsy to me. I only rode my BMX bike on the way to school and back. I think I may have been to a BMX skatepark twice. In junior high school, on the other hand, there was always a group of homies who would go up to the gazebo with their boards, and from them I tried to learn my first tricks, ride a piece at the skatepark and do my first ollie. I ended up buying my own board, and it was a month after I started riding with this skatepark crew. And that's how my involvement with skateboarding began! Later, when I went to high school, I tried to go out on the board every day. Then work started, I had less time and focused on other things. After some time I returned to the board through a stay in Hel, there I became a skateboard instructor. I trained at Chalupy for three seasons, and now I train at Streetpark in Krakow. Currently, I try to be on a board every day, and I'm sticking to that!

There is no denying that skateboarding is closest to you. When did you feel that the board is your way of life?

It happened thanks to my vacation stays in Chalupia - it was my first job as an instructor. That's when I started treating the board not only as a way of having fun, but maybe not for a living, but certainly for earning money. It allowed me to earn money for my whims and goals. To be precise, I worked at the Surfing Sports Club - greetings from me!

Let's go back to the roots. What's your first memory of our skateparks and did riding them affect your progression?

The first Techramps park I rode at was in the town of Milówka - it's a facility from my hometown. Milówka was the first techramps park 100% that I loved and I still really enjoy riding there today. It is a very pleasant facility, the angles are mega cool, even though they are not too high. Another facility in our area was a skatepark in Zywiec, created mostly from prefabricated materials. There was only a wall from Techramps, but it's safe to say that I didn't like the obstacle. I never liked street obstacles, I rather aimed for angles.

It started with tricks on our skateparks, and then you ended up building them, because it was from the position of Builder that you started working at Techramps. How did you get to us?

It all started through Dawcio (Dawid Dobija - current Leader of the Marketing and Design Department), whom I also salute! Dawid was my first point of contact when it came to Techramps, and it was from him that my adventure with working at Techramps began. I decided it was time to combine passion with work. I wrote to Dawcio, who told me to send a resume here and there. And that's how I ended up building skateparks. I have now moved to the Hall (to the Production Department - editor's note) and work stationary at Organki Street. I have a little more time, so in addition to my day job here I have time to train kids at the Streetpark, which is also a facility made by Techramps.

Stachu during his stay at the Cottages.

You were recently brought from our construction sites to our headquarters on Organki Street, where you work in the Hall on modular skateparks and pumptracks.Are you #teambeton or #teamwood?

If you would have asked me this six months ago, I would have said #teambeton, but for the fact that I work with wood every day and spend every day at Streetpark. For these moments I am in #teamplywood. I think I've been riding plywood all winter, so this riding material is higher in the hierarchy with me at the moment. However, concrete parks are also very much to my liking!

After working at our place you fly to Streetpark to pass on your skills to young riders. How do you find the time... and strength for this?

I take advantage while I'm young! As for motivation, the lessons push me to come to the skatepark. After I finish my classes with the kids, I stay an hour or two at the skatepark to ride some more. I give myself a goal to leave the skatepark with a new trick every day, and so far I'm sticking to it. Some time ago I had a decline in interest, because I would come to the skatepark and do one and the same thing. I was missing new tricks, even if it was minimal progress, and now I'm trying to change that. I think it's going in the right direction!

What commonalities between the professions of skateboard instructor and modular skatepark builder can help build synergy and a better understanding of the needs of the skate community?

I think it allows me to pass on to kids the knowledge that not every instructor has, that a builder should have!

You're originally from Zywiec. We can safely say that there are a lot of skate teams in this area. Silesia including Zywiec, Bielsko-Biala and Katowice have given us many talented riders and teams. Who is your favorite skater? Has it somehow influenced your activity and progression?

It definitely influenced my development in skateboarding. Am I able to say who was the skateboarding guru for me? I think each of us was such an idol for each other, if you can call it that. We always tried to ride as a team and motivate each other. From the first tricks, flips and drops to some fatter stuff. Are Zywiec and Bielsko the cradle of the board? I don't think so. Each city has its own team. It's hard to point to one main team that would be the leading one. It seems to me, wherever you ask, there would be an answer that the locals rule! Rather, it was the case that the Zywiec and Milówka areas held together. Bielsko is a big city, and there are a bunch of people there who are racing, and there the teams don't mix. We tended to stick locally.

There is no shortage of riders like Erik or Rudy in our Techramps team either. What kind of workmate would you go out with on a board?

I would definitely go out with Erik (Erik Obtulovich) , definitely! We even had a little chat about it at work today. Locally, in our town of Zywiec, we may have gone out together once. Recently we spoke with Erik and he mentioned that it pains him that we didn't record "Zywiec Poverty" together (laughs). We regret that there was not another generation of this edit, and now I feel an obligation to continue it! With Rudy (Mateusz Luberda), I often find myself jumping on the board.

Do you remember such an edit as "Zywiec Poverty" and how it influenced your occupation?

The answer is simple - of course it did! It was certainly cool to see countrymen who did it before us at a higher level. They rode there: Erik, Barilla, Osa and Tomson. I had a chance to ride with Tomson; he is the kind of skater who has ridden with two generations of riders from Zywiec. He has ridden both with the "old poor" and with us. I certainly don't remember all the riders' nicknames, but I salute everyone!

When I first saw "Zywiec Poverty," I had been skateboarding for maybe less than a year. After a year, it is unlikely that this progression is not big, and yet the tricks that were in the film were unattainable for us at that point. We were watching something that was happening at our skatepark that we had never seen live. We were riding with our team at the time, and the guys (the riders who appeared in the edit - editor's note) had long since moved around Poland and the world. I think the level of these tricks was very high.

Staszek and the board - a perfect duo!

Okay, and when you've turned all the parts of the skateparks, trained your charges and find time to ride yourself - where do you like to do it? List your favorite spots in Krakow and your hometown of Zywiec.

In Krakow I like the skatepark on the Widok estate. My fondness for this place stems from the fact that this is the last concrete skatepark I built when I was still working with Concrete Team. I ended my construction career at this facility. This park is very comfortable for me to ride and basically nothing is missing there - there is a Bowl, a Street Section. In Zywiec - as you know, poverty (laughs). This city was not famous for many spots, so I spent most of my time at the park.

What do you like working with us for and what is a memory you like to return to?

For sure, my favorite memory was the first session on the mini-ramp next to the company, because we finally have something where the whole team can ride. While working on the concretes, I felt the satisfaction of making these facilities a little bit for myself and it will benefit me, my compatriots and the students. These objects stay in our environment and are very valuable.

Super words to end the conversation. Thank you for the interview!