One day a curly haired 16-year old kid walked into Bustin Brooklyn speaking broken English and asking for sponsorship. My first thought: Step in line, buddy! He had a little quirky smile and a lazy but balanced and flowing gate, and just an overall good vibe radiating from him. It was easy to see that he meant well. We talked a little bit and he asked to use our computer to show us a video. He didn’t say very much. He didn’t have to. He just showed us this video called “Bruno the Kid,” said he wanted to skate for Bustin, and that was that. We had ourselves a new Bustin team rider.

The decision to put Bruno on the “Bustin Team” was as easy as any decision we had ever made. We were releasing the Mini Maestro over the next week, and we just so happened to be shooting video for the release over the next couple days, and we needed someone to make it look awesome. He stepped on the board and it was obvious he could make it work, no problem. Small board, small kid who can ride anything you put under his feet? Okay, buddy, you’re in, let’s see what you can do!

Two days later we take Bruno out on his first session on a Bustin Board, and we pop out this:

Bruno has been a beacon of light in the Bustin family ever since, and not only that, but he introduced us to two other really awesome guys who are now making big impacts on our company and the entire skate community. Enter Perropro, a one-man production company focused on the Spanish longboarding scene. A chance encounter led Bruno to making his first video with Alberto from Perro Productions, which would then lead Bruno to his first sponsorship a week later. That encounter has resonated into a feedback loop which brought Alberto to New York City to shoot his first video in the states entitled “New York Longboard” in which Bruno and fellow Spaniard RA aimlessly thrash the city streets, enveloping themselves in the city vibrations and becoming one with their surroundings. For Alberto, Bruno, and RA, it is clear this comes naturally.

This video made such an impression on us here at Bustin HQ that we offered to bring Perropro out from Spain the next time around and get Bruno, Will Royce, and our NYC local Steven Sanchez together on another video project nearly a year later. The video titled “Evolve NYC” has almost become the most watched video on the Bustin channel in only 2 months, and for good reason. The creativity in both the filmography and the skating is among the best we’ve ever seen. Sometimes, it just all comes together. Call it luck, call it fate, call it hard work…it doesn’t matter. It’s leaving us with smiles on our faces on the daily. We’re stoked!

Right around the time we shot this video, Bruno started telling us about this kid named Toti, a good friend of his from Spain who we “had to sponsor.” At this point, if Bruno said it and we could tell he meant it, we would take his word for it. I remember him telling me something along the lines of, “You have to sponsor him, Jeff. He’s better than me!” haha okay, whatever Bruno, we’ll put a package together. So we did. Sent a few decks and wheels across the Atlantic Ocean to Madrid, where it would be picked up by Toti Bicicleta, the new Bustin wildcard who earned his spot on the team with 15 seconds of video and the recommendation from a trusted friend.

From here, there’s not much I can say but just show you the video.

I can’t wait to meet this guy in person, and I’m pretty set on flying out to Spain to skate with these guys on their home turf in September before my Adrenalina money runs out. I’m so stoked by these guys on every level. Their skating is awesome, their attitudes are awesome, and they just radiate this super positive vibe that really makes an impression on you, whether through a video or in person. They are acrobats of life, doing it with balance, style, and a big smile, and that, my friends, is awfully contagious around here whenever they’re around. Call it luck, call it fate, call it hard work. It doesn’t matter. We’re stoked, and we can’t wait to see where this road leads in the future. I can tell you, it’s going to be one hell of a ride.