Azar’s ride started at age 12 after meeting Dustin Dollin, who told him he had to learn to skate street.
“I skated every day for a year and then picked up my first sponsor through high school,” he says. “I left school in year 10 to pursue skateboarding, but broke my arm really badly – I had a double compound fracture in my wrist and elbow and was out for six months. It took a year to get back into it.”
Opportunities around every corner
After that, Azar’s career took off and he lives, breathes and bleeds the sport. But no matter how busy he may be or where in the world he finds himself, Azar’s always got time for a skate. When he’s away from home, which is around two weeks out of every month, Azar wastes no time getting out for a skate. “If you go to a skate park anywhere in the world you end up meeting people there and skating with them. We usually tee up with a local to show us the stuff only locals would know about. But you do a lot of searching and always keep your eyes open looking for spots. As a skater you’re never really just driving down the street, instead you’re looking at everything thinking, ‘could I skate that?’” he says.
Winning isn't everything
For Azar, nothing beats the parks of Sydney’s Northern Beaches. “Being able to stay at home and have a good skate down at the local skate park is pretty much the best motivation for me,” says the 24-year old. “Skateboarding is not like other sports where competing is the main objective.It’s not as cool as just getting out there and being the street skater.”