Zion Effs was born to skate. When he was 2 years old his grandmother gave him a longboard. He stayed up the whole night playing with it. The following year, his mom took him to a skateshop and Zion wouldn’t stop begging for a pro-style board. When the lady in the shop said, “Oh, you’re too young for that,” Zion started crying. He cried so hard, his mom eventually bought him the board. And again, he stayed up all night playing with it. Eventually, his father Ritchie took him to a local skatepark and started asking around if any of the local pros would help teach Zion. That’s when they met local pro Danny Fuenzalida, who saw something special in Zion. “The rest is history,” says his father Ritchie, who believes in supporting whatever his kids want to get into. “I didn’t have anything to do with his skateboarding. We just couldn’t keep him away from it.” (Now Zion’s 3-year-old brother, Jax, is already dropping in on the ramp.) A decade later, 11-year-old Zion is one of the best skaters in his age group, competing around the world in competitions like the Hot Wheels series. “I don’t know why I love it so much,” says Zion. “It’s just the best thing in the world. And every contest I go to, I usually win. Some kids actually get scared when I come.” But skateboarding is not really about competition, and what Zion loves most is just playing at the skatepark with his friends. He skates pretty much all day, often late into the night. It’s in his blood. And he’s just getting started.