Raushan Bennett: When did you realize you loved your sport? Is there one specific moment that stands out as your starting point?
Bijan Robinson: The moment I realized God gave me the gifts to be on the football field. My faith is big, and my journey started young. I know many journeys start young, but mine started when I was born.
RB: In Arizona, right?
BR: Yeah, I played for a lot of different teams out there, so Arizona football was a key thing for me.
RB: I would say for me and skating, honestly, it was my first time showing up to adult night in the fall of 2018. I didn’t know there were such things as adult nights. We always associate skating with what we do when we’re kids. It was a complete shock and I was like, ‘Man, I need to learn how to do that move.’
BR: Did you learn in 2018 or have you always known how to skate?
RB: I learned how to skate as a kid. I knew how to skate forward and backward and just have fun with it. But no tricks. So when my friend invited me out, I just couldn’t be terrible at it anymore. The competitor in me just could not allow me to be bad at this.
BR: I feel you. I can’t put on skates with y’all. Not anytime soon.
RB: We all got to start somewhere. What does training look like for you? What is your routine? I got to hear this one from you.
BR: In season, you go every day, from lifting to bodywork to just maintenance to the saunas – and then you go practice. That’s a full day’s work of me just trying to prepare for the game. The off-season is a little different. You’ll do the gym, go to the field and do fieldwork, footwork, speed work, quick change of direction, quick twitch, all in a three-hour span. Right after that, I go to the training rooms and get flushed. That’s when they massage your body and make sure that you’re almost back to normal for the next day because you have to do the same thing the next day.
RB: Right. Recovery.
BR: What’s your favorite sport to watch? If you weren’t skating, what other sport would you like to try?
RB: My favorite sport to watch is basketball. I’m definitely a basketball head. I grew up playing basketball. Even in my adult life after school, I didn’t play professionally but I played recreationally. I’ve gotten way more into football, as well. I wish that was something I played growing up – just playing outside in the street. You don’t see kids doing that anymore.
BR: No. They’re not out there doing that. I think my favorite sport to watch is soccer.
RB: Really? That actually makes sense coming from you.
BR: I take pride in my footwork and making sure those quick cuts and direction changes are at a high level. But, obviously, in soccer, the main thing you need is crazy footwork.
RB: I never thought about it like that. What would you say keeps you motivated?
BR: Like I said earlier, just playing for God. Obviously, everybody has their motivations – family, and people like to make money, which is great. But, for me, the faith aspect is the true motivation.
RB: I like that. That’s dope. That’s deep. That’s humble, too.
BR: Thank you. What keeps you motivated?
RB: I personally haven’t participated in any skating competitions. I just do it for the love, man. Just for the performance aspect of it and getting out there with my team. We’re getting out there doing shows and performances, and whether it’s for birthdays or for Nike, Netflix or the Atlanta Braves commercial halftime show, that’s what I do it for. Just seeing how skating can make an impact on the community makes me want to continue to do this forever until I just can’t anymore. There’s no feeling like it.
BR: That’s special.
RB: Imagine just rolling around to one of the songs you like to hear.
BR: It would be so fire. You’re dancing, you’re enjoying yourself. I feel like it brings instant happiness.
RB: What’s something you’re working toward now? Obviously, the Super Bowl, but what steps are you taking from a team perspective to help everyone get to that goal?
BR: Everybody says they want to win a Super Bowl, that’s everybody’s biggest goal. But I feel like the biggest thing is the camaraderie in your team. How close are you guys? Teams don’t win if they’re a coach-led team or they’re just going with the motions and thinking, ‘I’m in the NFL; I’ve made it.’ Those mentalities are what stop you from achieving the goal that you want. It could be football or wanting to be the best chef. Chemistry is a really big thing and people take that for granted. When you really love your teammates, and they love you back, it makes you play harder. In the game, you look across to your teammate and think, ‘Damn, I really have to make this play, not for me but for him.’
RB: So let’s say you meet your goals then. How would you like to celebrate?
BR: I want to celebrate with the community because we all deserve it. Atlanta’s never won a Super Bowl before. I know the day we do achieve that, we’re all celebrating. It’s everybody’s goal. The whole city would be on fire for that. It is bigger than just us. It’s everybody in this community that’s been waiting for that.
RB: Oh, man. Got to throw a party at Cascade.
BR: I’m there. How long has Cascade been around?
RB: It’s going to be Cascade’s 25th anniversary next month.
BR: I thought Cascade was from the 70s. I feel so much culture has happened around Cascade.
RB: For sure. Atlanta is like the melting pot of skating culture. In every city in the country, there’s a skating culture and they skate differently. In Atlanta, there are a lot of people from all the cities around who’ve moved to Atlanta. So we get to see all the different styles of skating, and we get to learn them as well. They say we’re the Hollywood of the skating world.
BR: That’s fire. How does it feel to represent Atlanta?
RB: Atlanta has its own culture and style of skating. We have what we call ATL stepping and ATL riding. But even though we have those moments, Atlanta is such a big skating place that to be in the Cascade Dream Team and getting to represent it all is a huge thing. We try to put all of these styles together, and I take it seriously when it’s time to go out there and represent. We’re not just representing Atlanta; we’re representing skating culture as a whole.
BR: I feel like it’s such a family culture here. People love to be around you. It doesn’t matter what you got going on, doesn’t matter what they got going on – at the end of the day, you’re one of them. Even just the culture of Black people and how we’re using the platforms here to build it for everybody in every single culture; it’s pretty special. I feel like sports, skating and music bring people closer together. If we all do it in the right way, then the city will be better.
RB: Yeah, we’re riding with you for sure.
BR: As I am with you, man.
