'It's Gonna Be Weird': Stillwater Native On Competing In Minnesota X Games
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Action sports will have the world's attention this weekend, and the best in the world will be competing in Minneapolis for the X Games.
One of the top athletes is from Minnesota: skateboarder Nicole Hause.
It wasn't so long ago that the 19-year-old was just a skater kid in Stillwater.
"I love going fast, I love going high," Hause said. "That's why I got into skating."
In her mid-teens, her father realized she had long-term potential.
"That's when I said, 'Oh, this is starting to get interesting, maybe a little bit bigger than I was planning on,'" Hause's father, Jeff, said.
After graduating from Stillwater High School, Hause's career really took off. She currently competes around the world…and now she'll compete at home.
"It's gonna be weird, like, waking up before X Games and then going from my bed to the X Games," Hause said.
And two of her seven competitors will be sleeping over at her parents' house.
"Poppy [Olsen] and Hunter [Long] are gonna stay at my house, so it's gonna be weird having skate friends stay at my house," Hause said. "No one's ever come to Minnesota and visited me."
As she awaited their visits Monday, Hause caught up with some young fans at the 3rd Lair skate park in Golden Valley.
"It's definitely a big deal in that one of our good friends is competing on one of the biggest stages in the world for action sports," said Mark Rodriquez, the owner of 3rd Lair. "It's huge, it's huge."
Hopefully, it will be epic.
Hause laughs: "You betcha, don't ya know, I'm here to get the first place, don't you know."
The X Games begin Thursday at U.S. Bank Stadium. Another Minnesota pro skateboarder, Alec Majerus of Rochester, will also be competing.
