Jake Duncombe

Jake Duncombe is an Australian professional skateboarder who was awarded SLAM magazine's Australian "Skater of the Year" award in 2006, and was one of the youngest professional sportspeople in Australia in 2004. Duncombe was sponsored by the Blind Skateboards skateboard deck company, founded by Mark Gonzales, for nine years and released a signature model skate shoe with Globe International.

Early life After being born in Tweed Heads, New South Wales, Australia, Duncombe relocated with his family to the area around Brunswick Heads and Byron Bay, both in the Australian state of New South Wales. Duncombe first began skateboarding at the age of eight or nine years while in Brunswick Heads after being influenced by a family friend—his father subsequently purchased a "Delta"-brand skateboard for him to ride. Duncombe's first skateboarding sponsor was Wreck surf shop in Byron Bay and he then received free products from Electric Sunglasses, as representatives of the brand were from Byron Bay.

Professional skateboarding Duncombe's first major sponsors were SMP and Carel, and he was 12 years of age when he embarked on his first tour with the SMP team, which also included Jamie Goodwin, Ryan Hidassy and Lachlan Pettit. At the time, Duncombe was still attending school and, after a short period skateboarding with SMP in Sydney, he relocated with his father to Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Duncombe's father eventually allowed Duncombe to leave school and focus on skateboarding during their time in Queensland. on a tour of Canberra, Australia. Duncombe explained in a 2014 interview with Scott that he believed he was accepted by the older Criminal team because of his willingness to drink a similar level of alcohol. Scott, who was also involved with the SMP brand, oversaw Duncombe's first international tours to New Zealand and Europe.

During the 2003 World Cup, Duncombe was riding for World Industries alongside fellow Australian Richard Flude, and was asked to ride for Blind Skateboards—Blind team member James Craig and Cory Shepard initially expressed interest—during a subsequent tour organised by the distributors of both World and Blind. After Duncombe informally agreed to join the brand, it was on his next visit to the United States (US) that he was asked to join the team by brand manager Bill Weiss.

Blind called Duncombe into the offices of the brand's American distributor, Dwindle Distribution, in 2006 and informed him that he had been assigned professional status by the brand, providing him with his first signature skateboard deck design and a giant cookie. and Duncombe's first model, which used the same design as the Jack Daniel's alcohol brand, was forced off the market after a cease and desist order.

In 2010 Duncombe's first signature skate shoe model, named "The Bender", was released by Globe. The shoe release event was a party on a boat in Newport Beach, California, California, US and Duncombe's family were flown from Australia to attend.

After nine years with Blind The Australian premiere of the video was held on 28 July 2014.

Sponsors As of 2024, Duncombe is sponsored by Terminal Four Skateboards.

Awards Following his international skateboard video debut in What If?, Duncombe was awarded the "Skater of the Year" accolade by Australian skateboard publication SLAM. The magazine explained in 2013: "... a 17-year-old Jake Duncombe took the title in 2006. A massive year of ripping in Europe and the USA, and this heavy debut international part in the Blind video, What If?, made Jake the undisputed winner."

Videography