Chris Joslin shot 2 parts for his grandma Joyce: what did it spark?

On December 10, 2025, Thrasher drops a five‑minute piece titled “G‑Ma.” G‑Ma, slang for grandma. Four days later, the same magazine names Chris Joslin Skater of the Year. Between those moments, there’s a woman who never shows up on screen: Joyce, the grandma who raised him.

No melodrama here. Just what a loss does to a rider who’s got a camera, a contract, and a release date. And what it triggered—don’t expect it to be obvious.

July 2024: “I was raised by my grandma”

For ten years, Joslin was the kid on the big stairs. In November 2014, at the premiere of “True,” Danny Way announced that his next rider would be “the rider people are talking about the most, immediately”. He was right. Plan B turned him pro on September 10, 2015.

Where he came from, almost nobody knew. In July 2024, The Platfrm dropped a two‑part profile. Joslin talks straight to the camera: “I was raised by my grandma. My dad left us when I was a kid, I never met him.” No mom either. At school, everyone had both parents. He wondered where his 6 p.m. dinner was.

What she taught him boiled down to three rules. Finish your plate. Keep the house clean. Do things right. Then, at the end of the same video, a line drops without a segue: “Your grandma was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. How do you win, then?”

Barcelona, 4 trips: who filmed, who paid

At that point, Joslin was already deep into a weird bet. He was chaining contests on the road to the Paris Games, and at the same time decided to film a street segment. Only in Barcelona. The Platfrm says it straight up: he’s locked into a sponsor deal, he’s feeding his family, he’s got a duty to fulfill.

“I don’t think I even realized what I was getting into,” he says. First trip: six clips in six days. The second falls between Street League Paris and a contest in Dubai. Seven days, three or four tricks a day, with Winkle as his guide, “Barcelona’s human GPS.” The third falls flat. “The pigeons were cool, but not for me.”

The fourth is supposed to be the last. Three weeks, because the segment has to drop in December, there’s a contest each month, and he refuses to sacrifice any more weekends with his two kids. On camera, Devin Lopez. In the edit, Aleks Lewandowski. Two session buddies, Josh and Matt, leave the country for the first time or almost, just to see him land tricks they learned together at the park.

The timeline

“Grandma, I need some help”: the spark in his mind

JOYCE drops on December 19, 2024. The dedication is one line: in memory of his G-Ma, Joyce. He didn't see the project finish. "Joyce was my grandma's first name. That part wouldn't be what it is without her. She carried me in so many ways."

The real detail is elsewhere. In contest, when he tries a trick he's unsure about, he used to say: "Okay, grand-mère, let's do this, I need help." It doesn't work every time, he clarifies. But it cuts the noise. He talks about seven or eight years of stress that held him back, "everything in the head."

And in the last week in Barcelona, something cracks. "For the first time, I fought myself." He calls JOYCE the best part he's filmed in ten years. More than 670,000 views later on YouTube, no one has disputed it.

Lakai, Luis Mora and the "G-Ma" part

2025 starts with a shoe change. Joslin had his signature model for ten years with etnies. Facing Luis Mora's camera, he slips on Lakai: "From day one, I knew they skated better than the ones I've worn for a decade." Mora, in turn, sums up the year in one line: his first Street League win, and "a new him."

Luke Lutz and Luis Mora film the next part. A second part, still for her. It's called "G-Ma" and drops in Thrasher on December 10, 2025. In the crew credits, you see Devin Lopez and Aleks Lewandowski from JOYCE's crew, and Trevor McClung from Plan B. Thrasher presents it like this: from Wallenberg to El Toro, Joslin locks his name into history by soaring for G-Ma.

Behind the scenes shot by Mora, the vibe isn’t about mourning. It’s laughs, it’s melting ice, it’s screaming when a trick drops. In the crew, someone even drops the mic: “Chris changed my life.” The part itself lasts just under five minutes. That same month, Thrasher drops his Skater of the Year announcement.

December 10, December 14: what Joyce set off

Four days. That’s the gap between the release of “G-Ma” and the announcement on December 14, 2025: Chris Joslin, 29, Plan B and Lakai, is Skater of the Year. He takes over from Jamie Foy. The next day, Thrasher drops “My War: Chris Joslin vs El Toro,” the showdown behind the 360 flip on the stairs of El Toro.

So what did Joyce’s disappearance spark? Not a sad part. Two parts dedicated to the same woman, filmed by two different crews, a year apart. The first pulled her out of a seven‑ or eight‑year block, she says herself. The second led her to the one title that really matters in street skate. Between the two, he dropped a decade of signature shoes for a new brand.

Joyce taught him one thing: you’re handed a hand, but you can always shuffle the cards. His grandson took that to heart, and he won the game.

What’s left to watch

If you’ve only seen the 360 flip on El Toro on repeat, go back a year. Watch JOYCE first, then G-Ma. You’ll see the same skater shift from a guy battling his own head to a guy battling a stair.

And the next time you’re stuck on a trick, you’ll know what the Skater of the Year 2025 does before launching. He talks to his grandma.