Koston got P-Rod on Girl at 17: why did the student sign with Nike SB first?

September 2002. Paul Rodriguez was 17, and the dude who invited him to join Girl was Eric Koston. His all‑time favorite rider, he says. P‑Rod would call that day “the moment my dream came true.”

Three years later, the kid lands his own shoe with Nike SB. Koston, on the other hand, is still with éS. Then he moves to Lakai. He doesn’t get into Nike until 2009, four years after the student. So how did the kid we let in through the front door end up opening another one before his idol?

September 2002: Koston goes to get a 17‑year‑old kid

Before Girl, P‑Rod already had a street resume. At 14, he was too shy to drop his own “sponsor me” cassette. A buddy brought it to One Eighteen, a Los Angeles shop run by 19‑year‑old Andy Netkin. Netkin added him to the team the next day.

Then came DNA, then City Stars, Kareem Campbell’s brand. Still an amateur, he snagged the last slice of Street Cinema. Usually, that spot goes to the most respected pro on the crew. Not a 16‑year‑old amateur.

In 2002, his piece in In Bloom, Transworld’s video for up‑and‑coming riders, did the rest. Girl turned him pro in September. Transworld named him Rookie of the Year that same year. His first pro board carried the Girl logo with “Muchachita” in place of his name. In 2013, he still ranks it number one among his favorite graphics.

And the invite came from Koston. In 2002, Koston wasn’t just another name. He’d been riding for Girl since the brand’s launch in 1993, was a headline act for éS on shoes, and had Menikmati - 2000 in his bag. P‑Rod was also riding for éS: you see him in the brand’s 2002 German tour video. Same board, same tricks as his idol.

His part in Yeah Right – 2003, re‑uploaded to his own channel, shows what Koston saw. An 18‑year‑old skating like he’d always been pro: speed, clean landings, zero unnecessary moves. Two years later, that skate is what Nike signs on.

The moment my dream came true. — Paul Rodriguez, on his Girl debut, 2013 interview

1997-2004: Nike, pushed out of shops, signs P‑Rod

On the Nike side, the story’s less epic. In 1997, the brand dropped its first skate shoe line. Specialty shops were not buying it. The market was run by DC, Globe, éS, Emerica and Vans, and Nike had zero street cred. First try, first flop.

In 2002, second shot. Nike launches SB and drops the Dunk Low SB, with cushioned tongue and Zoom Air sole. Sales were average. Nike followed up with four more models: Angus, FC, Delta Force, URL. Still no face.

That face came in 2004. The brand signed P‑Rod as a flagship, alongside Aussie Lewis Marnell. In 2005, his first signature drop hit: the Nike SB Paul Rodriguez Zoom Air Low. The contract value never went public, and we’re not gonna make one up. What is public is the next move: in 2005, he took gold in street at the X Games in LA.

Baby Jordans vs. éS franchise: what each was after

Why him, and why in 2004? Nike needed a rider the shops respected and kids wanted to emulate. A 19‑year‑old pro who’d been through City Stars and Girl checked both boxes. And he hadn’t spent fifteen years on a rival he’d have to ditch.

For P‑Rod, the answer lies in the Berrics footnotes, 2012. Critics called him “sold”; he heard them. They never really shook him. His first pair were baby Jordans. Even when he rode for éS, whenever he wasn’t skating, he’d wear white Air Force 1s or Cortez. “I’ve been a Nike fan since birth,” he sums up.

And Koston? In 2003, he was the face of éS, and the proof is in a tournament name. In January, the brand staged the “Eric Koston éS Game of S.K.A.T.E.,” an invite-only event for pros. It was the first-ever S.K.A.T.E. duel tournament, a one‑on‑one showdown in skate history. In 2004, the format went global. The duel you play in the park carries its name.

A story circulates on the French‑speaking web: P‑Rod supposedly made a name for himself by beating Koston in one of those duels. We looked. No video, no interview. The English Wikipedia doesn’t mention it, the French one asserts it without a single reference. So we’re not telling that one. The real story is better anyway.

The 2006 final, filmed in full. Three years after the first edition, the tournament named after Koston brings together the best flat‑ground riders every year. When a brand gives you that, you don’t leave it on a whim.

2005: the call to Koston

Leaving éS, for P‑Rod, wasn’t signing a paper. It was picking up the phone. He tells the Berrics in 2012: before he left, he had to call Koston, call Tony at éS, call a bunch of people. Because they were close.

I had to call Koston. We were close, we were a family over there. — Paul Rodriguez, The Berrics Footnotes, 2012

Once that threshold is crossed, everything unlocks. “When I landed at Nike, it felt like the world opened up. It was insane.” The kid Koston had brought into Girl tells his idol he’s moving to the brand the shops had scouted eight years earlier.

Koston, on the other hand, stays close to family. He leaves es in 2006, but not for Nike: he signs with Lakai, the shoe brand founded in 1999 by Mike Carroll and Rick Howard, the co‑founders of Girl. The exit is announced with a YouTube video, and he films a part for Fully Flared – 2007.

Three years later, he goes back. This time to Nike SB, with an announcement video that parodies the shoe‑throw on George W. Bush. Make people laugh instead of explaining. The details of this move are told in the story of Koston ditching Lakai after three years.

2007, New York: P‑Rod closes the first Nike SB video

The deal changes P‑Rod’s career from the first video. In 2007, Nike SB releases Nothing But The Truth, its very first, with a premiere in New York. Marnell opens. P‑Rod closes. The last part, the one the brand bets everything on, exactly the spot he snatched at City Stars when he was still a kid.

Behind the scenes, he builds beyond his parts. In 2008, he launches Primitive, a shop in Los Angeles. The boss? Andy Netkin, the guy from One Eighteen who saw his cassette when he was 14. The clothes follow, then the boards in 2014. In 2010, Target signs him: he becomes the second skater sponsored by the brand, after Shaun White.

In December 2011, Transworld ranks him 30th among the “30 most influential skaters of all time.” Asked about his career models, he cites two names: Andrew Reynolds and Eric Koston. For their longevity, impact, and the respect they earned. Nine years after Girl, the master remains the benchmark.

2009-2014: Koston arrives, Nike SB takes a generation

For Nike SB, the P‑Rod bet paved the way. In 2009, Koston left Lakai and joined the brand. Nike didn’t keep him waiting: he got his shoe straight away, the Eric Koston 1. The protégé had to prove himself, the master came with a model bearing his name from day one.

The next steps look like a chain recruitment. In 2012, Sean Malto, a Girl rider too, left Etnies for Nike SB. That same year, P‑Rod welcomed Luan Oliveira to the team. The kid we chased back in 2002 became the one who welcomes the others.

The numbers speak for themselves. In May 2014, P‑Rod dropped his eighth signature model with Nike. A brand executive slipped it to him while they were only four Nike athletes at that count: him, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.

The skater some called a sell‑out in 2004 shares a figure with the three biggest names in basketball. After a decade of contract, he summed it up: “our stories are linked, at least with Nike SB.” The brand, meanwhile, is no longer the outsider in shops. It sells skaters what Emerica refused to become for 28 years.

Verdict: why the student got there before the master

Let’s revisit the departure question. Why did P‑Rod sign with Nike SB in 2004, and Koston only in 2009?

Our reading, backed by facts: in 2004, Nike wasn’t chasing a legend, they were hunting an entry point. A brand that got pushed out of shops in 1997 didn’t have the clout to poach the face‑of‑the‑year for eS, the tournament named after him. A 19‑year‑old pro, sure. P‑Rod had nothing to hide: he’d been rocking Nike since his baby Jordans, and the word “sold” slid over him. Koston, on the other hand, was a family man. When he left eS in 2006, he headed to Lakai, the company behind Girl. He stayed home.

P‑Rod did the work Nike couldn’t do alone. He closed the brand’s first video, grabbed gold at the X Games the year his shoe dropped, and proved that a respected skater could wear the swoosh without losing the streets. When Koston hit the scene in 2009, the path was cleared. The student opened the door, the master walked through.

And Koston didn’t lose a thing. He says it bluntly: at eS and Lakai, he copied so many Nike shoes, trying to get as close as possible, never quite nailing it. At Nike, he finally had the means to make the shoe he’d had in mind.

Who won what? P‑Rod earned a flagship career, eight signature models, and a recruiting role. Nike SB secured its street cred, then Koston topped the market. Koston got the shoe he’d dreamed of, on a stage his protégé had set up. The only one who lost was eS: the brand saw both leave, P‑Rod in 2005, Koston in 2006.

You, in 2005, what were you rocking on your feet: eS, Lakai, or already Nike SB? And when the swoosh hit the shop, did you shout “sold” or did you grab P‑Rod’s pair? Drop it in the comments ↓