SCOOTER CHAMPION
By Ashley Shah
Nineteen-year old Kai Martin, who grew up in Scripps Ranch, placed first at the World Championship for Street Scootering in Sakai, Japan, in November of 2025.
He has been street scootering since 2020.
“I moved to Lake Havasu, Arizona, with my mom about five years ago. Back then, I was very much into video games. I never left the house. My mom bought me a scooter. She told me I had to start going outside,” Martin said. “I started going to the local skate park. I kept practicing there. I met a lot of good people there.”
He moved back to San Diego a few years later, where he kept practicing.
Street scootering uses the same courses as street bicycle motocross (BMX) and street skateboarding.
“The universal rule for competing is that you get two runs that are about 45 seconds each. You just have to do as many tricks as you can during that time. You can grind rails. Some judges like when you do everything quickly, but other judges like when there are slower, more detailed tricks,” Martin said. “I’ve kind of carved my name into a few tricks like the tailwhip, backside 50, and a hard 360 board slide.”
In 2024, he began competing in professional competitions for the first time.
“I was just barely getting my name out there. I was definitely an underdog. The first competition I went into, I placed seventh. I knew I needed to get better. I started practicing even more and trying new techniques. In the second competition, I placed second. The last competition of the year is the National Championship. The competition took place in Salt Lake City, Utah. I placed first in that competition,” Martin said.
In 2025, Martin competed in a few competitions, one of them being the National Championship in Lake Havasu, Arizona.
“I placed on the podium at every competition in 2025. I placed first at the National Championship again. It was kind of nice that the National Championship was in Lake Havasu because that’s where I had started street scootering,” he said.
At both national championships, Martin competed against 15 other people in the Men’s Professional Street Scootering division.
Placing first at the National Championship in 2024, Martin was able to compete in the World Championship in 2025.
“I am not entirely sure what qualifies someone for the World Championship, but they take the six top ranked competitors at the end of the year from each country,” he said. “Our division of Men’s Professional Street Scootering started out with about 80 people. There was a qualification on the first day. Then, we had the semifinals the next day, in which I placed first. The finals were actually cancelled due to weather this year.”
Martin is hoping to win the World Championship in 2026.
“Winning the World Championship in 2025 was definitely my biggest accomplishment to this date, but I want to do it again this year. I am really proud of it,” he said. “What really drives me to keep going is always trying my best to be the best. I have had troubles and injuries, but I just always want to do more. I like the trial and error.”
Additionally, Martin has other goals he wants to accomplish in the future.
“Trendkill Collective, a brand involved in freestyle scootering, has the Rider of the Year (ROTY) award. I would like to win that in the future. In 2025, I made the top five,” he said. “Street scootering definitely lacks sponsorships from companies that are not scootering specific. It would be a dream of mine to work with Converse or Redbull.”
This will be Martin’s sixth year street scootering, with no plans to stop any time soon.
“I used to play basketball, but that is a team sport. What I really love about this is that everything is on me. I like to be in charge. I like to have the freedom to do what I want to do. I like that this is creative,” he said. “I practice every day, seven days a week, for five to six hours. There are even some days where I practice for 10 hours. It just comes down to the fact that I really enjoy this.”
Martin is sponsored by Envy, a scooter brand, and Bland Pro Shop, a scootering store in Northern California. To follow his journey, visit @kaiimartinn on Instagram.