Meet the Portsmouth Man Who Works as an Extreme Sports Announcer

Nelson Wormstead lives in Portsmouth and is an advocate for skateboarding because he says his love for extreme sports developed as soon as he stepped on one.

"Skateboarding alone is kind of like my first love. I got my first skateboard when I was five years old and I was hooked," Wormstead said. "It's funny to say this little wooden toy with four wheels led to everything else in my life, but it's how it was."

Wormstead said he was fortunate to fall in love with skateboarding at an early age. He still enjoys the sport today.

Wormstead also has a passion for snowboarding, and when he was 18 years old, he landed his first gig as a live event announcer during a competition at Waterville Valley Resort. He was injured, so they gave him a megaphone.

Since then, Wormstead has worked as an announcer for Burton US Open and Global Open Series, Street League Skateboarding and ESPN's X-Games.

"I've been very lucky. I've been able to travel all around the world and anounce some of the biggest events in both skateboarding and snowboarding," Wormstead said.

Wormstead is one of the Portsmouth residents who urged the city council to move forward with a skate park at the former stump dump site during a virtual meeting last month. He said skateboarding teaches children to be resilient and determined.

The council voted unanimously to move forward with plans to build the skate park.

During an interview last week, Wormstead offered his advice to children who aspire to work in the business of extreme sports one day.

"So, I guess my advice for kids is to look at all the ancillary areas that you can be a part of," Wormstead said. "You can thrive and have a career, whether it's on the business side, or the events side, or marketing. You can be a be a part of it in so many different realms versus just actually skateboarding or actually snowboarding."

Wormstead said with the right opportunities to practice and train, a Portsmouth child could someday make it to the big leagues when it comes to being an extreme sport athlete.

Skateboarding is one of five sports which are going to be introduced at the Olympic Games in Tokyo this summer.

Contact Managing News Editor Kimberley Haas at Kimberley.Haas@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @KimberleyHaas.