Dave Jonsson

Transcript

Hey guys, how you guys doing? My name is Dave Johnson and I am a professional skateboarder. And I can tell you this, sometimes people ask me, man, what's your best trick? Is it a crooknolly flip or a kickflip back lip? I always tell them, my best trick is knowing how to fall. The reality is is all of us fall sometimes. We all make mistakes. None of us are perfect. But how you fall matters. You know, I've fallen a lot of times.

This skateboard right here, it's like sometimes a girlfriend or a wife, sometimes she treats me good and boys, sometimes she doesn't treat me good. But I just can't break up with her. Why? I met her when I was 12 years old. I seen her and I just I I couldn't ever give her up. Even when I've broken my ankles, broken my elbows. Man, do you mind if I just stop talking for a moment and do a kick flip? Is that okay?

Can I do a kick flip in here? Dan, can I be the first one to do a kick flip on the speaker slam stage? Okay, let's get it. Let's get it. So, a kickflip is when you flip the board. And you know what? Sometimes you fail and you don't get a first try, right? And that's a part of life. There you go. So, guys, I'm 38 years old. I've been a pro for many years, skated 24 years, but I'll tell you, there's been moments where I thought I would never get up again.

It was August 18th. This time I was actually flying in a Cessna 172 with my really good friend Christensen. Oh, I forgot to tell you. I'm from Reik, Iceland. And he was a pilot visiting me. And we were going up to Whistler. We're flying. It was a perfect day when all of a sudden we come around this one corner and I hear it in his voice, "This isn't good." He begins to stutter. You see, we had gone into ourselves into a haze of trouble.

He tries to turn the plane around. And in so doing, he stalls the plane. There's four of us on board. It goes from being so loud with the engine right there to quiet stillness. And my friend beginning to shout, trying to re-engage the engine, shouting, "We're going down." I stretched out my legs, all I can remember is Leah and Elliot screaming. And we hit the side of the mountain going 120 km an hour. The sea comes forward, snaps my leg in half, windshield in my face, and my brother dies on impact.

When I come to blood everywhere, Elliot shouting, "We got to go. He can barely breathe cuz the gasoline, he needs to lift up the seat. I need to yank my leg out from underneath it only to get onto Elliot's back and Elliot to carry me." And some people will ask me what man that plane crash must have been so scary. Guys, the reality is is the six hours waiting in the forest for search and rescue when your body starts to tweak out and you start to wonder whether this will be it.

This will be your last day on the on the planet Earth. To be honest with you, I began to cry out to God after six hours. We see the choppers. We see search and rescue and this guy wearing an orange suit comes down. His name is Brian. And he looks at me and he says, "You're going to be okay." I knew in that moment this was the second chapter of my life. And if I could say this, friends, we don't need a plane crash or a car crash for us to wake up to the reality that life is short.

And that listen that your pain has a purpose. Listen to all the speakers that we've heard within their pain, within their struggle was actually their purpose, their destiny, the reason why they were here. And you're no different. You see, hidden within your challenge isn't a problem, is an opportunity. And you know what that plane crash did is it gave me a second chance at life. But not only that, but hidden within it was actually a purpose. You see, a month later, while I was wheeling myself around the skate park, this time in a wheelchair, there happened to be a principal there.

His name was Mike Keenan, and he was the first one to believe in my story. He said, "Dave, you know, you could share this story in front of audiences and it could probably inspire them. And I'm here to tell you something that you have a story and you have a story. And that if all of us just shared our story, if we were willing to share our struggles and our pain, guess what? I believe that this world would genuinely be a better place.

You see, hidden within your pain is your purpose. Friends, the search and rescue gave me a second chance at life. It took me two years to recover and one day I would finally fulfill the dream and I would become a professional skateboarder. But you know what's so neat is all of the sponsorships, all of the brands. They sponsored me not because of my talent. I can skate. I'm good. But the reason why they chose to sponsor me was because I had a story.

You see, my weakness, the plane crash, became my strength. And yours is, too. Against all odds. Thanks, guys. That was

Transcript generated from the recording and lightly cleaned. Some names and wording may differ from the spoken speech.