Schwinn's freestyle team manager, John Povah, spends a lot of time on the road and at contests with the Schwinn team members. Since this gives him a lot of time to get to know each rider on a personal level, we asked John to tell us a little about Koji.

Tell us about Koji.
There's actually a funny story about him. He turned up at a trade show in Chicago and told me that he had bent a pair of Torque Flight forks. I'm like, "No, they have to be cheap Taiwanese forks," and they were actually the real deal. He's telling me how smooth he was, and he was only 14 at the time. I had been hearing rumors about this kid from Chicago that was just out of hand. It turned out to be him, and the rumors were true. He could do every trick in the book. He isn't exactly smooth, but he's coming together now. He's going to go far if he can stay on two wheels. He has more energy than you can imagine. He doesn't quit talking, which can get irritating, but his heart is in the right place.

Describe his riding style.
Sometimes he gets loose. He surprises me; sometimes he'll crash on the simplest trick. In Texas he crashed on a straight air and knocked his teeth back. Other times he'll blow you away and do the craziest, hardest stuff out there. He does a lot of the same stuff that Miron does. A lot of people freak out because he can do all this stuff and he's only 18 years old. He really has a "go for it" style. He isn't afraid of anything; he's balls out all the way. Full speed, head down, fifth gear.

You seem to have taken on a parental role with Koji.
Well, you have to. There are a couple guys on the team that are young, and they've never been through what a lot of the older guys have. I was used to dealing with Miron and those guys, and they've been around the block. These kids look up to those guys a lot, and they think that doing some of the things that the older Pros do is a cool thing to do. Sometimes you have to steer them in the right direction. It's not a role that I picked, but I hope it takes them to a better place.