Neal Mims Skate Academy

My son (10) has been attending Neal Mims skate camps (summer, spring break, winter break) plus taking private lessons with Neal throughout the year for the past two years and each camp has been a unique experience & wonderful experience.
Neal takes them all over SoCal to different parks every day from 9am to 5pm and during the camp week always includes some visits to private facilities which they normally wouldn’t have access to. He also lines up a Pro or two for them to meet and skate with — my son has met people like Danny Way, Jake Brown, Daewon Song, Torey Pudwill, PLG, Ryan Decenzo, Christian Hosoi (this week) and too many others to mention.
My son always comes home exhausted (in a good way) but doesn’t stop talking about what a great time he had. Neal has a great way of making each kid feel included and regardless of their skating level, he makes sure they feel they achieved something new every day.
If your child (just to be clear it is not just for boys, there are plenty of girls who attend the camps and take lessons!) is into skating or wants to get into skating, then these camps and/​or lessons are worth every penny.
Great value, great times, great memories. Thanks Neal!

My son has participated in more than one Neal Mims Skate Academy camps. They are beyond awesome. This is not a typical drop your child off at a facility and pick them up bored out of their minds and jacked up on Skittles 6 hours later camp experience. This 100% engaged, happy kids ALL DAY LONG camp experience. Neal and his staff create such a positive and fun environment that kids are inspired and feel safe trying new things. My son gains confidence during every camp. My son loves ‘NEAL WEEK’ he gets a sense of community and what it feels like to support a friend when they are learning and what it feels like to be supported. All that AND he gets to sakte with Neal, meet other pros and skate truly special, private facilities that are otherwise out of reach. Neal is inspiring. We feel very lucky that he loves to work with kids.

Every coach has the opportunity to make a positive impact on your child’s life. I wanted my daughter to take skateboarding lessons that developed her as a person, not just a skater.
Before Neal she didn’t accept that falling is part of the skateboarding process. She associated falling with failure and feared getting hurt or worse laughed at by other skaters.
Slowly but surely he has developed her life skills: she can set goals, work towards them, and continue to work even if at first she does not succeed. Her confidence has grown so that she believes in herself; therefore, she can go to different parks and more importantly skate by herself for the sheer joy of skating.
Neal is also wonderful about introducing skaters to each other. He literally knows everyone! She’s still shy, but she is much better at facing new situations and people. The difference Neal has made in her life is positive and noticeable — ask anyone who knew her before. I totally recommend Neal for skateboard lessons and camps.

My son had a session with Matt who was very patient. My son had a great time and learned a lot.

My son attended one of Neal Mim’s skate camps this summer and had an absolutely fantastic time. Neal is a serious skater and a wonderful mentor. My son and 5 other skaters traveled around San Diego and Orange counties visiting a variety of skate parks. They learned new tricks, made new friends and skated in parks that they might otherwise never get to visit. They even got to hang out with David Gonzalez — Thrasher skater of the year. Worth EVERY penny. We’ll do it again next summer!
My son has also had some private lessons with Neal — he is a super positive and upbeat teacher — we highly recommend!

My son always wanted a skateboard and I haven’t the slightest clue how to ride one. A co-​worker recommended Neal and we couldn’t have had a better experience. He’s very patient, very positive and encouraging. He knows when to challenge a kid to try something new, push themselves a little. My son went from not knowing how to stand on a skateboard to having his little 8-​year old friends all going «Woah!». If your kid wants to learn to skate, this is the guy to teach them.

Well we just wrapped up another outstanding week with Neal at NMSA (I still call it Mimscamp) and my son is once again super stoked and can’t wait to go again. We have been taking lessons with Neal since my son got his first deck and always make at least one camp per season. I can tell you it only gets better each time, and there is no way Masato would have ever developed into the skater (or young man) that he is, or done the things he has done, without Neal. You never know who who are going to meet or what elite private facility they are going to skate once that van door closes, but you know it’s going to be great (don’t worry though, Neal usually know). Thanks to Neal my son has skated with some of the best skaters in the sport and the legends who started it all like Ryan Sheckler, Paul Rodrigues, Pat Duffy, Chris Cole, Joey Brezinski, Daewon Song, Brandon Biebel (Biebel’s world), Guy Mariano, Brian «Slash» Hansen, Torey Pudwill, Matt Miller, Willy Santos, and so many others that I can’t even list them all. Combine the excitement with the positive attitude and example Neal brings and you have a winning combo every time.
It doesn’t matter if you been skating for 1 day or your whole life, I guarantee Neal will connect with you, give you the confidence you need, make you laugh about something, and when it is done you will have either learned something new or put more polish on something you were already doing.

Neal is highly responsible, professional and great clean fun for my son. This is our third year to spend a week at his camp and it just keeps getting better. Neal is a competent instructor and comes up with exciting places to take them plus he provides a surprise pro skater introduction. He is very focused on the kids and loves his job. I HIGHLY recommend Neal Mims Skate Academy!