SILVERDALE — For Silverdale pro skater Michael O’Friel, skateboard competitions are a way of life. The 18-year-old Central Kitsap High School senior began skating six years ago and his dedication to the sport has paid off.

On March 25 and 26, O’Friel competed in the 2011 Florida Bowl Riders Cup, placing seventh the first day and fifth the second.

The fifth-place finish earned him a $150 check.

“I skated really well, but I didn’t skate my best,” O’Friel said.

Sporting a Bones skateboard wheels jacket, jeans and unkempt dark hair, O’Friel competes in as many competitions as he can. This includes competitions on Bainbridge Island and Kingston; he took first place in Kingston in 2009.

His favorite form of competition is vert-style skateboarding, which includes riding in pools and half-pipes. Though he liked the Kona Skatepark in Jacksonville, he said the Jam format made it difficult to pull off some of his tricks. Jam format allows multiple skateboarders to compete at once, instead of taking turns.

“You’re always looking out for the other skaters,” he said.

He typically travels to Seattle about three times a week to practice at the more well-equipped skateparks, he said. The weather has not helped either, because the parks in Kitsap are mostly outside.

Though he has support from many people, O’Friel said his father, Scott, was probably his biggest supporter. Scotty O’Friel, a surfer in California in the 1970s and 1980s, was the person who persuaded him to begin competing, he said.

“My dad was supporting me 100 percent,” O’Friel said. After seeing what he could do on a skateboard, “He told me, ‘I gotta start taking you to competitions.’ ”

Though Scott has stories of surfing with such luminaries as Jay Adams and pictures of himself skating drained pools, he said that did not have an effect on his son becoming a skateboarder.

When Michael was younger, Scott O’Friel drove him between their home and Seattle so he could practice. With his dedication to the sport, Scott O’Friel put in many hours and miles to drive his son to parks, he said.

After seeing his son’s talent on a board, Scott O’Friel said he encouraged him to train to be a street skater — street skating focuses more on ground-based tricks, with less emphasis on catching air.

“As a parent, you’re always looking for the things your kids are naturally good at,” Scott O’Friel said. “(Michael) found his niche.”

He is sponsored  by  such  companies  as Vans shoes, Bones wheels, Lib Tech and Poulsbo skate shop Skate Anatomi. Skate Anatomi recently began  selling  an  O’Friel pro model board.

Skate Anatomi sponsors about five skateboarders from the area; Craig Hammond, owner of Skate Anatomi, said O’Friel breaks the skater stereotype.As someone living in skate culture, Hammond has noticed a much more positive attitude from the CK student.

“You see a lot of kids dripping with bad attitude,” Hammond said. “Michael (O’Friel) is in a different category. He’s edgy enough to be popular, but his head is on straight.”

O’Friel began skateboarding when he was about 12. He considers his “home park”  and “training course” to be the indoor park at Kitsap Sports in Silverdale, before the park closed down.

To become a better skateboarder, O’Friel said he would write down lists of tricks he wanted to learn. Sometimes he left the park, having learned one trick. However, each new trick learned was a small victory.

“It’s like people playing basketball and working on their free throw … I’m out there practicing new tricks,” he said. “There’s some days when I come home with 10 new tricks.”

Along with learning existing skate tricks, O’Friel has created a few of his own, including the “Pizza Spin” and the “Crippler.”