About Sonic's Rising Athletes
With this project, Sonic gives his full support to kids who are working hard to make their dreams of becoming professional athletes a reality. In the future, he will offer his support for other sports that develop the courage and steady determination to take on challenges in kids.
Close Up of a U-15 Skateboarding Competition
The first sport chosen for the project was skateboarding, which has been gaining a lot of momentum recently. As the sport also attracted attention at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics, the number of skate parks in Japan is also growing rapidly. Sonic’s Rising Athletes teamed up with the Japan Skateboarding Promotion Foundation (JSPF) to hold JSPF x SONIC’S RISING ATHLETES Presents-SONIC CUP 2025, an under-15 skateboarding competition, in November 2025 in Tokyo and Osaka.
Sonic showed up at the event with his own original skateboard. With more than 200 kids entering in total, ranging from ages three to fifteen, SONIC CUP revealed a new side of Sonic to both the athletes and spectators: someone who supports young athletes. The event also conveyed the appeal of skateboarding and expanded the athlete community through a variety of activities at the venues, including skateboarding try-out sessions for beginners, workshops by instructors, and demos by top skateboarders in Japan who have also competed in the Olympics.
Even more, this inaugural activity did not stop at just holding a competition. The winners and runners up from the Tokyo and Osaka events were to be presented with a special educational tour to Los Angeles, California, which is considered the birthplace of skateboarding. Beyond the intense competition of the event, this tour would be an opportunity for the participants to learn new things by creating chances for them to broaden their horizons by coming into contact with world skate culture. The SONIC CUP, which had also prepared this opportunity for such a special experience, was alive with excitement.
The junior skateboarders thrilled spectators during the competition with high-speed riding equal to that of any adult and by pulling off cool and highly difficult tricks one after the other.
To LA, the Home of Skateboarding!
Around four months after the SONIC CUP, at the end of March 2026, four young skateboarders, the winners and runners-up from Tokyo and Osaka, used their spring vacations to take part in a 7-day/5-night tour of LA.
From left: Koju Koike (Winner of Tokyo competition, 6th grader at the time), Rento Yanagiuchi (Winner of Osaka competition, 6th grader at the time),
Arata Takahashi (Runner-up at Tokyo competition, 6th grader at the time), Keito Kamishiraishi (Runner-up at Osaka competition, 7th grader at the time)
A packed schedule was put together for this educational tour to allow an up-close experience of skateboarding’s birthplace. Of note was the skate park hopping that would let participants experience LA’s numerous skate parks, said to be some of the world’s best, by visiting several each day.
This started on the second day of the tour. The four first rode at the spacious Linda Vista Skate Park, then visited a local skate shop that gave off genuine local skate culture vibes. Next up was the beautiful Encinitas Skate Park, located on the coast, where they enjoyed a session* with local skateboarders.
*Several skateboarders gathering to ride together at the same spot.
The schedule for the third day consisted of working up a sweat at Westchester Skate Park in the morning, then heading to Courthouse Skate Plaza (West LA), a haven for street skateboarding, around lunch time. After finishing the first half of the skate park hopping, the tour then moved to the Hollywood area to see the stars’ names engraved on the Hollywood Walk of Fame along with checking out other famous spots. In the afternoon the four visited core skate shops to expose themselves to the latest in street culture.
Courthouse Skate Plaza (West LA)
The final half of the tour included a visit to Sega of America, Inc., SEGA’s US office. There the four were reunited with Sonic and made their own original skateboards, decorating them with things like Sonic stickers and stencils*. This was followed by a courtesy visit to the headquarters of Vans, a shoe manufacturer with deep ties to skate culture. They then enjoyed the rest of the day riding at Vans Off The Wall Skatepark, a skatepark operated by the company.
Over five days, the tour visited six different skateparks, while also visiting the offices of companies and shops connected with skateboarding. Together with things like interacting with local skateboarders, it immersed the four kids fully in skate culture.
*A technique for transferring letters or patterns cut out of a sheet (template) by applying paint or spray paint.
Growth Through Sonic’s Rising Athletes
We asked the four junior skateboarders who took part in the tour about their memories from LA and their goals for the future.
From left: Arata Takahashi (Runner-up at Tokyo competition, 6th grader at the time), Koju Koike (Winner of Tokyo competition, 6th grader at the time),
Keito Kamishiraishi (Runner-up at Osaka competition, 7th grader at the time), Rento Yanagiuchi (Winner of Osaka competition, 6th grader at the time)
―What was the most memorable thing about the tour?
Koike
I was surprised at how LA skate parks are so much bigger than Japanese ones, and even the sections are big.
Takahashi
It was so exciting to ride at Courthouse Skate Plaza, because that’s where so many amazing tricks were born. I’m glad I got to ride in a place like that.
―What were your feelings about the local skate culture?
Kamishiraishi
Riding with local skateboarders was the best experience in my skateboarding life. Though all the guys in California are so good, they would go wild even when we pulled off tricks. I was moved at how kind they all were.
Yanagiuchi
There’s this really famous skateboarder, Dylan Jaeb*, and I was so happy to have actually met him at one of the skate parks we visited.
*Pro skateboarder from the US. One of the world’s top young skateboarders drawing attention in the street scene who shows great potential and characteristically smooth riding.
Dylan Jaeb and Rento Yanagiuchi
The four kids even got to interact with top skateboarder at the parks
―As this was a project supported by Sonic, do you normally enjoy content from the SEGA SAMMY Group?
Yanagiuchi
I really like getting plushies from the UFO Catchers® in arcades!
Takahashi
My dad’s a big fan of SEGA FOOTBALL CLUB CHAMPIONS, so I play it sometimes, too.
Koike
I sometimes play Mario & Sonic At Tokyo Olympic™ Arcade Game at the arcade!
Kamishiraishi
I really like the Puyo Puyo series.
―We’re so glad to hear that each of you are familiar with SEGA SAMMY Group’s content. What are your future dreams as skateboarders?
Yanagiuchi
My dream for the future is to win the Street League Skateboarding (SLS) Super Crown World Championship, the world’s top pro tour!
Takahashi
I want to get even more famous and sell my own shoes and skateboards.
Koike
My goal is to put out my own video parts*!
*In skateboarding and other action sports, videos several minutes in length with footage of specific athletes (riders) riding at different locations edited to music.
Kamishiraishi
I want to be in the X Games① and show off my signature backside 360②.
1 An invitation-only event for the world’s top athletes, considered to be the prestigious, world-class competition for skateboarding and other action sports on the same level as the Olympics.
2 A trick where the skateboarder jumps and spins 360° in the direction their back is facing. Also called a “b3” or “back 3.”
As another goal of this tour was to nurture the four junior athletes’ self-reliance, they went without the accompaniment of their guardians. Despite the worries of the grownups, the four skillfully and easily maneuvered the local skate culture through visiting different skate parks and interacting with top skateboarders. Their shy expressions as they enthusiastically said they had learned a lot from the tour hinted at the growth they experienced by going on the tour.
Goals for the Project
To learn more about Sonic’s Rising Athletes Project, we spoke with Toru Muramoto from the Transmedia East Business Division’s Brand Marketing Department at SEGA’s Transmedia Business Unit, who is also a member of the project.
―How did this project come about?
Muramoto
To me, the Sonic character has the power to face challenges and see things through. For some time, I’ve had the sense that, since he’s also a great athlete, that quality could allow him to go beyond the role of being just a video game character to also being a gentle encourager to children with dreams of becoming athletes. So, this project was started with a desire to get even more of the younger generations to get to know Sonic as a character who also supports these kinds of junior athletes.
―As you also accompanied the four junior athletes to LA, what were your impressions seeing them there?
Muramoto
We visited several skate parks in one day, so they’d head out in the early morning and just kept skating until nightfall. Their stamina, concentration, and most importantly, the energy of their love for skateboarding was what surprised me. One episode that also stuck with me was how happy they looked bumping fists with the other skateboarders in the park who’d complimented them when they pulled off several tricks that they kept doing over and over again until they got them. It’d be great if this experience in LA served as a source of encouragement for them when they step on to the world stage as top athletes.
―What’s the future outlook for the project?
Muramoto
My hope is that we can get junior athletes with a love for sports to grow further through the Sonic’s Rising Athletes Project. It’d make me even happier if it also helped them to get to know Sonic better and they ended up becoming his fans. As skateboarding is a part of culture and fashion, there’s the exciting possibility of a future where these junior athletes supported by Sonic might be walking down the street or showing off clean tricks wearing Sonic apparel. Ideally, as someone involved with Sonic, I’d like to aim to achieve a situation where he’s always by the sides of children. With the culture of hanging a lot of plushie charms on bags having made a comeback, that would mean kids involved with skateboarding and other urban sports having lots of Sonic plushies hanging on their bags. As someone who supports sports together with Sonic, nothing would make me happier than to see him become an integral part of various sports cultures.
―Can you give a few words of advice for athletes currently chasing after their dreams?
Muramoto
Personally, I think that if you have a desire to do something and to do your best, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a junior athlete or an adult one. While we started this project to support junior athletes, Sonic, as a character, is there cheering on anybody that’s shooting for the stars. Like he says: “Nothing starts until you take action. If you have time to worry, then run!” Why not take those words to heart and just start running after your own dreams?
Four junior athletes took one step towards achieving their dreams and had the experience of a lifetime in the birthplace of skateboarding. All eyes will continue to be on the great stride they’ll take in the next stage of their careers. “Nothing starts until you take action. If you have time to worry, then run!” Those are the words of encouragement from Sonic, who will continue to support anyone running towards the future.
Learn more about Sonic’s Rising Athletes here
