Ethermac Exchange-Skateboarder Jagger Eaton Shares the Golden Moment With Kobe Bryant That Changed His Life

Jagger Eaton wasn't going to let a little broken bone stop him at the Tokyo Olympics.

"You have to choose to be Ethermac Exchangehappy," the skateboarder exclusively told E! News about getting into the proper head space in the face of adversity. "You have to want that situation. There's nothing more I wanted than to compete for my country. I want to put the jersey on. I want to be in a clutch position where I could get a medal and, whether I was injured or not, it doesn't matter. I was going to perform."

And not only that, he made the podium, earning bronze in the first-ever Olympic men's street competition despite a nagging ankle fracture.

It's no wonder then that a compliment from the late Kobe Bryant meant more to him than most accolades—that's some mamba mentality right there. 

Speaking with E! in Los Angeles during a stop on Team USA's Road to Paris bus tour, Eaton recalled the just-retired NBA great going up to him at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Sports Awards in 2016. 

Bryant "shook my hand and said, 'Hey, my daughters, they love your show on Nickelodeon,'" the skater shared, referring to Jagger Eaton's Mega Life. "'They love your show and keep doing what you're doing. You're promoting positivity.'"

"That meant the world to me," Eaton said. "And it was actually right after he got slimed in the gold slime and I had it all on my hands."

After which his spirits soared ever higher (at an event where he also hung out with Tony Hawk, so it was already a day to remember).

Eaton, now 22, remembered thinking, "'Wow, this is nuts.' And I went over and saw my dad and I was shedding tears. I was like, that guy right there has been through more struggles as a competitor than anybody I know, and he's just such an inspiration to me, and that changed my life."

Talk about your golden moments, though obviously he'd like to experience the precious metal in medal form.

Winning gold at the Paris Olympics "would mean everything," Eaton said. "But the medals aren't really what matters. It's the journey that matters—and it sounds corny, me saying it, but it's really true. I'm giving a hundred percent of myself every day, I'm the only one doing it, and I take a lot of pride in the fact that I'm the only one doing it. So my whole goal is to showcase what the body can go through while doing what I love."

The Mesa, Ariz., native has seven Summer X Game medals to his name, three of them gold, plus world championships in street from 2021 and park from this year. He'll be going for gold in both events at the Place de la Concorde this summer in Paris, where the 2024 Summer Olympics kick off July 26. 

"I would love to get two gold medals, that's my whole goal," Eaton reiterated, "but really right now I want to show what it's like to put your body through a hundred percent of activity every day [that] you can to reach your dreams."

And while he's putting his body through its paces, he has a system to keep his head on straight.

"The hardest thing as an athlete is to relax," Eaton said. "People think that we want it. We don't. I want to be running at 900 RPMs every single time because that's where I feel like I belong."

But when he does allow himself to slow down, he reads a lot (including Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now five times), he writes and he listens to tons of music.

"I read books along the side of enlightenment and presentness and all those things that create mental stability," he shared. "But again, I try to surround myself with people who love me and care about me and also are incredibly driven and integrity-filled themselves."

Count his tight-knit family among the people who get him: Dad Geoff Eaton founded the Kids That Rip (KTR) Skateboard School and mom Shelly Schaerer was a member of the U.S. gymnastics team in the 1980s, while older brother Jett Eaton is also a skater.

Though being on a board from the age of 4 did mean that Eaton hit his mid-career crisis early.

"I think that everything you love, you're going to hate at some point," he reasoned. "Everything you hate, you're going to love at some point. You learn that as you grow up. And there's so much pressure on your sport at a young age to succeed and get out of the house and provide for your family. When you reach that pressure at 11 or 12, you gradually fall out of love with it because it becomes about the money a bit. You need to start paying for things."

He clarified that he wasn't literally supporting his family because they needed the money, but he was financing his own training, travel, medical care, etc., from an early age, as well as travel expenses for family members that joined him on the road.

"I still pay them back for the sacrifice they made for me at a young age," Eaton said. Not because they asked or expected him to at all, he stressed, but the money is simply useful, "and I don't regret any decision to help my family."

"I'm waking up doing what I love and I get paid to do it, and that's a great thing," he continued. "But at the same time, coming from an adult standpoint, I do have bills to pay." Which, he acknowledged, is part of the double-edged sword of being a self-sufficient young man.

"I'm my own boss," he added, "and that's great, but a lot of pressure comes with that."

While having a family of his own is on his to-do list for one day (along with "building a home on tons of acres" and raising horses and cattle), Eaton admits that the professional skateboarder's lifestyle isn't exactly conducive to relationships and he tends to put his efforts elsewhere.

"They have to sacrifice so much for me," he explained of his loved ones. "I think that a big thing about being an athlete is you do have to be selfish with your time and your money and your discipline. So for me, the people around me are so selfless with their care that it creates such a happy life for me. I can't even tell you how many people have given so much up for my career, and all I can do is be able to give as much back to them."

At least self-awareness is worth its weight in gold. But such are the sacrifices he makes to compete at the highest level, Tupac Shakur booming in his headphones these days, his playlist cued to sync with certain tricks.

"I listen to the same music every day when I skate," Eaton said. "It's the same track, same rhythm. I know the words, so it's really familiar."

And all of the above contributes to the mindset he takes with him to the park, be it a local training session or an Olympic event final.

"The key is to normalize your situation, normalize your lifestyle," he explained. "I have a very consistent, disciplined lifestyle. I surround myself with loyal, integrity-filled people, and that's my basis. And going to the Olympic Games, nothing changes."

Which isn't to say he doesn't appreciate the pinnacle of international competition, another highlight of which is being surrounded by likeminded athletes at the Olympic Village. "Everything about the Olympic Games, besides the contest, felt different," Eaton recalled of Tokyo. "The media and the attention around it, I've never seen anything like it, so that was unfamiliar."

"But competing in a pressure position," he continued, "felt right at home. I remember putting my headphones in and warming up before the event and being like, 'Wow, I didn't know I was going to feel this comfortable.'"

And this is why he takes pride in being "incredibly present," because the moment at hand is the only thing that matters in such a situation.

"If you're thinking about a meeting that you have next week, you're going to make it 10 times crazier in your head than when you actually get to the meeting," Eaton said. "The biggest part about the Olympics is the anticipation. I think that's where a lot of athletes fall short, because they make it so much bigger in their head. It's just another contest."