How do you debut at X Games by age 14? Having a dedicated mom can help. Shiloh Catori made it look easy at XG California 2023, finishing a surprising 2nd in Women’s Skateboard Street Elimination before taking 5th in the Final as her supportive mom cheered.
But it hasn’t been easy. Raised in a single-parent household, Shiloh has watched her mom, Robin Dumas, sacrifice to make her skateboarding dreams a reality. Robin is a hair stylist at Bombshell Hair Co. in Sarasota, Florida. When she began ferrying Shiloh to practice at the iconic Skatepark of Tampa more frequently than she was commuting to work, she bought a mobile home in Tampa and started doing the reverse commute instead.
“A lot of the things that I’ve been able to do — X Games, all these other contests and opportunities — wouldn’t have happened without having Mom in my corner,” Shiloh says. “It means everything to me.”
When Shiloh and Robin thought the teen needed a move to further her skateboarding goals, Robin sent her to live in a house with skaters Jordan Santana and Reef Orlando in Vista, California. Robin sold her mobile home and got a Murphy bed to sleep on at the hair salon so she could afford it all.
“I’ve grown up a lot this past year,” Shiloh says. “Mom’s done a really great job teaching me how to cook for myself and clean and take care of everything, so in that sense, I feel like I was prepared.”
That maturation was on full display at X Games California 2023, where her run included a backside noseslide on the marquee sign at the center of the course — one of the best tricks of the contest on a big feature that, to quote impressed broadcast analyst Amelia Brodka, came up to her armpit. “Last year I was honestly just happy to be invited,” Shiloh says. “I was extremely surprised to do so well, and I’m really excited that I get to do it again.”
One thing she won’t be doing in 2024 is attending the Paris Olympics. Despite establishing herself as one of the top women street skaters in the United States, the financial burden behind the qualifying process was just too high for the family. Making Team USA would have required attending contests in Italy, Switzerland, the UAE, Japan, China and Hungary — and all on their own dime. Robin estimates travel alone would’ve cost more than $50,000, and they just couldn’t justify it.
“It was a difficult decision, but I don’t regret it,” Shiloh says. “It’s obviously expensive to be going to different countries every month, and it adds a lot of contest pressure with the amount of money involved to get there. It just wasn’t really my thing. Maybe in 2028! In the end, I enjoyed the U.S. contests I’ve skated in recently more than I enjoyed the two World Skate contests I did in 2022, so it definitely was the right decision for me.”
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Colin Bane 